Those with understanding mothers met on a gloriously sunny day in March for the Griffen 7s at Abingdon School. I was nervous about the occasion as, historically, our teams have not had the beating of larger rugby schools such as St Edwards, Abingdon or Marlborough. We had been invited because the hosts had heard of the OB revival of late and so this event was our litmus test. We asked ourselves one question: can Bloxham compete with the biggest schools in Oxfordshire?
After conceding early on to Abingdon “B”, Julian Wallace (Eg 06-08) ran in a hat-trick of tries to compliment the 50m dash to the line from Jack Sawbridge (Cr 06-08). A sound start, and a good warm up for our match v MCS old boys. John Stretton (Cr 97-02) demonstrated fine handling to score in the corner but failed to convert and, despite Wallace touching down under the posts, we found ourselves controversially behind with one minute to play. Sawbridge took the highball from the restart, bulldozed two hapless red shirts and offloaded to Justin Parker (Wn 98-03) who switched with Wallace to settle the tie.
Abingdon “A” were going to be good and offensively they were, but the stalwart defensive pair of Tom Speechly (Cr 99-04) and Robert Pile (Cr 98-03) showed no sign of being breached. Working as a pack they hunted an OA down as lions would a gazelle and stripped him of possession, denying a well orchestrated move. Superb counter rucking from Stretton allowed for playmaker Parker to create a gap for himself to score. Wallace scythed through again before Sawbridge muscled over from 5m with three men hanging on for dear life.
Marlborough were decimated by halftime after Pile (2), Speechly and Stretton scored quickly and ruthlessly. It was their game, switching between attacking and defensive modes with ease.
St Edwards Martyrs came into the semi-final off four consecutive wins and showed a fluid retention of possession that frustrated our defence. Despite Speechly scoring from kick off we were 7-19 down with 90 seconds to go. Step up play-marshal Parker! Those watching were treated to a masterclass in sidestepping and witnessed him score and convert sensationally from the corner. 14-19 with one play left and suddenly the crowd were cheering for a mighty comeback. Pile shrugged off two Martyrs at the restart and fed Speechly, who double-dummied and then miss-passed to the lightning Wallace who dove in for his seventh (and most important) try of the tournament.
It was our greatest moment. Old Silhillians (Solihull) beat a fatigued OB team in the final (and deservedly so); but let’s not forget that they are a Warwickshire team! By then we had beaten every Oxon team there. QED
Your reporter Tom Sheppard (Cr 97-02)
We are grateful to Tom for this story and for all it's enthusiasm and humour. Well done to the team - Oxfordshire's finest!
