On Thursday 21st May our rugby squad travelled to Debenham for the annual rugby tournament.After a term of “after school” rugby, where house matches and inter school matches were held, hopes were high that our talented squad would wrestle the cup away from Debenham (winners for the previous nine years ).
All three matches in the pool stages were won easily with Milo Dring excelling in the first match against Mellis with a quick fire hat-trick. The second match against St Botolphs was also a comfortable success while the final group game against Debenham B was more a close affair but ultimately skilful play from Charlie Smith and William Debenham brought the team home with a 3 tries to 1 victory.
In the semi-final against Stonham Aspal, the team were severely tested for the first time in the tournament but the defence held firm and three good tries were scored before the final whistle.
The team had earned their passage to the final where as expected their opponents would be Debenham. In a keenly contested final where both defences came out on top during long stretches of the game, the match swung in debenham`s favour with a controversial try being awarded to Debenham. Despite this setback, S.R.H. continued to press and only desperate defence from debenham held them out. The second half followed a similar path but Debenham stretched their lead when their speedy runners capitalised on loose play by S.R.H. on more than one occasion. But “heads never dropped” and S.R.H. were rewarded for their endeavours with two well worked tries by William Debenham and George Johnson. In all fairness, the final score of 5 tries to 2 in Debenham`s favour was not a true reflection of the closeness of the game. To lose to such a well drilled and skilful team was no disgrace and Mr Vaughan would like to congratulate and commend everyone for their efforts and good behaviour throughout the afternoon.
The S.R.H. squad was as follows : William Debenham, Charlie Warren, Charlie Smith, George Johnson, Joe Humfrey, Guy Wilson, Milo Dring, Lucy Johnson, Amelia Garvey, Charlotte Matheson-Barr, Imogen Meynall-Anderson, Natalia Toogood.
