On Wednesday 18 October, a new concept was born with the entire school out in force, despite a looming storm, to support the 1st XV rugby team in their annual Davies Shield match against Aylesbury Grammar School.
With the stretch tent and bar providing the parents and visitors with some much-needed shelter and warmth, the rest of the school community were kept warm by the electric atmosphere that was building in anticipation of kick-off. Both teams emerged from the College to a Sixth Form guard of honour with polite applause for AGS and a chorus of raucous cheers for the Shiplake side.
The game kicked off with both sides struggling to get to grips with the slippery conditions as well as trying to settle their nerves. Shiplake began promisingly by trying to play their usual brand of expansive rugby, but the combination of wet conditions and the big occasion got the better of them and after a scrappy start by the home side, Aylesbury found themselves 7-0 up after 20 minutes.
Shiplake responded immediately from the kick off with captain B Zacharias winning the aerial battle and W Rider tidying up the ball to set up the attack. Big carries from F Partridge and A Langton had the Aylesbury defence reeling and scrum-half D Coles spotted his opportunity to snipe through the defence. A beautiful offload over the AGS fullback saw B Zacharias dive over the line for a nerve-settling reply in front of the home supporters.
The crowd was well and truly alive at this point with the Lower School supporters getting louder and louder with their chants of support for the boys in maroon and white. Three minutes later, W Diver broke through the AGS defence following a solid scrum and offloaded to T Weighell. Suddenly, the boys found themselves camped on the AGS 5 metre line. Some great passing in the following phase by W Diver, O Perkins and T Lebeau saw O Smaje dive over the corner flag and dot the ball down for another Shiplake try.
Half time came with Shiplake leading 10–7.
The second half saw a change in gameplan for the 1st XV with some great tactical kicks into the far-right corner of the Aylesbury half. With AGS unable to play out, they ended up returning possession multiple times through the air and the W Diver, O Perkins and A Mullins kicks kept them pinned back and under heavy pressure from the kick chase. Eventually, J Biggin sparked a brave counterattack, given the conditions, which saw A Mullens stopped just short of the line. A big carry from F Stewart sucked enough AGS defenders in to enable W Diver to turn on the jets and fly over the line for another score and the moment of the match - the whole 1st XV celebrating with a passionate and enraptured Lower School crowd who were by far the loudest members of the spectators on New Field that day. Shiplake were up by two scores following an O Perkins conversion and with 18 minutes left in the game and the rain soaking everyone, the crowd just got louder.
The final period was dominated by the Shiplake forwards. H Wallace, W Forster and H Benton got through a serious amount of work with F Partridge supplying the occasional thumping tackle and clear-out. The backs controlled the territory with some great kicks and subsequent chases and Shiplake managed to weather both the incoming rain and the AGS onslaught towards the end of the match. Eventually, the sidelines erupted as the game ended with the home side victorious.
Final score: Shiplake 17-7 Aylesbury Grammar School
Coach: Mr R Edwards
1st XV squad:
- WP Rider
- AWH Langton (Vice-Capt)
- NG Scotchbrook
- FD Stewart
- H Brough
- B Zacharias (Capt)
- H Benton
- FJ Partridge
- DR Coles
- W Diver
- T Lebeau
- OSH Perkins
- JRJ Biggin
- O Smaje
- AC Mullens
- HP Wallace
- TG Weighell
- WF Forster
- PJF White
- M Gardiner
- HD Simmons
To watch the action all over again, check out the livestream provided by NextGenXV below:
A full photo gallery from the afternoon can also be found in the Flickr album below:
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