RUGBY
Can I please start this final match report of the rugby season with a sincere THANK YOU to Simon Batten who has been a most diligent and reliable source of information and results throughout the season. He promises to be back in the Summer with the cricket round-ups!
The 1st and 2nd XVs both ended their seasons with excellent wins over King Edward VI, Stratford. In front of a big Bloxham crowd, the 1st XV won 25-14 to give a great send-off to the Upper Sixth members of the side for whom this was an emotional moment, being their last game of rugby for the School (Luke Harris, Luke Andre, Nick Putt, Jonny Plumb, James Robson and inspirational captain Alex Young). Meanwhile an equally well-supported 2nd XV won even more convincingly, 20 points to nil, with excellent contributions from all the leavers in the team, John Ord, Matt Duester, Tom Hardy and, in particular, man of the match Ed Byass, top points scorer Ashley Blanchard and the captain of the side, Matt McGeever.
The 1st XV finish with a record of Played 11, Won 7, Lost 4, Points For 223, Points Against 157, while the 2nd XV, after losing 7 of their first 8 games, finished strongly with four straight wins after half term.
We are happy to announce that our Colts XV have become the record points scoring team following a comprehensive 52-0 victory over Akeley Wood - their 10th win of the campaign which is also a record.
They finish the season with the record:
Won 10, Lost 3, Points For: 373, Points Against: 116.
This was a great team effort from a side which managed to score 54 tries from 16 different players over the term, but special mention should be made of the captain, fly half Alex Stevenson, who finished the season with 137 points (8 tries, 32 conversions and 11 penalties). Photos courtesy of Ronny Loxton (Thank you!)
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| Alex Stevenson - Top points scorer |
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| Harry Loxton dives over for a Bloxham try. |
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| Jay Warren breaks for the line. |
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| The Robbie Polson sidestep |
The three matches against Cokethorpe all ended in Bloxham wins. The Yearlings A team turned around a twenty point margin of defeat from earlier in the season to win 29-5, with some spectacular tries scored out wide. They have finished with 7 wins and one draw out of 10 games, only conceding 71 points all season. They must be contenders for the title "Bloxham rugby team of the season". The Yearlings B XV won 14-0 through tries by Alex King and David Penston, who also converted one. Mr Moir reports that "this was a convincing win in a well balanced match which was drawn earlier in the term at Cokethorpe. This was their best team performance of the season".
The Zebras had a nail-biting 14-12 win to end the season. Captain Ben Young held his nerve to land a difficult conversion late on after Cameron -Mackenzie- Lawrie had scored a great try to seal the win.
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| Mr Paul Duester took his camera |
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| along to the recent 2nd XV match |
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| at Wellingborough and kindly sent us these |
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| great images from an exciting game. |
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| Alex Young rises above the rest of the pack |
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| Which way to go? Andrew Horton on the ball for the 2nds. |
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| Spot the ball! 2nd XV action v MCS |
Photographs from a recent 2nd XV match and Alex Young's lineout take supplied by Mrs Leigh Warr - many thanks!
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| Many hands ...make light work in the line-out |
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| Simon Batten explains his battle plan! |
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| Gotcha! |
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| The chase is on. |
BLOXHAM SCHOOL RUGBY
2006 SEASON: OVERALL RECORD
|
Team |
Captain |
Coach |
P |
W |
L |
D |
For |
Ag |
T |
C |
P |
Top
Points
Scorer |
Top
Try
Scorer |
|
1st XV |
Alex
Young |
Mr
Goldsmith |
11 |
7 |
4 |
- |
223 |
157 |
27 |
14 |
20 |
N Putt (90) |
A Boyle +
A Lace (4) |
|
2nd XV |
Matt McGeever |
Mr
Batten |
12 |
5 |
7 |
- |
153 |
244 |
20 |
8 |
9 |
A Blanchard (48) |
B Aprahamian +
A Horton (3) |
|
3rd XV |
Simon
Jarvis |
Mr Schonken |
6 |
1 |
5 |
- |
64 |
153 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
S Jarvis (17) |
B Swanson (2) |
|
Colts A |
Alex
Stevenson |
Mr Cruden |
13 |
10 |
3 |
- |
373 |
116 |
54 |
35 |
11 |
A Stevenson (137) |
N Best +
A Stevenson (8) |
|
Colts B |
Peter Critchley |
Mr Hastings |
8 |
6 |
2
|
- |
215 |
91 |
34 |
18 |
4 |
R Flude (53) |
A Xu (8) |
|
Junior Colts A |
Josh
Chilman |
Mr Thompson |
13 |
7 |
5 |
1 |
275 |
178 |
43 |
21 |
6 |
C Fox (57) |
J Barsby +
A Pashley (7) |
|
Junior Colts B |
Jon
Gunn |
Mr Stewart |
12 |
4 |
8 |
- |
176 |
2095 |
20 |
10 |
5 |
C O’Neill (36) |
C Stirrup (3) |
|
Yearlings A |
Henry Chamberlain |
Mr Horton |
10 |
7 |
2 |
1 |
248 |
71 |
42 |
19 |
- |
H Chamberlain (53) |
B Boscott (10) |
|
Yearlings B |
Charlie
Aprahamian |
Mr
Moir |
11 |
2 |
8 |
1 |
112 |
319 |
19 |
7 |
1 |
D Pennton (29) |
D Penston (5) |
|
Yearlings C |
Greg
Fletcher |
Mr Atkinson |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
17 |
12 |
3 |
1 |
- |
B Young (12) |
B Young (2) |
|
Zebras |
Ben
Young |
Mr
Stindt |
6 |
3 |
3 |
- |
41 |
89 |
7 |
3 |
- |
J Hobday +
N Zafar (10) |
J Hobday +
N Zafar (2) |
|
TOTAL |
- |
- |
103 |
53 |
47 |
3 |
1897 |
1725 |
275 |
140 |
59 |
- |
- |
Girls' Hockey Results (Bloxham first)
STOP PRESS:
Our 1st XI have won the inaugural fixture between Bloxham and Cheltenham Ladies College. Played at Cheltenham our team settled well and took a deserved lead through Chloe Mitcham. Cheltenham hit back and equalised from a well struck penalty corner. Millie Wymss gave Bloxham the lead only for Cheltenham to equalise again following a defensive slip.
In the second half Bloxham regained the lead through Sam Humphreys which soon became 4-2. Back came CLC and they scored their third with a well place shot into the corner. Bloxham were on the ropes but held their nerve and Jess Brook was on hand to apply the finishing touch to another good Bloxham move to seal the win. A wonderful way to end the season - Congratulations on finishing with 3 straight wins against good opposition.
The 2nd XI went down by 2-0 against CLC.
Our girls have enjoyed back-to-back wins at 1st XI level with Wellington College (4-0) and King Henry VIII (4-1) beaten in convincing style with some attractive hockey played at times. The final match of the season sees the girls travel to Cheltenham Ladies College. This is a new fixture for us and it will be interesting to see how the game shapes up.
Our Badminton teams have also been busy and after an unpromising start they have found some form and success.
v Radley
A Team: Lost 5-4
B Team won 8-1
A great performance by all players once again – some of whom were representing the School for the first time!
