Derwent lifted their second college cup in a week after a series of storming victories in the rugby Xs cup.
Tournament favourites James finished a disappointing fourth after Halifax beat them in the plate play-offs 24-17. Wentworth had confirmed with the organisers of the event the night before that they would be putting a team out, but by the next morning the team had changed their mind, and failed to show up.
Nevertheless the day kicked off with Langwith vs. Alcuin on pitch one. Both teams gave it their all, but it was an easy 29-0 victory for Alcuin. Langwith were unfazed by their opponents, who were generally taller and broader than their own, and still went in for many impressive and fierce tackles. But with quick runs and clever dodging the Alcuin team flew past the Langwith defence to achieve some spectacular tries. Meanwhile, on the second pitch, James slaughtered Halifax 33-5. Having dominated College rugby this season, James started the day by living up to expectations of their being firm favourites to win.
The third match of the day was Derwent against Goodricke. There was plenty of communication between both sets of teammates, and Goodricke got off to a good start and scored the first try of the game. But Derwent were quick to respond, and did not allow their opposition a repeat of this. Final score, 21-5 to Derwent.
Alcuin, James and Derwent looked like the teams to beat in the early stages in the competition as they all comfortably won their first games. Vanbrugh played well in their match against Halifax and achieved their best score of the tournament- but they still lost 19-12. Immediately after this, Vanbrugh played James and lost again, but this time it was not so close (19-5).
When Derwent met Alcuin it became apparent that both teams were very well matched and Alcuin scored a try and conversion, making the score 7-0 before half time. Luckily for their opponents, Alcuin’s Benoit Jamous made a hilarious but effectively tournament-losing error of misjudging the distance to the try line and grounding the ball a metre premature, before running off in celebration. Derwent leapt upon this mistake and gave them the opportunity to equalise. The final score was 7-7, which meant Derwent and Alcuin were level at the top, with Goodricke one point behind in third place.
The next match was the decider for who would progress to the final between Alcuin and Goodricke. Goodricke were seemingly unfazed by the loss earlier in the day to Derwent and had since won against Langwith 5-0. The game was tight between, but Goodricke achieved a 10-0 advantage and maintained the scoreline for the majority of the game. Although Alcuin managed a last-minute try, it was too little too late; the final score was Alcuin 5, Goodricke 10. Goodricke then, most shockingly, beat James 14-12, which secured them a place in the final.
The next two matches decided that Derwent would be their opposition, after they put an impressive seven tries past a dejected Langwith. The men in blue also beat Halifax 21-10.
The final was therefore between Derwent and Goodricke, who had played each other earlier that morning with Derwent winning by a comfortable margin. But since that win Derwent’s squad had suffered; with six players injured throughout the day, one of which resulted in a dislocated elbow for Phil Hammick and a trip to A&E, hopes of a second success seemed slim. While the number of substitute players were low, Derwent’s spirit was high. Dan ‘the man’ Crehan and Charles Clark were just some of the successful try scorers in the final, while Tolga Necar delivered two for his team. With Oliver Wessely’s conversions, the mighty blues achieved 31-0; Derwent were victorious.
Derwent’s forward Tolga Necar and Oliver Wessely for the backs (who broke his nose during an earlier match but still played and scored a try in the final) made outstanding contributions to Derwent’s victory.
Callum Douglas was voted man of the tournament for the winning team as he captained his college to their second championship in a week. Douglas was ecstatic about the team’s victory; “It was a fantastic day for all of us, we had come off a good win in the college league the week before, and so to add the tens tournament caps off a really special season for this team. We had a lot of tough games on road to the final with Goodricke, to whom great credit must be given for their own excellent tournament. I was pleased that throughout the day we mixed resolute defence with lots of attacking flair, and everyone involved should feel really proud of how they performed in what was a bruising day. The team can now look forward to our tour to Dublin next week, and what I’m confident will be a fantastic season next year as well.”
The final table finished Derwent, Goodricke, Halifax, James, Alcuin, Langwith, and then Vanbrugh.
A highly enjoyable read.
I think more should of been made of the Goodricke-James semi final, as a Derwent spectator it was truly absorbing and had everything, one tap tackle in particular, where the guy broke his fingers in doing it, was quite special. It might have been due to the amount of column inches you were allowed, but I think this article could have done with a bit more detail about what happened in the key games i.e. the semi finals and final.
Don’t want to be nick picking but not sure the pictures show much about the day