St Andrew’s wins a hatrick of county titles in a week
St Andrew’s Prep has won a hat-trick of county titles this week. Following on from the U11 Girls’ Hockey team success, many congratulations to the U13 and the U12 rugby teams who clinched the Sussex county schools’ titles of their respective age groups on Wednesday.
The U12s started nervously against their opponents, Warden Park, and went a try down relatively early in the game but the team gradually settled down and the forwards began to take control at the breakdown with some superb work from Oliver S and Giles W-S. There was great skill in the ruck from the pack and in particular from Zac C and Henry D who allowed scrum half William N to set up the backs. There was also some excellent running on the wing by Tom S who was rewarded with two blistering tries. The team continued to dominate the game in the second half and Ethan D regularly broke the Warden Park’s defensive line. Towards the end of the game the ball handling of St Andrew’s proved too much for the opposition and Henry D went over the line from close range and Zac C ran in two tries. An excellent performance from all the U12 team.
Final score St Andrew’s 31 Warden Park 14
Team: William C, Tom S, William C, Ethan D, Pui C, Thomas P, William N, Giles W-S, Edward G, Zac C, Henry D, Oliver S, Guy C, Daniel J, Batuhan K and Archie S.
The U13 match was always going to be hard against a very strong Dorothy Stringer team with a great track record. Our forwards were also weakened with the injury of one of our best players, Ethan H, who offered his support from the sidelines. In appalling weather conditions, the game ebbed and flowed with both sides coming close to scoring. Eventually, our three-quarter line managed to avoid the heavy tackling and speed of the Stringer backs and Joshua V ran in a superb try. After half-time, the Stringer team threw everything they had at St Andrew’s and their forwards dominated the game and managed to score and convert. With eight minutes to go, St Andrew’s fought back and some great work by the forwards allowed a good second phase ball for Spike Gleave who side stepped three players to score under the posts and clinch the Sussex Cup title.
Final score: St Andrew’s 12 Dorothy Stringer 7 and an unbeaten season for the First XV.
Team: Joseph A-H (Vice-Capt), Louis L, Henry D, Scott W, Timothy J (Vice-Capt), Ethan H, Joseph L, Max M, Leon W,(Capt) Sebastian G, Joshua V, Kieran M, William R, William C, Toby A, Zac C, Thomas P, Edward A, Evan N, Domenico C.
