Director of Sport Allen Boyd returns with his round-up of the week’s Rugby action, which saw the First XV continue their Natwest Cup run.
This was always going to be a tough test for us as two years’ ago Wirral Grammar reached a NatWest Cup U15 final, an incredible achievement and usually this means a good cup run for the following three years. I say usually because despite going behind after six minutes and remaining behind for all of the first half whilst playing uphill, we ran out 43-30 winners.
To view a picture album from the game please click here
Once again we were considerably smaller than the opposition but an effective scrum and good ball retention at the ruck gave us a platform to work from. The key difference, however, was the desire to win and our strong defence. The scores came from Henry Davies and Adam Sabri with two each, Euan Humphries and Dan Owen with one each and two penalties and two conversions from Daniel Pearce.
Some highlights included a fantastic kick chase from Tawanda Harris at fullback gaining 70 metres and resulting in a try at a crucial point in the match, the opposition pulling the score back to within six points with two minutes to go but us applying a lot of pressure and finishing the game with a score of our own to pull clear and much better game management and captaincy from Sabri, something he has been working on for the last four weeks.
Good luck to the squad as they depart for Portugal this week, where they will play three matches.
It was a scintillating start and sloppy finish for the under 15s at Arnold KEQMS. A competitive game with two tries for pacey Pedro Armenta, but ultimately the team’s defence gave out.
A close fought game for the under 14s that saw us play some of our most exciting rugby this season. Going forward, Sam Bixby and Josh Lynch were outstanding in attack with Josh scoring a hat-trick. Some poor decision making ultimately led to us losing 38-17, but a performance to be proud of.
A ding dong of a game occurred at KCS with Rydal u13a spoiling and attacking in equal measure. The defensive training was clear to see with Baptist a particular menace to the opposition. After 40 minutes it was five tries each but then they sent on fresh legs and we became increasing weary.
Cal Earle was man of the match for his ferocious tackling and made more hard yards than any player on the field. A superb performance by 11 brave lads.
The under 13b team were three tries down in no time, but individual scores from Chay Bonnington and Suhas Shekar saw us get back into the match and at three tries each and then five tries all at half time, we were playing some good rugby.
A whole team of replacements saw our spirits and energy levels dropping and despite two tries from Adam McGuigan and an outstanding 'Man of the Match' performance from Bentley Hodgson-Roberts, we eventually lost seven tries to ten.
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