Brentwood School - Brentwoodian 2020

61 Rugby U15C I have had the privilege of being Captain of the U15 mighty C team and being coached by Dr Dingwell. We didn’t have the most successful season however we fought and persevered through the tough games. We started off with a big game against St Alban’s where we were down 76-0 and then Connor Smithers made a darting run to close the gap and make it 76-5. We knew that we had to improve for our next game and Skinners’ School were our opponents. We battled hard but lost 40-0. It could have been a lot worse if not for some brave tackles from Thinod Balage Don, Samuel Walsh, Louis Delea and Angus Hampson. We then went on to battle against Mill Hill where we lost 64-7. A great performance from Alex Howard and Simeon McGill, scoring a try, and Nahiyan Islam, scoring a conversion. Jeevan Hayer battled well playing on with a very severe injury. Our next game, which was our closest to being a victory, was against New Hall where we went 21-0 up with a hat-trick of tríes from Anthony Ashaye. He then had to go up to the B team after his fabulous performance and we ended up losing 34-21. Other notable performances came from Josh Peacock, Joe Herbert and Toby McBurney. Overall the star player who outperformed everyone else was Felix Kyte making lots of tackles and winning lots of rucks. In a close second came, new boy, Harry Plackett who made some outstanding last man tackles to prevent many tries. Helping me lead the side we had William Griffin, setting a good example for the rest of the lads. I’d like to thank Dr Dingwell for being such a great coach and helping us to improve over the term. By Archie Flashman U14B Over the course of the Michaelmas term the U14B team had a very successful season; indeed, we grew stronger and more confident with every game and training session, which would not have not been possible without the influence of our coaches, Mr Clark and Mr Hitchings. At the start of the term we had a few tough fixtures which we narrowly lost. However, as we developed over the season, I feel we would have easily beaten these teams if we replayed them. One of the standout performances was definitely our final game in which we played Dartford Grammar School, beating them 15 - 5 (last year we lost to them by 40-0). We also managed some great wins with our 55-5 win over Ipswich school and our 43-10 win over New Hall (even though we were 10 points down at half-time). Another notable scalp was our 27-5 win over Bishop’s Stortford. This season has been a great one. Overall, the team has developed so much, and a massive part of this improvement is due to our coach, Mr Clark. I will certainly not miss his gruelling fitness sessions, despite them being vital to our ever improving performances. By Cameron Joy U14C This was a challenging season for the U14C squad, who finished with two wins and seven losses to their name. After a bruising opening game at St Alban’s, the boys started to make up for what they lacked in strength and speed with a rapid improvement in structural organisation and core skills. We remained competitive with most of our remaining opponents, playing excellent, fast-paced rugby at times, but lacking the strength in defence to contain dangerous ball-carriers consistently. Our patience and training was justly rewarded in November when we gained wins in a triangular fixture against two Tonbridge teams. Positive leadership from James Prince and Toby Jones gave the team the will to battle through to the last minute of every match. Our top scorer was second row Lawrence Lo, with seven tries in eight games, followed by scrum-half, Alex O’Neal, with three tries and three conversions. Special mention must also be made of Alfie Bradbrook, Freddie Abbott, and Lucas Wright, who all played in every single match and typified the commitment and good humour which characterised the season. By Mr Hitchings