26 November 2018
On Friday Abingdon Prep hosted their 8th annual Under 13 Rugby Sevens Festival. There were several schools taking part including; Pitsford, Cothill House, St Andrew’s, Pinewood and Beachborough, as well as our own A and B VIIs. In line with the RFU regulations the festival was run as a ‘waterfall’ festival with four teams in each of the two groups.
Despite being beaten in all of their matches, the Abingdon Prep Bs grew in confidence and showed great character as the festival progressed. In their final match against Pitsford they finally managed to cross the ‘white wash’ on three occasions to rapturous applause from the spectators. They will have gained a great deal from the experience.
The Abingdon Prep As won their first match convincingly against the Pinewood As by 54 – 0, a huge improvement from their previous 5 – 0 victory against the same opposition at the Pinewood Sevens Festival on the Wednesday. They went into their next match with renewed confidence.
Two convincing wins against Beachborough (54-0) and Pitsford (36-0) set them up for the 1st and 2nd place play-off against a very physical St Andrew’s outfit.
The team knew that they had to play to the edges of the pitch to stretch and tire the opposition. However, possession in the first half was scarce and St Andrew’s sucked Abingdon Prep into a physical battle where we were always going to come out second best.
Trailing by three tries to nil in the second half Abingdon Prep narrowed St Andrew’s lead with a well worked try towards the end of the half. The final score was 7-19 which meant that the Abingdon Prep As were worthy runners-up!
Both Abingdon Prep teams showed great character during the afternoon and the boys were a credit to themselves and the School.
U13 A Squad: Archie (Capt.), Foon, Todd, Daniel, Zachary, Freddie, Oliver, Jasper and Samson
U13 B Squad: Freddie, Leo, Rupert, Quinn, Takumi, Sammy, Jack, Luke, Pedro and Tye
U13 A VII
vs Pinewood A Won 54 – 0
vs Beachborough Won 54 – 0
vs Pitsford Won 36 – 0
vs St Andrew’s Lost 7 – 19 (1st & 2nd Place Play-Off )
U13 B VII
vs St Andrew’s Lost 0 – 64
vs Cothill Lost 0 – 36
vs Pinewood B Lost 0 – 7
vs Pitsford Lost 19 – 24 (7th & 8th Place Play-Off)
