18 September 2019
The first block fixture of the season was against St Paul’s School. With Abingdon’s pitches too hard to play on our U14s, U15s and U18s all ventured into the ‘big smoke’ of London for a cracking day's rugby on a baking hot Saturday. Our U16s stayed at home playing back to back on Waste Court.
For some of the U14s it was their first match for Abingdon. Our U14 Cs won 52-0 against St Paul’s Ds. The U14 Bs lost 19-0 and the U14 As lost 31-0. For a first run out it could not be much tougher.
Our U15s made the trip onto London. Results were U15 Cs lost 32-24, U15 Bs lost 24-12 and the U15 As lost 24-7. Huge potential and lots to learn against a well-oiled St Paul’s.
Our U16 Bs played St Paul’s Cs on Waste Court winning 24-7. And our U16 As played their A winning 5-0 in a closely contested match. Superb achievement and one that can only give confidence and momentum into the season.
The whole sixth form squad have been training superbly well, but travelled into town expecting a tough encounter. The matches did not disappoint. The 4th XV went down 22-3 with three scores coming against them early in the first half after the long journey. The 3rd XV lost 20-0 to a solid St Paul’s outfit with the score for most of the game at 0-0. Our 2nd XV lost 24-11 against a strong 2nd XV playing well for large parts of the match.
Our 1st XV had a cracker of a match. Unfortunately not starting well with issues at the line out, so unable to gain possession to launch their attack. 7-0 down at half time the players re-grouped and used a simple line out platform to great effect scoring twice from it. The final few minutes were tense with opportunities to get the win, but the final score was 19-14. The team will be disappointed as it was one that got away. But with five starters from the previous St Edward's match unfortunately out for a week or two it shows the strength and depth of the whole senior squad this season.
In summary, some excellent games and a high standard of rugby early in the season. We look forward to Bloxham and Cokethorpe for many of our teams on Wednesday. The next block fixture is the 28 September versus Berkhamsted School.
