Today's Sports Report includes the latest round of fixtures in basketball, rugby, and hockey. In basketball, our U16s got their season underway while rugby saw block fixtures against UCS. In girls' hockey, there were two well-contested fixtures including an incredible comeback win! Finally, in rowing, the Boat Club had their first race of the year at the Reading Small Boats Head.
Basketball
U16 vs The Oratory School
On Tuesday 3 October, our U16 basketball team started their season with a friendly game against The Oratory School. As the first quarter started, Oratory scored very quickly and Shiplake had to re-adjust to the rhythm and pace of the game. At the end of the quarter, we were losing 6-13 with one injury already. The second quarter went the same way with a score of 8-24 for Oratory. In the third quarter, the confidence, defence and teamwork finally paid off bringing the score to 17-32. This led to Shiplake dominating the 4th quarter with R O’Boyle scoring the only 3 pointers for the Shiplake side. Great determination and an excellent teamwork for this young team ready for their first league match next week.
Final score: Shiplake College 33-38 The Oratory School
Top Scorers: W Nicholas (18 points) & R O’Boyle (5 points)
Coach: Dr C Rousseau
Hockey
Girls' U18A vs The Oratory School
On Wednesday 4 October, the Shiplake U18 girls’ hockey team took on The Oratory first team. The girls went into the game with their heads held high, with two wins behind them but knew that this was going to be a tough match. G Wyndham-Smith did some incredible defending, as well as F Lenthall in the first half of the game. The possession was mainly with The Oratory in the first half, but the team spirits were high and the Shiplake defenders worked hard to turn the ball. Half-time came and the score was 0-0 and the tension was evident with both teams going for the win. Shiplake had some amazing runs down the line by F Smith but unfortunately, in the second half, The Oratory won a short corner and despite some outstanding defending, it was unfortunately put into the bottom corner. Great play from everyone involved but a special mention to Player of the Match G Weedon, Players’ Player R Acton, and finally Coaches Player S Pendlebury. Well played everyone and we look forward to our next league match against Reddam House.
Final score: Shiplake College 0-1 The Oratory School
Report: O Parkin, Hockey Captain
Coaches: Mrs C Lovelock & Miss A James
Girls' U12A vs The Oratory School
On Wednesday 4 October, the Year 7 girls played a match against The Oratory School, and we smashed it! We were playing 7 aside and both sides performed really well. Our goalkeeper was K Pivonka, and she was amazing especially as this was her first time ever in goal; she was really brave! The Oratory started well by scoring 3 goals in the first three quarters of the match and we began to feel like we couldn't win because the score was 3-0 but we stayed positive. When our team came on for the last quarter, we were determined to get those goals back. In the first 5 minutes of the last quarter, we scored a goal from A Mertes and then they just kept coming. The next goal was scored by E Wright, and then one from L Jones, before a final winning goal from E Wright in the last 10 seconds. Everyone played amazing, and we were all cheering each other the whole time.
Goal scorers: E Wright (2) A Mertes, and L Jones
Player of the Match: L Jones
Coach: Mrs K Neill
Rugby
1st XV vs UCS
The 1st XV came out of the changing room with all guns blazing and were 5-0 up within 2 minutes of play. However, a delay for a UCS injury subdued the side and with a high penalty count against them and too many dropped balls, we found ourselves 21-5 down at the half-time break to an organised UCS side.
The second half saw Shiplake come roaring back with two tries from F Partridge and another from J Cooper. Shiplake were knocking on the door in the final 3 minutes of play, but the final pass eluded them. A proper display of guts, but the team is left wondering ‘what if’ once again after being unable to find their stride in the first half.
Final score: Shiplake College 24-27 UCS
Players of the Match: N Scotchbrook & H Benton
Coach: Mr R Edwards
2nd XV vs UCS
The 2nd XV marched on victoriously with a dominant 24-10 win against UCS. E Thomas gave a captain’s performance with a brilliant tackling display and Player of the Match S Chambers stressed the UCS defence all day and ended the game with three tries. The team played well overall sticking to the gameplan, which was implemented masterfully by M Gardener who also had a good day with the boot.
Final score: Shiplake College 24-10 UCS
Player of the Match: S Chambers
Coach: Mr D Wozencroft
U15A vs UCS
Shiplake scored a couple of early tries through W Huckle and E Miot but then made hard work of the first half as we played too much ‘one out’ rugby. Shiplake put more width on the ball in the second half and kept the ball alive. E Miot completed a fine hat-trick in his first U15A start. There were also tries for D O’Brien, K O’Connor and a second from W Huckle, who also converted 5 out of 7 kicks.
Final score: Shiplake College 45-14 UCS
Coaches: Mr A Dix & Mr J Cooper
U15B vs UCS
The U15B side continued their impressive start to the season with a disciplined and energetic performance against UCS. Through very direct running from the start, Shiplake took an early lead through tries by J Waldegrave and A Prosser who attacked at every opportunity. UCS had a very strong scrum but whenever Shiplake had the ball, we attacked to very good effect. Further tries and a strong performance off the tee for captain L Hilton saw Shiplake take a 31-0 half-time lead.
UCS started the second half very strongly through their strong forwards. However, Shiplake then rediscovered the form of the opening few minutes and took back control. O Wright led the pack extremely well from hooker, J Morgan was always a threat over the ball and the backs were marshalled well by L Hilton and S Lingard. M Jobson crashed over for a late try with L Hilton hitting the post with the conversion attempt.
Final score: Shiplake College 53-0 UCS
Coaches: Mr P Jones & Mr D Miller
U14A vs UCS
On a sunny Riverside, it was an untidy opening against UCS with both sides struggling to get into their rhythm. The forwards applied the early pressure, and the tries came. B Oliver powered through to start the scoring, E Tavinor bundled the ball over the line from a penalty, and then J Calow brook free to keep the scoreboard ticking over. It looked like UCS were going to make a game of it when they forced some Shiplake mistakes, and their persistence resulted in a try and conversion just before the half-time whistle.
Shiplake were more disciplined in the second half by taking control in the rucks. It led to a bevy of tries with E Grubb scoring from a penalty and O Woodward getting a well-earned brace as well as converting 4 of his 7 kicks at goal. But it was B Oliver who took ‘Try of the Match’ from a line out on their 22. He caught the ball, waded through two tackles and fooled the rest of his pursuers with a dummy offload.
Final score: Shiplake College 43-7 UCS
Coaches: Mr D Bradley & Mr S Gower
U14B vs UCS
Shiplake started really strongly with a try from S Cripps. UCS then came back and were physical with lots of pressure on Shiplake’s defence. UCS took advantage of a strong forward line and pinned Shiplake back for the majority of the game. After the break, Shiplake came back strong with tries from P Grewal, S Currie and J Andrews, taking Shiplake within 5 points of UCS. There was also some great kicking from J Andrews with 2 conversions. A strong finish from UCS unfortunately took the game out of reach from Shiplake but lots of positives to take from the game.
Final score: Shiplake College 19-25 UCS
Coach: Mr A Gingell
Rowing – Reading Small Boats Head
On Saturday 7 October, the Boat Club competed in their first race of the year at Reading Small Boats Head. The race was held over 3.7km at Reading Rowing Club.
The senior girls finished 1st in the J17 Quad, while E Downing won the Open Women's Single Sculls event. In the other events, the girls finished 2nd in the J17 doubles, 2nd in the Women's Intermediate Doubles, and 2nd in the Women's J18 Quads.
Meanwhile, the senior boys won Open Men's Fours in both divisions (J18 4-: J Duggan, J Barnes, C Wallis and B Brooks; Op4-: H Clark, F Rhys Jones, J Meiswinkel, and C Wallis) and came 1st in the J17 coxed fours. The J17 crew comprised of K Critchley, W Harper, I Dean, J Barnes, and M Walker (C). The boys also finished 2nd in Open Coxed Fours while the Year 11 crews finished 2nd in the J16 Coxed Fours.
Well done to everyone that raced, especially those that raced in both divisions.
