St Pauls Remain Unbeaten
On Tuesday 18th October, St. Paul’s Year 9 Rugby team were invited to compete in
the East Grinstead Rugby Tournament. Taking place in Pool B of the tournament were
Thomas Bennett, Downlands, and St. Paul’s.
St. Paul’s opened the tournament playing against an unknown side in Thomas Bennett.
The game started off very even with both teams having their fair share of possession
in attacking positions. Thomas Bennett looked as though they would be the team on
top going into half time with some strong forward play close to the St.Paul’s try
line. However, it was St. Paul’s who went in 7-0 up at half time, Ben Haskell fabulously
intercepting an ambitious pass from the Thomas Bennett scrum half, stepping through
one tackle and then showing his electric pace and stamina to fly the length of the
pitch and score under the posts. In the second half with St. Paul’s playing downhill,
much of the game was played within Thomas Bennet territory. Matt Collier scored
a try early on, playing fantastically off the shoulder of Calum Macaulay and Jack
Donaldson crashed through three Thomas Bennett forwards to add a third late on.
St. Paul’s 21 – 0 Thomas Bennett
This match was followed by Thomas Bennett v Downlands. Thomas Bennett won this match
quite comfortably. St. Paul’s then faced Downlands, whom we played last week.
With the confidence high, Ben Haskell, who excelled throughout the tournament, sent
a very clear message early on to the Downlands side with a crashing tackle sending
his opponent out of touch. This attitude set the standard of the game especially
for Haskell as he opened the scoring moments later with another superb solo try.
With the speed demons of Haskell and Collier and the power house that is Greg Umeh
causing all problems, Downlands were struggling to get a foot in the game. Matt
Collier again combined with Calum Macaulay to score a mirror image try to the one
scored against Thomas Bennett. Greg Umeh added a third try just before half time,
carrying what seemed to be like the whole Downlands side half way up the pitch.
Dec Bennett came so close to scoring his first try for St. Paul’s. Late on in the
second half Greg Umeh scored another powerful try just before Dec Bennett finally
scored his first try for St. Paul’s. Dec was very thankful to Canice who unselfishly
passed to him after a cra zy run through the Downlands side.
Downlands 0 – 33 St. Paul’s
St. Paul’s took the title of Pool B champions, and after 4 matches this year remain
not only unbeaten but still yet to concede a try. A fantastic effort by all involved.
Mr C. White.