Felix Taylor-Kimmins: the first I have seen at this level in nine seasons. It finished, memorably, with Monmouth’s star player flying down the wing, a single defender left to beat to win the game, the home crowd cheering, disaster looming: only for William Kace to chop him down and bundle him into touch. Monmouth 15 - Cheltenham College 15. A tough day against Sherborne School preceded a fitting end to the season: Blundell’s School found the likes of Max Pinkham and Will Taylor unstoppable as we ran in 11 tries. The squad were terrific to work with all season and I wish them every success in their rugby careers.
Mr Tom Lambert (Coach)
Yearlings C
Record: played 6; won 1; drew 0; lost 5 points for 49; points against 247; points difference -198 Tom Buxton (3rd, Xt), Andre Zamora Morales (3rd, S), Peter Marstrand (3rd, S), Seb Burden (3rd, BH), Vladimir Afanasyev (3rd, L), Gus Edwards (3rd, H), Jude Bridge (3rd, S), Nikita Vashchenko (3rd, Xt), Charlie Baker (3rd, NH), Billy Mayes (3rd, H), Luke Browning (3rd, Xt), Ethan Tsang (3rd, BH), Theodore Cheung (3rd, Xt), Ned Hanbury (3rd, BH), Stanley Mok (3rd, Xt), Omaan Khyra (3rd, H), Archie Faskin (3rd, H), Oliver Schallamach (3rd, BH), Charlie Shannon (3rd, Xt), Zhong Zhuang (3rd, S), Wing Yan Cheung (3rd, L), Hector Mur Lopez (3rd, NH), Will Dangerfield (3rd, S), George Gardner (3rd, S), Sunny Chung (3rd, NH), Krish Patel (3rd, L) This team will be remembered for their commitment, positive attitude and progression. Early season defeats by Marlborough College and Rugby School signalled that the boys would have to work hard to improve if these results were to be turned around. Undeterred by the task, strong characters within the team such as Jude Bridge, Tom Buxton, Gus Edwards, Ned Hanbury and Peter Marstrand (and many others) led by example and trained hard, in order to try to turn defeats into wins. Improvements indeed began to come midway through the season, where we scored tries against St Edward’s School, Oxford, Radley College and Monmouth School. The highlight of the season and the cumulation of the effort of the whole team came against Sherborne School. Determined to record a victory, the team responded well when an early try was scored by Sherborne as their fast centre cut through our defence. From then on however, the intensity and determination showed by College was too much for Sherborne to handle. By the second half the Sherborne defence was tiring after the relentless efforts by the College pack, and the tries duly followed. Jude Bridge’s tackling was a great asset to the team as he captained by example; he would always put himself on the line for the team. Theodore Cheung’s and Ethan Tsang’s lightning pace was causing problems in the right areas and Hector Mur Lopez was finally revelling in being involved in the attacking parts of the pitch. Meanwhile Stanley Mok’s considerable kicking ability ensured that the score board ticked over nicely in our favour. A welldeserved 40-10 victory was the end result. What was most impressive about these players
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The Cheltonian 2016-2017
was how they embraced (rather than shied away from) the early defeats and used them as a basis to learn and improve. Even in matches where they lost heavily, their team spirit always shone through and was often noted by the opposition. In short: it was a wonderful season to be part of and the win against Sherborne showed clearly the potential of the team in the years ahead.
Mr James Stubbert (Coach)
Rosslyn Park-Round Up
After a total of seven tournaments across the term for the 14s, 16s and 18s, the rugby sevens season ended with a climax in the shape of the Rosslyn Park Nations Schools Sevens tournament. Some 750 schools compete across the five days, making it the largest school tournament in the world. The Seniors, largely made up of Lower Sixth students bar the exception of Edward Johnston (U6, L) and Jamie Thorley (U6, B), entered the tournament in good form knowing that the potential in the squad could progress them into the knock out stages. The opening rounds against King’s School, Bruton and Mount Kelly School were a steady test and took their toll on the squad; we lost James Davies (L6, H) to a dislocated shoulder in the first carry. However, this didn’t deter the players and we went into our third match of the group against Merchant Taylors’ School knowing that the winner would top the group and progress into the knock out stages. College played fantastically from start to finish and starved the opposition of the ball. Some lovely touches from Daniel Ward (L6, NH) and Josh Hughes (L6, NH) freed up Jamie Thorley (L6, BH) to touch down early on and some heroic defending from Thomas Stanton (L6, H) kept Merchant Taylors’ at bay. The game finished 28-7 and this form continued into our last game of the group against Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr, where College, on a wider pitch, played some free flowing rugby that resulted in a comfortable win. The squad then progressed into the knock out game against Loughborough Endowed Schools, who had also won their group. The players had saved their best till last and produced the performance of the day, scoring some length of the field tries through fantastic support play and offloads. The team went into the group quarter final having only conceded four tries on day one. On day two we faced two teams who were previous winners of the tournament in Stowe School and Monmouth School and also regular opponents in the fifteen man game. Both games were great spectacles and College came from behind in each to snatch victory. The sheer ‘never say die’ attitude from the players was quite remarkable.
progress into the final. It was a nervy start and some uncharacteristic errors allowed Bromsgrove to get the upper hand. With four minutes remaining, the team were 17-7 down and looking to go out of the tournament. However a moment of brilliance from Josh Hughes (L6, NH) split the defence open and some fantastic support play from Jamie Thorley (U6, BH) meant College had yet again come from behind and progressed into the final of Rosslyn Park; the first time in 12 years. The final, being streamed live, was watched by many back at College. St John’s School, Leatherhead, who had arguably been the form side in the tournament, were the opposition. They started extremely well and through errors of our own, went into half time 21-7 up. But yet again College wouldn’t give in and a great pick up from Josh Hughes (L6, NH) freed Zeno Burchi-Khairy (L6, XT) on the left wing, who went in to score unopposed and set up a tense finish. College had the momentum and a great turnover at the scrum, freed Thomas Stanton (L6, H) to dive in the corner to set up a kick to tie the game. It unfortunately was an extremely difficult kick to make and just dropped short meaning St John’s took the title. Nevertheless, throughout the tournament the team went above and beyond what was asked of them. Playing 10 games over two days is some challenge. Led fantastically by Edward Johnston (U6, L), the sheer will and desire to come from behind on countless occasions and perform the way they did was a credit to themselves and the school. Well done! Each team did fantastically well and represented themselves and the school with distinction. Overall the four teams played:
28 Games; Won 21; Lost 4; Drew 1 A huge thank you must go to all the coaches who trained the players and took teams to tournaments around the country. We look forward to doing it all again next year!
Shooting Clays
Shooting at College this year has been a great experience; the team have grown from strength to strength and we have been coached by some great people. Ian Coley’s Shooting Ground has been excellent in catering for all our training needs and we are certain that this excellent facility has been one of many key factors in our success this year. Those successes have come in many forms: in our team we have had the Ladies’ High Gun of three competitions and the runner up of plenty more.
Naturally the six teams left in the competition are the top rugby schools in the country and with each player needing every ounce of energy, we faced another tough group in St Peter’s School, York, who were unbeaten in their XV season and back-to-back Natwest Cup Champions, Bromsgrove School. The first game against St Peter’s was a physical encounter which College managed to hold on and win 14-10. The team therefore needed a win against Bromsgrove to
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