Rugby Report

It was another busy week for Pangbourne rugby with mid-week fixtures and the usual weekend block against Bloxham.  The U14’s were the mid-week highlight putting back to back wins over Leighton Park the week before and a comprehensive 52-5 victory over Forest school in the first round of the Berkshire Cup. Man of the match performances from Oli Rayner for his try saving tackle and Gabreil Knapp.  Jake Lawrance deserves a mention for his raw pace aiding his two tires and Jack James for his brace.

The 1st XV faced a strong and unbeaten Bloxham side keen to avenge last year’s heavy defeat. Bloxham certainly started the stronger and dominated the opening encounters with a well-deserved 8-0 lead. This seemed to awake the red army and after powerful surges from the forwards the ball was spread wide to the impressive Nelson who pinned his ears back to out sprint the covering defence, 8-5. However, Bloxham would not lie down and continued to be a threat with an excellent off-loading game, crossing the line to finish the half 13-5.

The second half saw a rejuvenated Pangbourne side score four excellent tries. The highlight came from an excellent piece of individual skill from skipper and man of the match Sam Rossiter. He chipped the ball into open space for speedster Freddie Hargreaves, managing to retrieve the ball he dove over the line to make his brace. Bloxham still continued to throw the ball around and their persistence paid off taking them to a 27-22 lead with 10 minutes left on the clock. After end to end passages of play and a determined attitude, this eventually led to a superb break from Doug Jefferis, Sam Rossiter finishing it off to level the scores at 27-27. Rossiter held his nerve to secure a 29-27 victory.

 Other excellent team performances came from the U14 B’s winning 41-0, men of the match, Barney Symons, Ian Blanch and Charlie Jamieson. The U15 B’s were also victorious beating Bloxham 24-5, recording their first win of the season. This performance was based on a great collective effort and the team should be proud of their progress over the past few weeks.  Tries were scored by Henry Bearman, Ruper Butcher and Rory Findlay and makes them team of the week. The U14 A’s & U16 B’s all fought hard in strongly contested matches, narrowly losing.  The boys showed superb resilience and under different circumstances the result could have gone our way.

 Special individual performances came from the following:

- Olly Rogers, Cunnigham and Harris in the U16B’s.

- Joel Fletcher in the U14 A’s.

Another busy week ahead with the 1st XV playing in their 1st Round Natwest Cup match home on Wednesday and a full Saturday block against Mill Hill.