1st XV: Won 25-18 vs Shirley BHS 1st XV

Wednesday 24th 2nd XV vs Christ’s College 2nd XV, Lost 12-10

This week has been a challenge for the 2nd XV.

In our mid-week catch up game from the holidays we faced Christ’s College on Wednesday. After an early Christ’s try we responded, and showed we were hungry for a win after the holiday spell. Christ’s scored late in the first half, to take the lead 12-10. A significant injury minutes into the second half resulted in. The abandonment of the game. The good news is whilst Dylan’s season is over, he is on the mend.

2nd XV: Lost 19-24 vs STC 2nd XV

After the loss on Wednesday it was essential we took a win in this match if we were to have any realistic chance of making the semi-finals. From the start we looked like we were in control and with an unconverted try by Josh Stenberg within the first few minutes and dominating the opposition midfield, we were soon adding to our score when Ben Higginbottom broke the defence to score, setting up a straight forward conversion for Josh Stenberg.

In the first half St Thomas would only score once, missing the conversion. The half concluded with Cam Gamble running in a try between the posts and with the conversion we went into the half leading by 19-5.

The second half was a valuable lesson for any rugby player about not letting the opposition get in their heads. A few niggles and a bit of frustration from the opposition lead to some low level conflicts, but it was enough for our players to lose sight of the objective and rather than concentrate on the game, too much attention was focussed on off the ball incidents. The opposition capitalised on our departure from a solid game plan adding 19 points to our zero in the second half, and securing the 24-19 win.

3rd XV: Won 19-10 vs Merivale Papanui

4th XV: Lost 10-15 to CBHS “Blue”

U16A: Won 26-5 vs CC U16 “A” (Wednesday 24th)

After a long period with no games and coming off a heavy defeat in our last outing, the boys were keen to get back out on the field. A midweek game against Christ’s College A marked the start of 4 games in two weeks for the U16A team and we certainly got a competition. Christs College came at us with everything they had despite the fact they had suffered some injuries and were down on manpower. A few of their U15 boys stepped up and provided stiff opposition in a tight first half battle that saw the score 7-0 to St. Bede’s. We had several attacking opportunities thwarted through our own handling errors and by Christ’s dogged defence. A try to our halfback Jack Goodin saw St. Bede’s take the lead at the 15min mark, the conversion by Charlie Stenberg made it 7 and that was how the half ended. Christ’s started the second half with continued enthusiasm and attacked for long periods. A sustained 5 min raid on our line saw them drive over for a well deserved try which ended up being unconverted. This was the spark that St. Bede’s needed to get their asses into gear. From the subsequent kick-off St. Bede’s swept the length of the field and Oliver Lyons scored next to the posts. We quickly added 2 more tries to Deakyn Fraser and Charlie Stenberg to put the game out of reach for Christ’s. While it took 60 minutes for the boys to warm up, the last 10 minutes was worth the wait with some of the best support running we have seen all year. We named two pink hat performers of the day, Jaden Houghton and Mitch Shaw.

U16A: Won 79-0 St Andrews U16 A

Having only played on Wednesday in what was a battle of a game, we had a few players a little worse for wear. After a great training on Thursday and a debrief about the game, enthusiasm was high for our Saturday outing against St Andrews. The last 10 mins of our Wednesday game set a benchmark for how we want to play, and we carried on almost immediately into our clash with STAC. A first try within 3 minutes to our IRP player Shotaro Fujiu came from structured forward play and quick ball out wide. A cross field kick from the base of a ruck by Jack Goodin found its way into the waiting arms of Angus Hammett who dotted down for one of the most spectacular tries of our season. And to be fair the tries kept coming. Support play running lead to numerous opportunities that were finished with clinical accuracy. St Andrews were spirited and in no way ever gave up. A few replacements for STAC at halftime gave some impetus to their attack and definitely slowed us down. The defensive work by St Bedes was impressive and the desire to protect our line saw us maintain a clean slate for the game. It was a great all round team performance which saw contributions from every member of our squad. It was hard to single out individuals but our Pink Hat Performers were Dom Petelo and Zeke DeGouw. In all honesty it could have gone to anyone on the team!! A Hammett 3 Tries, B Shipley 2 Tries, C Stenberg 2 Tries 7 Conv, H Bruhns Croy 1 Try, Z DeGouw 1 Try, O Lyons 1 Try, S Fujiu 1 Try, L Potts 1 Try, J Wright 1 Try.

U16B: Won 54-17 vs Merivale Papanui U16

U15A: Won 59-5 vs StAC U15 “A”

U15 Red: Won 34-10 vs StAC U15B

U15 Black: Lost 0-79 to CBHS “Gold”

U14A: Won 53-17 vs Shirley BHS U14 “A”

U14B: Won 77-0 vs StAC U14 “White”

St. Bede’s under 14B had all the running on their No.4 home ground on Saturday scoring a convincing 77-nil win against a valiant St. Andrews. From the first play St. Bede’s jumped out of the starting gates to romp away for a try in the opening minutes and held their composure to steadily build their winning edge while keeping St Andrews at bay. St. Bede’s dominated possession in the forwards recycling the ball and gaining turnovers with forward Sam McAfee emerging as a key link and being named player of the day for his efforts. Other forwards with big contributions included Wills McIntyre, Lorenzo Fasi and Jack Dennehy-Coles. Efforts by St. Andrews to counter the St. Bede’s offensive in the first half were countered by solid tackling and good cover featuring Logan Clark who spent most of the season side-lined with a broken arm and returned to bolster the defence and score an outstanding try. Zander McCloy was also back in the fray after a bout of concussion.

The energy and zest to get amongst it and make up for opportunities lost in the early stage of the season was a feature of the match with copy book forward play and sweeping running in the backs. It was a delight to see

U58kgs “Red”: Won 38-27 vs Burnside RFC U58 kgs

There were only 3 games to go in the Round Robin part of the season, and after 2 losses we were at risk of not making the Top 4. Playing Burnside, who hadn't lost a game in the Round Robin was always going to be a big challenge, especially after 4 weeks off (St Thomas's defaulted). Our boys turned up knowing the situation and knowing what they had to do, and they did it. We played as a team and scored some great team tries. Unfortunately though, every time we scored we would follow it up with an error and Burnside would strike back.

We scored, they scored, then got an intercept and Ben Trillo who is a Year 9 Bedean playing for Burnside ran in a 80m try. By Half time it was even, except 1 a missed conversion. In the second half the boys continued to show their fight, and their desire to make the Top 4, scoring a couple more great team tries taking us out to a 11 point lead which they then defended stoutly to eventually win 38 to 27. Bedean of the day was Jacob Burke who showed great desperation and attitude around the field, making a number of crucial tackles and inflicting his size and power on the opposition. We have the St Bede’s Black team on Wednesday, and the Christ’s College on Saturday to finish the week and hopefully secure a place in the top 4.

U58kgs “Black”: Won 39-10 vs STC U58 kgs