2004 Rugby Report
It has been one of the most successful seasons
for rugby at Theale in recent years. The boys
have been turning up to training in their
droves with over 80 in attendance on many
occasions.
The commitment and enthusiasm has been
outstanding, giving each team plenty of
strength in depth but also giving the teachers
a tough job when selecting teams. Even now as
the end of the year approaches and the cold
nights close in, there are still new faces
coming to training – an encouraging sign for
next season!
Year 7
have shown a lot of promise in spite of a
number of defeats. They were entered into a
tough league at the Newbury floodlit
competition and put up some stern opposition
against the likes of Park House and St Barts.
Their skills and confidence will continue to
develop in training and more fixtures are
currently being arranged for next year.
After an inconsistent season in Year 7 rugby,
the current Year 8’s registered their first
victory with a comprehensive 20-0 win over The
Willink School. They have been training hard
with a number of the boys giving up their
lunch times to hone their individual skills.
Their success has been repeated with wins
against Langtree and Waingels Copse.
In Year 10 there has been a core of boys whose
commitment to school rugby has been admirable.
They have only played a handful of fixtures
but they still continue to give their all at
training. A win of 80-15 against Willink was
followed by a very tough game against Little
Heath. The game was eventually lost, but
encouragement can be gained from the fact that
the opposition was a mixture of Year 10 and 11
pupils. The boys also finished 5th
in their first experience of rugby 7’s at
Highdown School.
It has been hard for the Year 11’s to play
full fixtures as many of the boys have a
number of other commitments to school work and
sports outside school. Even so, my faith in
their ability has not waned since my first
year of teaching at Theale. Because of this,
they were entered alongside the Year 10’s in
the inaugural Rugby Sevens Tournament at
Highdown School. The Year 11 squad won all of
their games without conceding a single try in
the whole competition. The boys played their
hearts out for each other to produce some
outstanding moments in front of a partisan
crowd. The winning squad are Kelvin Callender,
Bruno Bamberger, Tom Bowles, Andy Scott, Jack
Penley, Paul Beaumont, Matthew Madders and
Michael Edwards.
Year 9’s have had their most successful season
to date with only one defeat thus far. Two
early victories were notched up against
Willink (20-15) and Prospect (30-0).In the
County Cup competition they started with a
71-0 win over Altwood School in Maidenhead.
This was followed by a closely fought second
round encounter with Waingels Copse that ended
in our favour with a 24-21 victory. The boys
then faced Pangbourne College. Nobody doubted
that this would be a real contest and sure
enough the team were a try down after only a
few minutes. The Year 9’s then showed
excellent character to turn the game around
and win 26-8. This was a marvellous display by
the whole squad. The boys came up against
their strongest opposition in the semi-final
against Windsor Boys School. This was a
closely fought encounter that could have gone
either way but sadly the boys narrowly lost by
15 points to 10.
The team was also entered into the Newbury
Floodlit league. As Year 8’s the boys failed
to win a single game in what is always a tough
competition. This year however, the results
speak for themselves. There have been runaway
victories over Kennet (55-0), Downs (55-5) and
St Barts (68-0). The victory against St Barts
was the most exceptional and inspired display
that I have witnessed by any school team. The
opposition didn’t get a look in as every man
in the seventeen-strong squad gave it
everything they had. This run of good form
continued with their final match of the
competition against Park House. Both sides
were undefeated at this point so the game was
played as a final. After their defeat in the
county semi-final the boys were determined to
get a result. The usual thorough preparation
and warm-up was followed by a disappointing
start as Park House went one try up after only
two minutes. Again, the Year 9 team showed
magnificent character to regain their
composure and turn the game around. The score
was 10-5 to Theale by half-time and the
pressure was maintained throughout the second
half until the final score of 35-5. It is hard
to pick out individuals from such a talented
squad as every boy gave their all to pull off
this fantastic victory. Even the injured Andy
Sharp was there to cheer on his team-mates in
this final match - this goes to show just how
much it meant to all involved. Special mention
also goes to
Joel
Coakley for his selection to the county
squad.
My final words are to thank all the boys who
have trained and played this year, to Greg
Carr in Year 12 for all the time and effort he
has put into the Year 9 team this year, and
also to David Ireland for his willingness to
help out in training. We look forward to
another successful season next year.
Mr Nicholson
A
Very Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year
to you all !