On Friday 22nd November the U11A rugby team took part in the IAPS Regional Rugby Festival at Ratcliffe College in Leicester. Thankfully, whilst cold, it remained dry and bright all day which was a huge bonus. The Festival was split into two groups of five with teams then playing the team that finished in the equivalent position in the other group at the end of the day. We were in a group with Broughton Park, Stamford, King Henry VIII Coventry, and Ratcliffe. This was a great opportunity to test ourselves against other schools who we wouldn’t normally play on our circuit.
The first game was against Broughton Park and the boys played superbly, winning comfortably with some excellent tries being scored. The next match against Stamford proved to be the toughest in the group. They were by comparison huge and tackled well, however Blue Coat were looking the better team until an unfortunate interception saw Stamford take the lead. The boys’ reaction to this though was fantastic and they fought back with some powerful rucking to claim a 10-5 victory. The next game against King Henry was another game which we won comfortably. The final group game against Ratcliffe was again a real nail biter for long periods as Ratcliffe started strongly driving forward with purpose. The Blue Coat defence though stood firm repelling each attack and pressurising Ratcliffe into mistakes. The pace of Trevis proved decisive with 2 long range tries as Blue Coat ran out winners 20-5.
This meant we finished top of the group and played Hall Grove from London in the 1st place play off. Again the boys put in a spirited performance but another interception and a couple of missed tackles in the 1st half saw Hall Grove take a 15-0 lead at half time. The 2nd half the boys really upped their intensity and effort but try as the might, they could not get across the Hall Grove Line and the game finished 15-0.
Obviously they were gutted at losing the final game but they played fantastically all day and can be hugely proud of their performance against some high quality rugby schools. It is a mark of the improvement that we have made as a school on the rugby field that we are now able to compete at the “top table” of schoolboy rugby, and this year 6 group in particular have set standards for others to follow. Well done boys!
Mr Protherough
