7 games won, 5 games lost & 1 draw

1st XV vs  Lincoln/Selwyn Combined Schools won 43-0

The 1st XV travelled to Lincoln High School to play the Selwyn Combined team. This team is composed of players from Lincoln High School, Rolleston College, Ellesmere College and Darfield High School. It was a cap game for three very influential players: Ben Shipley, Jackson Wright and Campbell Allison. It was also the 25th game for Isaac Hutchinson who consequently earned a black tassel for his cap. Isaac later scored an exceptional try, underlining his extraordinary athleticism and gymnastic abilities. The half-time score was 24 nil in our favour. In the second half the contribution from players coming off the bench was significant. This was underscored by Liam Potts scoring two tries. In fitting form, new cap Campbell Allison dotted down twice and the Man of the Match was fellow new cap Ben Shipley. The final score was 43 – 0.

Tries: Campbell Allison 2, Isaac Hutchinson 2, Liam Potts 2, Amby Pulega. Conversions: Mason Allison 2, Isaac Hutchinson 2.

2nd XV vs Christchurch BHS 2nd XV lost 6-17

It was always going to be the toughest game of the round playing the only other unbeaten team. Though it was a very close encounter, today we ended up on the wrong side of the ledger. Off to a strong start we led 3-0 after a Charlie Stenberg penalty goal 10mins in. A couple of errors saw CBHS down into our zone and scoring a converted try to go up 3-7. CBHS then had a period of dominance trapping us in our 22m for at least 10mins. But the defence remained stalwart and they never crossed the line again in the first half. With 10mins to go Elliott Prendergast slotted an enormous penalty from about 50m to level the scores at 6-7. There it remained, anyone's game for the rest of the first half and the opening 15 mins of the second. Unfortunately, though we created some prime scoring opportunities, for the first time this season we were unable to convert territory into points. Silly errors in the attacking zone equated to a shut-out. CBHS scored two late tries to make the contest appear wider apart than it really was.This is the first loss of the season for us. It serves as a reminder we are not unbeatable and losses are possible when we are not at our best. The hope is that this loss galvanizes the players and team moving forward to not be in this position again. Much can be learned from a loss and we are very much looking forward to seeing this CBHS team again in the next round.

3rd XV vs CBHS Colts lost 26-30

The mighty 3rds can be proud of their performance yesterday. They put heart into the match and maintained their best composure and pressure to date. Both teams provided the spectators with an entertaining match.
Boys' High were typically well drilled and fast. Their pace was met by the 3rds without compromise - a good sign of increasing fitness and stamina.
The lead changed several times by only a few points. St Bede's were down 14 -15 at the half. The boys on the bench who always wait eagerly and patiently changed out for the 2nd half and t was seamless . A credit to their team practice drills.
It felt for most of the match that St Bede's were in control. The scores were critical near the end at 27 -26 in Boys' High favour or was that 29 - 26 to Bede's? Did that last conversion go over? Some thought the official indication was yes others thought differently. Discussions lasted several minutes. All in good spirit though it was resolved.
A lot of spirit for team and school went into this match. An example observed in the final moments was James Henry making 2 big saving tackles in 4 seconds 20 meters apart. Go the mighty 3rds.

Tries: Sam Keno 2, Josh MacDonald 1, Flynn Bainbridge 1
Conversions: Flynn Bainbridge 3

4th XV vs  STC 3rd XV drew 17-17

A draw was probably a fair result in a willing contest between old rivals. St Bede's started well and scored early after wing Kazuki Yoshida found himself in space at the end of the chain and scampered 70 metres for a great wingers' try. Further pressure around the fringes saw Dylan MacDonald in handy to the posts and St Bede's was ahead 14-0 after 2 conversions by Ashton Haigh. St Thomas capitalised on a St Bede's error inside their 22 and half time saw the score 14 -7 . St Bede's had the better of the early exchanges in the second half but the only points were a penalty. From then on the pressure came from St Thomas which saw them finish strongly and score a couple of tries. St Bede's defended well and and were up for the physical confrontations but made life difficult for themselves through giving away too many penalties and failing to clear under pressure. The result still sees the 4ths near the top of the table in what is proving to be a competitive section of the U18 grade.

U75kgs "Red" vs CBHS U75kgs "Black" won 39-12 

St Bede’s went into the game looking to produce a solid performance against a Boys’ High team that had yet to register a win. The game started relatively evenly with both sides struggling to settle into a rhythm. At the 10 minute mark Bede’s managed to play some structured rugby and put together a few phases which lead to Lachie Daly forcing his way over the line for the first try. The rest of the half belonged to Bede’s who defended well and dominated possession leading to two tries for Harvey Scott and one from Byron Geer who counter attacked well all game from fullback. With Bede’s leading 22-0 the half-time message was to maintain the pressure and look to build the score. However, a number of errors receiving the kickoff led to Boys’ High scoring an unconverted try. Bede’s managed to regather themselves and start recycling the ball; patient play resulted in a second try for Lachie Daly and later Harvey Scott completed his hat-trick. The score board pressure began to affect Boys’ High and they received two yellow cards as their discipline frayed. Bede’s took advantage of the numerical advantage to work Charlie Challies-Gibb over in the corner for another try. Boys’ High managed to score a consolation try at the end of the match and the final score of 39–12 was a solid win and a fair reflection of the game. There were some good performances and player of the day Angus Lange worked tirelessly all match at lock. Bede’s now have a 6-0 winning record going into the final round-robin game of the season against the other undefeated team in the grade. With a good week of training the boys will go into the match with a lot of confidence for what will be a huge game in their season. 

U75kgs "Black" vs CC U75kgs "White"  Won 24-22 

After a convincing win last week this week ensured the team was made to work hard for their win in a frustrating game with many errors. The initial play was all St Bede's in possession and territory, however, due to numerous handling errors we were unable to get on the scoreboard and kept allowing Christ's College the opportunity to stay in the game.

We eventually managed to cross for a try after a fantastic kick through a regather from Connor Stewart and then a great offload to Cam Howison to score and convert his own try. From then on though' it was all Christ's College as they were able to score the next three tries after a number of penalties given away by St Bede's. It wasn’t until just prior to halftime St Bede's were able to get back on attack after good build up work by the forwards. From a scrum they worked one of their backline moves to perfection which allowed Fraser Brown to score and Cam Howison to convert.

At the break St Bede's were down 15 – 14 and needed to come into the second half strongly. They were able to string together some good phases with some strong forward runs from Zander McCloy, Sam Woodgate, Rawhiri Pachantz and Josh Fraher while good lineout work by Ollie Meates and Matthew Glen ensured a good supply of possession. Cam Howison went over for the next try after a great run to put St Bede's back in front.

Handling errors continued and Christ's College were able to score again to put them back in front 22 – 19 with full-time looming. After a number of agonisingly close attempts to score by St Bede's, a well-weighted kick allowed Finn O'Donnell who was racing through to come up just short and with the ball going loose Cam Howison was rewarded by great follow up work to pick up and go over for the winning try and put St Bede's ahead 24-22.

A final few minutes hard on defence put St Bede's to the test one final time but they managed to hold firm and get a hard worked win.

U65kgs vs  CBHS U65kgs Won 38-7

The last game played between these two ended in a draw in very cold and rainy conditions, today's game was played with conditions more conducive to open rugby which suits the St Bede's style.

The open exchanges where played at a quick pace and with both sides taking any opportunity to run the ball straight and hard. The early pressure was mostly coming from St Bede's with them winning a lot of the rucks. Billy Lewis secured a quick turn over and a short ball to Noah Whiteside saw him power over the line for the first score. This seemed to shift the advantage to St Bede's and they stepped up the pressure at the rucks as well as quickly coming up to meet the Boys' High back line. This started to force Boys' High into making mistakes and Harry Croy profited to touch down after picking up from a knock on. The boys needed to retain their discipline and when this slipped the resulting penalty to Boys' High in our 22 gave them an opportunity to score which they took. Normal service was resumed quickly as the line speed for St Bede's caused more spilled ball for Boys' High, from the resulting scrum Joey Pawson’s miss pass put Harry Croy in again. A strong run by Jake Grafton set up Billy Lewis to smash his way over the line to close the half off 24-7 to St Bede's.

The second half was a much tighter affair but St Bede's still scored two further tries from Joey Pawson and Billy Lewis. The boys dominated the rucks and unsettled Boys' High all game with their quick recycling and direct running. A great season continues.

U15 "Red" vs STC U15 "Blue" lost 10-27 

After a very hard fought game St Thomas won 27-10

If you watched the game you may agree that the score does not reflect the game.

At times we could be found guilty of trying to play to much footy in our own half and at times just lacked the finishing touches.

There were many positives to take out of the game and the work-ons from last week showed, as we were able to put a lot of pressure on STC through our defence and work at the break down. We also secured good clean ball from our scrums and line-outs, which was good to see as they were big areas of focus throughout the week. When given clean ball and the opportunity the backs attacked very well.

The boys are growing in confidence in each of their positions which is making a real difference to the way they play the game.

Heinrich Muller was the recipient of our player of the day award.

U15 "Black" vs Hillmorton HS U15 won  20-5

The lads started slowly against Hillmorton HS and lacked the intensity that they brought to their win over CBHS last week. They made multiple errors in the attack zone which hampered their ability to play multiple phases, build pressure and get over the line.
They let in a try midway through the first half to trail by 5 but in the last play of the half Connor scored after a good lineout drive and phase play. Half time score 5 all.
The arm wrestle continued in the second half with SBC tackling very well and their lineout working well. Knocking the ball forward and losing some ruck ball continued to hamper their efforts.
Connor Johnston scored again midway through the second half, and then Max Kirk kicked a penalty to give Bede's an 8 point buffer. Nick Scully then came up with some magic - beating a number of defenders with swerve and pace by running in a try from over halfway. Max converted, final score 20-5 to Bede's. Our lads showed good composure to come from behind to win a tough game, and have now won their last 4 games.
The match was played in good spirit with Hillmorton HS displaying a positive team culture post game.

Forward of the day: Dan Parkin
Back of the day: Jake Seed
Player of the day: Hunter Hughes

U14 "Red" vs SBHS U14 won 36-10

U14 "Black" vs  CBHS U14B "Black" lost 5-40

https://hail.to/st-bedes-college/article/Cg0CgE9

U14 "White" vs CBHS U14 B "Gold" lost 10-35

It was hard fought match on Saturday between the St Bede's u14 White team and CBHS u14 Gold.

Played on a heavy pitch at CBHS, it was an even first few minutes with several errors being committed as both teams tested each other out. After some good early defence, St Bede's were undone by a cruel bounce of the ball with CBHS scoring their first try after 5 minutes. The try was converted making it 7-0. The St Bede's forwards then started to warm to the task and after some good strong running, the ball was spun wide and a terrific offload from Lachie Claridge saw Riley McNae go over in the corner for a very good try making the score 7-5.

St Bede's were then put under a lot of pressure from that point on but both backs and forwards tackled well and staunch defence kept the opposition at bay. The boys were putting a lot of pressure on CBHS at the breakdown resulting in a lot of turnovers however the weight of possession finally told and CBHS scored a converted try close to half'time making the score 14-5 at the break.

St Bede's were still very much in the game at halftime due to their defensive work, however a couple of lapses early in the 2nd half saw CBHS score 2 more converted tries taking the score out to 28-5. For the next 10 minutes it became a real battle of attrition with both sides having their chances to score. The slippery ball saw a few errors creep into the game however St Bede's were next to score with tireless forward Nash Moir barging over bringing the score back to 28-10. Again St Bede's were put under pressure from the kickoff but as they had done all game, the boys tackled themselves to a standstill and were very unlucky to concede a try right on full-time. Final score 35-10.

The score doesn’t really reflect how tight the game was and bad luck and lapses of concentration really cost St Bede's at crucial times. There was certainly no lack of effort against what was a well drilled and aggressive CBHS team and to be in the game for such a long time despite a lack of possession is something the boys should be proud of.

Man of The Match: Lachie Claridge. Tackler of The Day: Ben Herman. 

U55kgs vs CBHS U55kgs "Black" won 22-19

Today saw St Bede's U55kgs taking on the 2nd place team in the competition, Christchurch Boys' High at Boys' High home ground.

Weather conditions for this game were perfect for this much anticipated re-match between these two teams. We as a team had a good honest conversation before this match, we knew what was required to win, and prior to kick off, I knew from the boys demeanour that our team had arrived today, ready to play.

St Bede's dominated the forward play from the first whistle, hitting rucks with aggression and nailing our first up tackles.

We spent long periods of time with the ball in hand and had some great attacking opportunities. Boys' High defended admirably and managed to hold out all our initial attempts at scoring and after two “against the run of play” tries by Boys' High, Bede's somehow found themselves 12-0 behind only minutes before the half time break. Another period on attack just before the half time whistle saw Bede's finally cross the chalk with a good try to Jimmy, this saw the half time score at 12-5. Even though we were behind on the scoreboard at the half, we knew that we had dominated most of the play so the message at half time was to continue doing what we had done in the first half, but we knew we had to do this for the full 70 minutes. That was what it was going to take to win this encounter. The second half saw Bede's once again dominate the breakdown area, with more outstanding forward play and the clean go-forward ball delivered to the backs saw Malachy and Jake cross the line with two outstanding team tries. This saw the score at 19-19 with only minutes remaining. From the restart Bede's immediately went back on attack and the pressure of our attack finally resulted in a penalty awarded to us approximately 15m out from the goal line. This penalty was converted by Joseph and the final score of the game was Bede's 22 - Boys' High 19. Although this win took a true team effort, Tackler of the Day went to Nicholas Robbins for his big hits on defence and never taking a backward step. Player of the Day went to Joe Coyle, for his uncompromising forward play, hitting the breakdown with heart and moving bodies instead of just taking up space. Both Joe and Nicholas have been unsung heroes of this team throughout the season so far, consistently doing the hard yards week in and week out. A special mention must also go to Josh Snelgar and Patsy Fowley, two players who put their bodies on the line for their team mates today, both of these boys ended up in A&E as a result of this bruising encounter. Luckily their injuries are not to serious. Well done team, I’m so proud of you, keep up the amazing work.👍