U15's National Cup Rugby
For the first time in 8 years, Purbeck have now progressed to the final 64 schools in the Continental Tyres National Cup. This pitches them against either Ringwood School or Portsmouth Grammar in the next round, after a narrow but fully deserved victory over Clayesmore.
The sun was shining and the pitch glorious, the field was set for a cracker of a game. For once, Purbeck started strongly, powering up the pitch directly from the kick off, with Ren Elliot putting in a massive tackle to set the tone. After going through the phases, Jack Brickstock made a break, with a Clayesmore player making a high tackle. TJ Shearer got the ball and tapped quickly to score the opening try of the game. Clayesmore then went straight up the other end and scored in the corner, having drawn Purbeck one side and then to the other stretching the defence. The game then became a battle of the contact in the middle of the pitch, and after a quick turnover, the ball was whipped wide to Jack Lowry who sprinted home into the corner. Clayesmore responded again quickly from a quick lineout, but after some quick thinking from Lewis Cooper, Purbeck went blind from a score for TJ to bundle over for his second. Half Time: 15-14.
After a tight first half, Purbeck then dominated the next 20 mins, propelling them into a 32-14 lead. It started with a TJ Shearer break resulting in him beating and powering over 7 Clayesmore players to score under the posts (video attached). Next came try of the game, with the ball reversed from a hallway line ruck, TJ grubber kicking the ball through to the ever-present Charlie Lamb, sprinting through to score under the posts. Aidan Macey resultantly finally slotting a conversion. Jack Lowry then pounced on a loose ball to complete a dominant 20 minutes.
After making numerous subs, and some positional switches for Clayesmore, they really came back at the Purbeck boys, and despite some resilient defending, brought the game close with some quick scores to 32-29. With one-minute left to play, Ren Elliot put in his second monstrous hit of the game from the kick off, but Clayesmore broke down the middle of the pitch. One of the biggest Claysmore boys then ran at little Lewis Cooper, who not only chop tackled him, got onto his feet to force a knock on and win Purbeck the game. Final Score: 32-29.
An unbelievable result for a local state comprehensive school, showing pure aspiration and perseverance against a big and highly trained private school. On wards and upwards to the next round.
Timmy Northover, Archie Hellas, Rex Wollam, Emyr Griffiths, Henry Harris, Ren Elliot (vc), Aidan Macey, Jack Brickstock, Lewis Cooper, TJ Shearer ©, Jimmy Mcleneran, Jack Lowry, Charlie Lamb, Joe Bohane, Bertie Warren, Henry Tucker, Ryan Amey, Alfie Webb, Leon Farley, Thomas White.
