Figure 1.--Rugby football is the principal sport played during the Autumn term. It is a sport that most of the boys arriving at a prep school had not played before.
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Figure 1.--Rugby football is the principal sport played during the Autumn term. It is a sport that most of the boys arriving at a prep school had not played before. |
Rugby is one of the most important sports played at both the prep and public schools. The sport originated a Rugby School after which it is named. There were for many years a class association with rigby. Many schools did not have football (soccer) programs. Some schools even banned boys from hicking a ball. The great emphasis was on rugby. The schools still emphasis rugby, but not longer to the exclussion of football. Most boys arrive at school unfamiliar with rugby. Rugby does not receive the media attention devoted to football. The noys are taught rugby in physical education and the most talented then begin to work more seriously as part of school teams to play other schools at different levels.
This year we welcomed four new schools to our circuit, adding much needed new blood. Amesbury, Edgeborough and Aldro put up strong resistance to our 1st XV but our average point tally must have been in the 50's. St. Edmund's appeared to be the most formidable of our new pooponents and we fought a tough game, winning 18-6. Unfortunately it doesn't seem as if we will be enjoying their company for the '87 season. As usual the most difficult of our matches was Cranleigh but despite an enormous amount of possession we threw the game away, losing 18-6; Cranleigh again used their three-quarters to spin the ball wide and outflank our defense. We only conceded 28 points for the whole season and eighteen of these came from our first match. .... Having lost only one match in ourseason, it is not surprising that all members of the tram were awarded their colours.
The Aquileon, (Belmont School), Feldemore, 1986-87
The Spring Term hazzards of illness and weaher threatened to spoil yet another season but in te end were able to play all but one of our usual opponents and the firm grounds of early March enabled us to end the season in style. The forwards were led with great dash by Davis K. at open-side wing-forward, and he was well supported by Smith D., Norris and Henriques in particular. The great strength of the side lay at half-back where Brown's long pass enabled Siddle to outflank most defenses. Outside him Morrison and Steele ran well in attack and McMeekan improved markedly on the left-wing. Verey, the full back, caught and tackled safely and, though his kicking was weak, ran strongly from defense to link up with the backs. Siddle and Smith D., shared the place-kicking and both were more than competent. ....
Beaudesert Park Magazine, Autumn 1978.
We played with great pride and determination against local rivals, Wolborough Hill, but their overwealming superiority in the pack made it a difficult match to watch. The 3/4's tsackled magnificently, with Fairfax Halland Tony Borradaile to the fore, but the glut of possessions our opponents enjoyed meant that we conceded several tries in the forwards. We deserved, however, to score a try and did so towards the end when Alexander Mustard crashed over from a line-out--the only try conceded by Wolborough all season!
Fanfare (Mount House School), Autumn 1988
The 2nd XV rarely played at full strength for they suffered from injuries and demands made by the 1stXV. Everard hooked well and Kitto proved a tower of strength in the line-out. The three quarters lacked penetration but Gerrard-Wright and Sparrow ran well whilst MacAdam and Auchterlonie offerred steady support. The whole side gave 100 per cent in effort on the field and behaved impeccably off it.
Lambrook Chronicle, 1980.
Not every small boy, when being introduced to a new game, is happy to spend endless hours , practicing the basic skills. For most of this year's under-nines it was their introduction to the game of rugby and they showed commendable patience and intelligence in putting up with lengthy sessions of tackling, passing, scrummaging, rucking and mauling before they were actually invited to put the skills to the test in a proper game. Then they had to learn the added complication of keeping position and playing as a team.
I must admit to moments of complete dispair in these early stages, and no doubt the boys will have their own tales to tell. The great day of the FIRST MATCH arrived, on the Plymouth College Prep School ground. It was a close match, and we los narrowly to a bigger and better team. Our weaknesses were cruely exposed, mainly those of failing to mark man-for-man, and chaotic passing.
Leasons were learnt. The careful preparation paid dividends. When we went to the most delightful Tournament hosted by St. Peter's at Lympstone, we won all our matchesin fine styleand really began to look like mini-rugby players for the first time. So came the Wolborough Hill match, the final fixture, and the assertion of our superiority for the second year running was sweet indeed!
Robert Taft and Simon Gent were outstanding for their strength and running skills. Sebastian Britten was probably the outstanding all-rounder, with fierce tackling and a truly remarkable ability as a goal-licker, which latter skill gave us an edge over own opponents more than once. As mentioned earlier, one of the greatest difficulties we met was that of merging individuals talents and strengths into a team, and not only the team itself, but all the members of the game, must be congratulated on their enormous enthusisasm. It was truly, a great delight to coach them--oh, what fun we had!
David Cowgill, Fanfare (Mount House School), Autumn 1988
The team got off to a disastrous start. After three matches a record number of points had been scored against us, and we really had offered little resistance to the opposition. Whereupon we girded our loins and decided that this situation would change even though it was going to take a lot of hard work, courage and determination if we were to succeed.
First, we decided to tailor our game to the effectiveness of our players. The scrum had to win the ball, and we concentrated on speed, mobility and strength. This paid dividends and in all the remaining matches of the term the scrum more than hel their own against the opposition. Once having won the ball we decided not to release it down the line but to play it close to the scrum, either in the hand down the blind side or by kicking through the fly-half. Here both Edwards, as scrum-half, and Fisher, at Fly-half, did their jobs extremely well.
The first time we had a chance to put this plan into operation was against a string Bilton Grange side who comfortably beat us. We did better ahainst Nevill Holt, and against Christ Church we should have won, but let a 12-0 lead turn into a 12-16 loss. However, confidence was being restored and in a specially arranged match against a Winchester House B team, the team produced the first victory of the term. We knew that one of the strongest prep school sides at this level was Great Houghton but fortunately for us the match aganst them was postponed until the end of term. This gave us more practice time. On the actual day everything worked according to plan and a 10-6 victory was achieved, which relly boosted the spirits. This was shown in the final match against an inexperienced Ashfold side which was completely destroyed despite the fact that 7 reserves had to play in the Beachborough team due to illness and injury.
I would like to thank both the team members and the reserves for all the hard work and effort they put into their rugger. I think if they learnt anything, it was that it is more fun to win than to lose, even if it does mean a lot of hard work to achieve success.
AKAJ, The School Record (Beachborough School), September 1979.
I can remember when we played Saint Bede's. It was when it was snowing and it would start up and stop. We beat them 40-4. The game was freezing but we dofn't lose spirit, and we played some good rugby. -- Charles Doust
And now, I, on that big pitch bleak,
Must turn into a fitness freak!
As we around that pitch must run,
Until we have our fitness won. -- Simon Aitken
We thrashed Grenfell 40 to 0 in rugby. I scored 4 points, Larmount scored 20 points. In the next match we lost 10 to 20 against Livingstone. I scored 4 points and we got a conversion. It was not fair because they had Green Goliath. -- Elliott Smither
Rugby is great -- especially in Game 1. You get run over, 'beaten up', splatered on the pitch, and now and then youbcome out of a game in one piece. The worst part of the lesson is when practice -- it's boring and that's all you practically do. But whwn you play matches against another school, it's good fun. -- William Venn
Great Walstead Magazine 1987.
The 1984 Rugby season showed a considerable improvement on thr brevious year, in a variety of ways. The weather was much kinder and a full programme of matches was played, mostly on good pitches. The team knitted together well and played some confident rugby. The usual spate of Spring Term illness and injury did not materialise and we were able to field a 'first-choice XV' on most occasions. Apart from a very narrow defeat at Stancliffe, the team had a totally successful sason as far as results were concerned. One of the prime reasons for this success was an ability to finish off attacking moves. So often in schoolboy rugby, an attack will failbecause of a dropped final pass pr lack of backing up when the ball-carrier is stopped. This year's side contained many eager try-scorers and very few opportunities were missed. ....
CS, The Bramcote Magazine, Autumn 1984.
