First weekend of rugby

1st XV vs Shirley BHS won 38-8

The cliché a game of two halves was never more obvious than in the match against Shirley Boys' on Saturday. St Bede’s played some very attractive and at times expansive rugby to have a 38 -5 lead at half time. However in the second a combination of solid Shirley defence, a number of penalties and an easing off of the pressure saw only Shirley score a lone penalty in the second half for a final score of 38-8. This was pleasing when you consider our previous two encounters were nail biters that went down to the final whistle. Another encouraging aspect was that though we have showed that we can score points in previous matches this was a very good defensive effort. The Billy Harmon Medal for player of the day was awarded to Andre Sula who had a storming game at lock. Things do not get any easier with our next match against Christ’s College at Christ’s. All in all a good beginning to the season.

St Bedes: 38 (tries to Cameron Rawlings (2), Campbell Allison (2), Mason Allison and Isaac Hutchinson, Mason Allison 4 conversions)

SBHS: 8

2nd XV vs CBHS 2nd XV won 21-12

It was as good a start to a campaign as could be imagined. Having not beaten the CBHS 2nd XV since 2010, the team has set a very high benchmark to build upon. The team dominated territory and possession for most of the game. However, going into halftime CBHS led 3-7, but flanker Mitch Pile made an intercept and ran 40m to put us up 10-7 at the break. The team was bolstered and went into the second half with confidence that saw us perform even better. Highlights were the lineout and the teams' ability to play with the structure they've been preparing for throughout the pre-season. As Captain Charlie Stenberg had a strong game scoring 16 points. The team was satisfied with the performance and the result, but all identified plenty of room for improvement despite this strong start.

3rd XV vs CBHS U18 "Straven"

Nice afternoon for early season rugby. The ground at Nunweek was surprisingly soft. The boys arrived relaxed and smiling. Coach Kyle calmly brought them into a huddle and made a team of them.

Two half games, two sets of opposition and subs at each quarter for the first of two grading weekends. Lots of good structure in play. Forwards forming pods, half backs spinning the ball left and right. Inside backs breaking the line but also distributing wide to outside speedsters when the time was right. The 3rds won both the half games. Team confidence setting the platform for some great running tries. 

4th XV vs CBHS "Colts" lost 0-29

U75kgs "Red" vs StAC u75kgs won 46-5  

The St Bede’s U75kg Red team started the season well and showed a lot of promise against a willing St Andrew’s team. As was to be expected there was a lot of rust in the first game of the season, but with some direct running from Charlie Coakley at the base of the scrum and good tactical play from Captain Matthew Mun at 10, St Bede’s were able to stretch out to a comfortable 46-5 victory. There were a number of notable performances in both attack and defence, in particular two try saving tackles by Gus Knutson and Ronan Davidson in the first half.

The game broke up in the second half as fatigue began to settle in, but the team were delighted to start the season with a big win.

U75 "Black" vs CBHS u75kgs won 27-26 

U65kgs vs SBHS u65kgs won 32-29

First game and a first up win. The culture was set from the word go, as the pre start huddle and prayer before kick off demonstrated the team wanted to start the season with a positive intent. It’s a big squad and yet the players were happy to take their turn and support each other. The forwards showed great promise with getting over the ball and breaking the advantage line. What impressed was how there were positive signs of throwing the ball wide to be rewarded with fantastic tries. There was no man that shied away from the tackle, with boys putting their body on the line.

A big thank you to today's coach, Elliott Prendergast - we wish him all the best for his next coaching position. (Matt Tippen)

U15 "Red" vs Hillmorton HS won 27-0  & vs StAC won 31-0 

We had our first grading games today. The first game was against Hillmorton High School.

The team put in place a number of the skills that they have been working on in their first full week of practise since being announced. Across the whole team they executed the drills and game plan they have been working on over the last weeks. The scrums, lineouts and back play all worked very well. On attack we kept control of the ball which give Hillmorton few opportunities.

On defence everyone worked as a team and came up in a line and stopped all assaults on our line. The half ended with a 27-0 win to St Bede's. The second half game was against St Andrew's Collage and the boys continued where they left off in the first half. Dominance in the line out on defence and attack with St Bede's winning a large number of lineouts against the throw.

The scrum was strong and held their own and won some penalties off their put in. The backs were very focused and kept control of the ball on attack giving St Andrew's very few opportunities.

As with the Hillmorton game the defence was as such that St Andrew's were unable to cross our line. The final score was 31-0 to St Bede's

We had two of the team mates with injuries (Ollie with suspected mild concussion and Genesis with an upper thigh injury) We will know more about the injuries early next week. A good hit out for the team with lots of polishing still to be done.

U15 Black vs CBHS U15B lost 7-12 

U14 Red vs St. Thomas' U14 won 31-22  The Under 14 Reds had a good start to their season with a hard-fought win over St Thomas’ in the first grading game of the season. Although they scored the opening try, for the remainder of the game St Bede’s stayed in front. A highlight of the game was the hard and effective running of a number of the forwards ( Kymani Han-Taunau, Kelby Smith and Brodie Fraser) and in the backs Charlie Applegarth. After limited preparation it was pleasing to see players trying to put in place the things the coaches had talked about and a good team spirt quickly developing.

St Bede’s 31 ( tries to Sione Nuku, Lachie Earl, Ashton Corcoran, Lucas Corcoran, Caleb Stevens, conversions to Cooper McDowall (1) and Reuben McIntyre (2)

St Thomas’ 22

U14 "Black" vs Cashmere drew 26-26  and lost to Christ's College

The team came up against Cashmere in the first half of grading and had a very good start with some early tries. There was some good play out wide and good finishing from Harry Gorman and Jonty Fryer. Everyone played well, with Cashmere coming back in the second half to end it in a draw.

We then played Christ's College (winner v winner) who managed to shut us down and deservedly came away with a convincing win. There were plenty of good skills shown, and plenty to continue to work on in the coming weeks. Well done boys! 

U14 "White" vs CBHS U14 "B" lost 7-36  & vs Christ's College lost 5-24 

U55kgs vs CBHS u55kgs won 47-31

It was a bit of a disjointed start to the day with the official weigh in by CRFU delaying the start to our warm up. It was also a bit worrying that a few of the boys may have been a bit hungry due to not trying to rock the scales over the 55kg threshold. Eventually we got into our warm up with the team smartly turning their minds to the game ahead.

Christchurch Boys' High won the toss and elected to kick off to us, which got our boys immediately into the swing of things. There was some outstanding breakdown play displayed by St Bede's and the continuity of play displayed by the team was really beyond their years. Unfortunately after spending long periods on attack with the ball in hand we found ourselves under our own posts a couple of times due to a minor mistake or rough bounce of the ball. The whole team kept their chins held high and being behind by 14 points only seemed to make the team more determined.

At half time we spoke about how we were still in the game and that we would go out and give it everything in the second spell. Some wise words were also spoken by Will and Jackson, and I could see the boys listening intently to them.

What an absolutely outstanding display of rugby in the second half, everyone in the team pitched in with hard straight running, courageous tackling, great support play and the continuing domination at the breakdown. St Bede's scored numerous unanswered TEAM tries and eventually ran away with the score, finishing up the winners 47-31. I’m glad I wasn’t the one having to pick the Player of the Day awards as this really was a whole team effort. But special mention must go to our tackler of the day Jimmy Ferguson (22) and the U55kg player of the day going to Jake O’Sullivan. Well done boys. A special thanks goes out to Jackson Wright and Will Sparrow for coaching this side, knowledge you impart on these lads at training and dedication to give up your time is greatly appreciated.