Taylorian

Sport

Rugby

led to a breakaway try for MTS - wild celebrations followed. The last two weeks of any rugby season contain some special memories as the last energy is summoned from within. Local rivals St Albans were handsomely dispatched 53-14 in an away performance that the Director of Rugby (Mr Conway) was mightily impressed with – probably because he will be coaching many of the team in the years to come – and it meant that with one game left, we were still unbeaten. The fairytale was meant to culminate in the final game at home against Stowe School, a genuine rugby giant at schoolboy level in this country. But Mother Nature was to have the last say. A deep frost had permeated the fields of HA6, rendering them unplayable. We had been starved of the Cup Final we had cherished and maybe, just maybe, Stowe had been saved from certain defeat. The season’s statistics made for very good reading. Played 8, won 8. Points For: 397; Points Against: 81. In the final training session of the term, I asked the boys to join me for a quiet moment of reflection of the season around a cherry blossom tree that overlooks the U14 rugby pitches. It is dedicated to Joe Tyler, a colleague who lost his short battle with cancer a year and a half ago. Mr Tyler coached the U14C team for some years – it was his team – and in many ways, it still is. I am extremely proud that his values of humility, hard work and fun have been embodied so well in the U14C team of today. He would have been very proud indeed, as am I. In the years to come as the boys move up through the school, I hope they can occasionally re-visit this beautiful cherry blossom tree, and in doing so trigger memories of their wonderful U14C rugby season and the great joy it brought to so many people. Mr T. C. H. Greenaway Squad: K. Naik, D. Beck, T. Harvey, P. Brown, B. Cooper, S. Embleton, N. Patel, J. Gent, A. Scott, A. Pascoe, J. Hazan, A. Mohan, A. Alonzi, P. Mehta, A. Patel, M. Marley-Shaw, M. Shaw, A. Mohan, R. Bhular, A. Galli, A. Daphale.

Junior Rugby Over the course of the Spring Term, the junior rugby teams made significant improvement. Numbers grew, with over 130 boys taking part in contact rugby sessions working on key skills such as handling, evasion and tackling, and developing their confidence in contact, teamwork and communication. Many of these boys took part in competitive fixtures against the likes of York House, Durston House, St George’s Harpenden and Lochinver House. In total, 13 fixtures were played as well as two 7s competitions. The highlights of the season would include making it to the semi-final of the Haberdashers’ 7s competition, the fixtures against St George’s – for which over 150 boys participated in contact rugby – and a closely fought final fixture against Orley Farm. Mr S. de Weymarn U12 Squad: M. Hopkins, S. Shah, A. Arun, R. Alibhai, R. Bist, A. Garg, K. Hyttinen, T. MacMillan, O. Vaidya, R. Wijeratne, M. Zwiefka-Sibley, S. Sekhon, J. Schofield (A Team Capt.), R. Mehta, N. Harwood, I. Patel, E. Thompson, A. Kanda, M. Hopkins, R. Khan, A. Khan, A. Garg, E. Affan, A. Khoroshaev, I. Patel, K. Parmar, D. Assani, S. Shah (B Team Capt.), T. Xu, E. Chauhan, Y. Pail. U13 Squad: K. Saihan, H. Prashad, P. Papadopoulos, N. Vaidya, J. Zhou, A. Chatterjee, S. Patel, N. Phethean, J. Abrahams, S. Sekhon, R. Alibhai, S. Sekhon, N. Kerr (A Team Capt.), A. Kalaria, R. Shaikh, L. Li, M. Todd, T. Ahmed, S. Malli, J. Barratt, T. Dhadwal, K. Bhatt, B. Yang, I. MacMillan, A. Shingala, O. Vaidya, R. Mehta, D. Agarwal, S. Al-Obaydi, H. Prashad (Captain), J. Schofield, K. Hyttinen, A. Hofmeyr, S. Gera, S. Varsani, V. Rathod, Z. Liu, A. Khan, A. Daryanani, R. Fitch, S. Datta, A. Bose, J. Morjaria, S. Varsani, E. Affan, S. Minhas, R. King, H. Dave, A. Hinduja , S. Malli (B Team Capt.), D. Agarwal, H. Faisal, M. Gupta, M. Halkerston.

73

Taylorian 2023