SPORT 1ST XV Rugby Played 13, Won 10, Lost 3. The 2018 season will be remembered as both a highly successful and enjoyable season. If I’m honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when we started pre-season at the end of the summer term and early September. After suffering many defeats last year, and a large exodus of Year 13 rugby stalwarts, would the young looking new recruits be able to fare any better? Were we in for another year of tough times? In the off-season I was pro-active in the transfer market and was fortunately able to sign one quality player, who could anchor the scrummage and boost our options in our front row. Will Irons came in from Radley and made an immediate impact. Not only would he prove solid in the set-piece, but his ball carrying ability was a revelation. His tireless work ethic and courage was a huge addition to the team’s quality. The pack didn’t take long to take shape and the solid and mature (in terms of school years) front five of Will Irons, Sammy Robertson, Ore Oyinloye, Adil Munir and Tom Aston
34
would give us the foundation to build upon. That said, competition for places in the pack was fierce with the youngsters of Tom Giles, Tom Lane, Archie Davies, Ben Mulholland and Will Lindars all pushing hard to make the starting line-up. In those first few weeks as coach I was called upon to make some brave decisions. Decisions that would make or break this team. Not being one to shy away from a tough decision, I made the appropriate calls which shook up pre-conceived selection ideas. For example, following poor punctuality and discipline at Bedford Modern, Adil was dropped from the starting Number 8 role and relegated to the bench. Young Welsh Exile Ben Mulholland took over the responsibility at the base of the scrum and Adil was left to scrap his way back into the team as a 2nd row. The construction of an effective backline would be a much harder task to solve and this didn’t happen quickly. In the early weeks, we experimented with both Ollie Speake and Dylan Taylor at fly half, and through midfield the combinations of Harvey Mack, George Bates and Shea Minty. However, every time I thought we had found the correct balance, injuries would strike and we would be forced to start again. The loss of both Shea
The Aylesburian 2018/2019
Minty and Joe Chapman for lengthy spells was a major blow and didn’t help our continuity. Thankfully the young pairing of Alex Butler and Kit Fairhurst on the wings was working well and this was one less issue to worry about. At scrumhalf, it was clear that Tom Nuttall would be a handful for any opposition. Having grown in stature and intellect over the summer, he was starting to show his class and dominate the space around the breakdown. When he scored a hat-trick of tries against Royal Latin in the Natwest Vase, we knew we had unearthed a real talent. The only element missing from his game was the ability to box kick. This would prove an area for development over the next few months but by the end of the season, he had become the allround package of a quality nine. Over the course of the season, we would go on and win 10 of our 13 games. Notable scalps were Northampton School for Boys, City of London Freemans School, Wellingborough and Kings Grantham from Staffordshire. Our successful run to the last 16 in the Natwest Vase was grabbing attention nationally and it was nice to be selected at one of the Top 5 Teams of the weekend after our win against NSB.
