Rugby report

After a tough set of fixtures, the rugby club put in a good week of training in preparation for the matches against Mill Hill on Saturday. However, the U15’s had a particularly intense week with a midweek Natwest Cup match against St Bartholomew’s School, Newbury.

The team played superbly and ran in try after try, combining some powerful forward play with a skilful backline who found gaps in the defence on a regular basis. The team blew the opposition off the park with the match finishing early after a 50 point gap had opened up. The U15’s continued their form into the weekend with another quality performance against Mill Hill. A 27-37 point  victory rounded off an excellent week and the team is now on a 4 game winning streak… lets hope this continues this week when we meet Shiplake. These performances make them ‘team of the week’.

Other excellent performances came from the U14 squad where the A team won, beating Mill Hill 52-17 and the C team won 42-22. This set of results from the new 3^rd form represent their superb development over the first few weeks of the year and Mr Sutton, and the other U14 coaches, are very proud of how the year group have gelled together.

The rest of the rugby club failed to record a result but, with 4 games being decided by 4 points or less, this was a close block of matches. The senior teams were involved in 2 of these matches with the 2^nd XV getting agonisingly close with a 14-10 loss. Jake Easton and Hugo Bishton matching the number of opposition tries, but conversions making up the difference.

The 1^st XV struggled to get going and after an early mistake Mill Hill capitalised and crossed the line. This seemed to focus the team and Pangbourne struck back, Harry Farrant crossing in the corner. The pressure continued and a second Pangbourne try went begging, the ball being fumbled over the try line. The game became a close, tightly contested affair with breaks from both teams. Alex Bancroft kept the opposition pinned back in their own half, but poor tackling from the red army let Mill Hill find space. Late in the second half Mill Hill made a decisive break and their winger crossed in the corner, putting them 20-16 ahead. Pangbourne rallied but couldn’t get the final score and the match finished with an agonising defeat.

 

David Metcalfe