News
[
NatWest Schools Under 15 Cup semi-final action
WARWICK School will have two teams in action at the NatWest Schools Finals Day at Twickenham Stadium later this month.
Warwick's Under 15 team, the defending champions, survived a Wellington College comeback to win their semi-final 12-8 at Allianz Park today and they will join their Under 18 team in Finals Day on March 29.
Warwick led 12-0 at one stage but Wellington gnawed away at the lead by half time and the champions had to survive some anxious moments in a scoreless second half before they booked another trip to Twickenham.
”We knew coming into the game it was going to be a massive challenge,” said Warwick head coach Tom Pierce.
“Wellington are a terrific side, with a very strong fixture list and fair play, they demolished us at the breakdown and in the scrums.
“In the end our start was enough, and I thought our defence was outstanding at the end as well.
“It’s absolutely amazing to have two sides from Warwick in the final. People have been talking, putting pressure on me all week about it.
“It will be an incredible experience for everyone involved with the school: pupils, staff, parents, Old Warwickians.”
Much like their Under 18 side last week, Warwick exploded out of the blocks at a devastatingly fast pace.
Within a minute they went ahead when centre Paolo Peschisolido battered his way to the line.
The blue Warwick tide, with encouragment of their vociferous support was relentless, and they soon found themselves crossing again.
Centre Theo Spencer punctured a deep hole in the Wellington defence, he then linked up with fellow centre Peschisolido who in turn released full back Nick David to score.
A penalty for Wellington by full back Dylan Moss settled a few jangling nerves, but they were thrown a lifeline when Warwick wing Will Tanner was sent to the bin for taking out Wellington wing Jack Sellors.
Buoyed by the one man advantage, Wellington soon found themselves firmly back in the contest. Flanker and Captain Matt Frost finished off a well manufactured driving maul, leaving the Berkshire school trailing 12-8 at half time.
The second half was a tight and tense affair, played for the large part between the halfway line and the Warwick twenty two.
Wellington pressed, dominating the scrums and the breakdown, but they just weren’t able to break through the authoritative Warwick defence.
Wellington College missed out on a place in the NatWest Schools U15s Cup final after losing to holders Warwick School today at Allianz Park
”When you concede two tries early doors like that it was always going to be difficult to come back,” said Wellington coach Dan Rosen.
“We came back and gave a good go of it, but fair play to Warwick, they held strong.
“It’s been a good season for us from where we started. We’ve come on a lot as a team, and yes, it would have been nice to have reached the final, but it just wasn’t to be today.”
NatWest Schools Under 15 Cup semi-final action
QEGS Wakefield reached the NatWest Schools Under 15 Cup final for the second year running after beating 14 man Whitgift 19-17 in the semi-final at Allianz Park today.
The crucial moment in the match came 30 minutes in when Whitgift fly half Fergus Donnelly was shown a straight red for an ankle stamp.
QEGS made their numerical advantage count to book a meeting with holders Warwick School in a re-run of last season’s final.
“It feels absolutely amazing, an incredible game,” said QEGS head coach Gary Pickersgill.
“Obviously your man going off for them in the first half changed the game, they came back at us well, but in the end I think we deserved it.”
Whitgift appeared to be the more comfortable of the two sides in the opening exchanges. Prop Jumal Nelson imposed himself on the game with some early charges.
The deadlock was broken ten minutes in when Donnelly executed a delightful back line full of decoy runners that allowed him the space to put wing Will Varcoe over .
Donnelly was clearly feeling at home on the Allianz Park pitch at this point as five minutes later he took a quick tap to catch the QEGS defence napping to score.
QEGS came back into the match through a powerful driving maul that saw Whitgift prop Gabriel Diaz-Aylwin sent to the bin.
Moments later QEGS centre Luke Adams exploited the extra space to score.
Donnelly’s sending-off handicapped Whitgift and the extra man and wind advantage became more visible in the second half, as Whitgift were forced into immediate last ditch scramble defence, with both QEGS wings Chesachi Hani-Okoroafor and Joe Gatus both going close.
QEGS eventually broke through when fly-half Henry wright found a gap wide enough to dart through to give the Yorkshire school the lead.
QEGS looked to their maul to sap the life out of the Whitgift defence, forcing penalties and winning territory. Hooker Nathan Youngs smashed his way over to inflict more damage on Whitgift.
Whitgift looked to be on their way out but somehow found some energy from somewhere. With props Aylwin-Diaz and Nelson carrying well, and centre Tom Griffiths looking unstoppable.
Aylwin-Diaz came close on one occasion but dropped the ball over the line.
Centre Griffiths then through the game into a dramatic denouement with a try in the corner for, the conversion was crucially missed which meant they had one final play but the kick off went into touch and QEGS held on for a 19-17 win.
Whitgift head coach Adrian Norris said:”It’s very painful. It’s a long, hard season, the boys have worked incredibly hard all season and even going down a man I thought the spirit they showed was phenomenal.
“Trying to bring in a new ten was always going to be difficult, but I’m immensely proud of the boys.”
Graveney School in action in their semi-finals win over St George's College Weybridge to secure their place in the NatWest Schools Cup U15s Vase final at Twickenham on March 29.
Graveney School produced a scintillating display to beat St. George’s College Weybridge 36 - 7 in the NatWest Schools Cup U15 Vase semi-final at Allianz Park today, to set up a final date with Altrincham Grammar School for Boys at Twickenham on March 29.
Billed to be a fascinating contest between two sides with contrasting styles, the match did not disappoint. St George’s brought power and control, whilst Graveney were looking to employ a lightning fast tempo to their game.
It was the control and game management of St. George’s that stamped a marker down on the game first. Twice they came close to scoring only to be held up once, and bundled into touch on the other occasion with some heroic scramble defence from Graveney.
Graveney made their first big impression on the game 10 minutes in, with what can only be described as a flash of purple and black lightning. A sweeping counter-attacking move saw the ball moved through the hands to supply wing Alex Graham-Buck, who turned on the turbo charger to scorch across the synthetic Allianz Park pitch to score.
And there was more to come as Graham-Buck performed exactly the same act five minutes later to score again. As the game progressed, the pace and athleticism of the Graveney side was causing all sorts of problems for St. George’s. Five minutes later Graveney crossed again to give them a comfortable 17-0 lead at the break.
The fast and ferocious pace of this pulsating encounter continued in the second half. Graveney soon found themselves crossing again, and with that the game started to slip away from St. George’s who were in desperate need of a boost to their performance. That eventually came through a well-deserved converted try, which were to be their only points in this thrilling match.
Graveney wisely realised that the best form of defence was to maintain the frighteningly fast pace of their attack, and it paid dividends when they were able to score again. They rounded off their points tally with the final play of the game and so ran out deserved winners by an impressive margin.
Graveney Head Coach Stacia Long commented: ”I’m thrilled. We probably did something most teams wouldn’t have done it that situation; ran it when most teams would have kicked, played it out from our half a couple of times.
“But we scored from it. We don’t want to play boring, ‘shove it up the jumper’ rugby - we want to play fast, free-flowing rugby and that’s what we coach them to do, as that’s how they get the most enjoyment out of it.
“We never spoke about playing at Twickenham. We refused to even mention it, we just wanted to make sure we concentrated on each game as it came. I’m so pleased for the spectators who came, you could hear them all the way through and it meant so much to the boys.
“Most of the parents don’t get to watch the boys play as they mostly play mid-week games, so for them to be able to see a game like this was fantastic!”
NatWest Schools Under 15 Vase semi-final action
ALTRINCHAM Grammar School For Boys put in a controlled and assured performance to beat local rivals Lymm High School 20-5 in the NatWest Cup Under 15 Vase semi-final at Allianz Park today.
Altrincham were favourites for this one having knocked Lymm out of the cup earlier in the season with a 29-7 win, and they certainly played with the authority you would expect from the favourites in the first half.
Scrum half and captain Rory Canham made a couple of probing breaks that put Altrincham in a good position inside the Lymm half, and eventually centre Tim Palmer found his way to the line with an arching break.
Lymm had one visit to the Altrincham twenty two all half, and that came in response to the Palmer try.
Twice they went close to scoring but on both occasions centre Josh Davies and full back Jake Davies were held up over the line.
Altrincham pushed their lead out beyond two scores with a well struck Ryan Taylor 15 minutes in, and the score remained 8-0 at the break.
Lymm centre and captain Josh Davies had looked threatening all game and it came as no surprise that he was the man to break the deadlock for his side using his impressive upper body strength to drive over early in the second half.
But Lymm just couldn’t keep Altrincham’s most influential player in Canham quiet; a dart and flash of pace saw the scrum half go in under the posts.
After the Canham try Altrincham took the game by the scruff of the neck and soon crossed again through monstrous wing Saif Rattoo.
Altrincham seemed to sit on that lead and see out the win, and managed to achieve that without too much fuss.
Altrincham Grammar School For Boys Head Coach Stephen Jelly commented:”I’m chuffed. Obviously any good result i’m happy with, we switched off in moments there, but at the same time the intensity the boys showed at the tackle area and at the break down was absolutely superb.
“Playing at Twickenham is something the boys have had at the back of their minds for two or three years now, but I don’t think they thought it was possible until they got here today and realised that anything is possible if you work hard in training and play to your potential.”
Altrincham will now meet Graveney School in NatWest Schools Finals Day at Twickenham Stadium on March 29.
Semi-finals results in full
U15s Cup
Whitgift School 17 - 19 QEGS Wakefield
Warwick School 12 - 8 Wellington College
U15s Vase
Altrincham Grammar School 20 - 5 Lymm High School
Graveney School 36 - 7 St George’s College, Weybridge
U18s Cup
Durham School 15 - 20 Warwick School
RGS High Wycombe 3 - 7 Dulwich College
U18s Vase
Wirral Grammar School 13 - 17 Exeter College
QEH Bristol 7 - 41 Trent College
Finals - Twickenham Stadium - Saturday March 29 - streamed live on www.rfu.com/natwestschoolscup
U15 Vase Altrincham Grammar School v Graveney School -11am
U15 Cup QEGS Wakefield v Warwick School - 12.30pm
U18 Vase Exeter College v Trent College - 2.00pm
U18 Cup Warwick School v Dulwich College - 3.40pm
Entry is free
For more information, go to: www.rfu.com/natwestschoolscup
www.facebook.com/natwestrugby and https://twitter.com/SchoolsCup
