Category: Sport
Score: Won 29-14
Right from the off, Woodbridge started to attack from their own 22, but after a lineout error Wycliffe won a free ruck and a drop goal was scored. Woodbridge were unfazed and Wycliffe’s defence was tested after runs from James Brown and James Bellhouse. Woodbridge improved their attacking depth and pulled in their defence. Hugo Kelleway found a gap and beat the full back and winger to score. Tom Innes converted for a 7-3 lead.
Wycliffe made a long range penalty attempt but missed. Rupert Clogg caught a high testing ball and set up a Woodbridge attack. Hugo Kelleway kicked ahead, and Clogg made a great tackle on their full back putting Woodbridge in a good position. Tristan Hilger caught another high ball and drove inroads into the Wycliffe defence, before a lost ball allowed Wycliffe to press hard in attack and put Woodbridge under pressure on their line. The Woodbridge defence held defiantly.
The action was unrelenting; Tom Lomas chased down a Wycliffe attack, but a yellow card ensued after a high tackle. Woodbridge were now with 14 men and were camped on their try line. Wycliffe darted blind and their hooker squeezed over to score in the corner and take a 7-8 lead.
With a man down, Woodbridge rallied and attacked from deep. From a scrum the ball switched right, then left, before Captain James Bellhouse rampaged over to score out wide and gain a 12-8 lead for Woodbridge.
Soon thereafter Kieron Saxton caught a ball out wide, but after his scintillating run he was isolated and the ball was lost. A Penalty was given and Woodbridge had a narrow 12-11 lead at half time.
The second half did not start as planned, and after discipline at the breakdown and a further penalty, Wycliffe took a 12-14 lead. Midfield battles ensued, and both teams had their fair share of attacking and defending to do. A very high tackle on Rupert Clogg broke the deadlock, and Wycliffe’s talented centre was yellow-carded. Hugo Kelleway made a great jinking run, and Wycliffe were put onto the back foot. Woodbridge spun the ball wide and Rupert Clogg scored a well-deserved try in the corner for Woodbridge to take a 17-14 lead. Woodbridge continued to press and after a cross field kick from Hugo Kelleway, Wycliffe were under immense pressure on their line. A quickly taken penalty and lightening quick hands put Will Pilkington into space where he expertly squeezed over into the corner. Woodbridge had taken a 22-14 lead and were now looking very dominant. Further pressure was applied to Wycliffe’s cracking defence which allowed man of the match Hugo Kelleway to spot a gap and go through to score under the posts. Tom Innes converted and Woodbridge were ahead and victors 29-14.
A great team performance but special mention to Hugo Kelleway orchestrating at fly half.
Class 1 – 50cm
The Woodbridge Blue Team came a very well-deserved Second Place overall with 4 excellent clear rounds for this very novice team, including Fran Jackson riding 2 different ponies – Minnie the Minx and Kingsettle Thrysma, who had never competed prior to Saturday’s event, plus a good steady clear from Rosie Hunter Blair on Jimbo, and a fabulous clear round from Sasha Reid, jumping 50cm for the first time!! Fran also managed to bag Second Place individually with a very fast round from Minnie the Minx!
Class 2 – 60cm
Another excellent result with 4 clear rounds from The Woodbridge Red Team, including Lily Waterer on Annabel, Sophia Waterer on Amber, Rosie Hunter Blair on Jimbo, and Fran Jackson on Minnie the Minx. Woodbridge Red Team were very proudly presented with individual results in this class too – Rosie Hunter Blair was given The Style Award for the most beautiful, steady and controlled clear round, Fran Jackson took Second Place with Lily following up in 5th Place for the fastest clear rounds! Fran also went clear once again on Thrysma – a great result for them both.
Class 3 – 70cm
Due to a few last minute changes we now had 2 individual riders and only a team of 3 representing Woodbridge. Sophia Waterer on Amber was the first to go, and although losing her whip half way round, Sophia found the strength in her legs to encourage a rather reluctant Amber to jump very well. Lily Waterer followed on Annabel, and her sheer determination ensured a good clear round from them both.
Now it was the turn of the team – the pressure was on the young riders to all jump clear against a strong field in order to be in with a chance of success and keep up with the earlier success of the previous teams! With Olivia Lubbock on Gwen, Alex Ryder-Davis on Faith, and Oliver Reid on Twix, they all jumped fabulous clear rounds, and into Second Place with Olivia and Gwen taking 5th individually, even though they went the long way round!
Class 4 – 80cm
Again with only a team of three and some rather large fences and spreads to face, not to mention some very sharp twists and turns in the course, the Woodbridge White Team stepped up to the challenge. Olivia Lubbock and Gwen went first – a hair raising round by anyone’s standards. After crashing through fence four, and almost totally losing their balance, pony and rider managed to carry on and complete the rest of the course at speed and with only one stirrup! Oliver Reid followed on Twix, and produced a deceptively fast clear round. It was now down to Alex Ryder-Davis and Faith – “No pressure….just enjoy it!” we all said. And they did! A fabulous clear round with some excellent sharp turns and plenty of pace! The Woodbridge White Team came 1st, with Ollie coming 2nd, Alex 3rd and Olivia 6th as individuals.
A fantastic result and great way to end a very successful day for all of the Woodbridge Team riders!!
Thank you to all the Mums and Dads for their support and encouragement which went such a long way to making it a very enjoyable day! Photos to follow
The Under 15B team travelled to Ipswich High keen to impress after some close recent games.
Nancy Keitley-Webb, Maddie Walmsley and Kiya Smith were added to the squad after strong performances with the C team. Their selection was certainly a positive one as each of the girls had great games for the B’s. The squad knew what they wanted to achieve and started quickly out of the blocks to take a 1-7 lead after the first quarter. Izzie Cullen’s goal shooting proved to be on form and Kiya Smith supported well as they combined well in attack. The second quarter saw Woodbridge blitz ahead and take a 2-18 lead at the half way stage. Once again Izzie Cullen impressed with her shooting, Captain Millie Buchanan and Poppy Fletcher dominated the midfield. Natasha Doole and Flo Scott cut out so many of Ipswich’s attacks that their score line and chances on goal were very limited. At the end of the third quarter Woodbridge stretched their lead to 4-23 and afforded themselves to coast through the final quarter and take a 5-28 lead and victory. A fantastic effort by the whole squad and much deserved win
The A team arrived at Orwell Park, very excited for the day ahead.
Our first match was against Framlingham College, we started slowly and the opposition had quite a few chances at goal. Finding our stride in the second half, we created some good opportunities and had some very near misses ourselves. One being the ball rolling along the goal line, but it just didn’t go in! In the end we finished the match with a 0-0 draw.
Our next opponent was Kings College. It was a nail biting game, we were evenly matched at 1-1, until we scored a thrilling goal in the final minutes of the game, taking us to a 2-1 win.
We played Witham Hall next, they had a strong team with a particularly good right wing player, sadly we lost 3-0.
After lunch, we played Stephen Perse with lots of energy. We were evenly matched and ended the game with a disappointing 0-0 draw.
We then played Kingshott, they were very good and we did well to defend and end the match with a 0-0 draw.
We were delighted to find out that we were through to the quarterfinals, where we played Norwich School, but lost 4-1. This sadly marked the end of our tournament.
We had such a wonderful day, we played well as a team and everyone enjoyed it.
By Georgie Phillips
The weekend saw multiple teams from Woodbridge School competing at the Suffolk County Show Jumping and Suffolk County Dressage Qualifiers for the NSEA County Championships at the end of April.
On Saturday 28th Jan at The Jays , Bury St Edmunds, many Schools from all over Suffolk were contesting for the NSEA Suffolk County Show Jumping Qualifiers from 70cms-1.10m.
Woodbridge School’s riding teams are going from strength to strength with the younger team members showing the way winning the 70cms Suffolk County Show Jumping Qualifier; crowning them Suffolk Champions and qualifying them to represent both Suffolk and the School at the County Championships.
The four team members of Perdi Ludgrove (Yr6), Olivia Brown(Yr7), Tess Walker (Yr7) and Ada Marson(Yr6) all produced clear rounds with Ada producing an extremely fast round taking 2nd individually, narrowly missing winning and qualifying herself as an individual as well.
The School also had their youngest team competing in the 70cms who performed exceptionally to take 4th place. This was the first time any of this team had competed at this level before. They had gone for the experience and then all produced good rounds to take 4th place in a very competitive class. The Team was Isla Appleby (Yr7), Lily Waterer(Yr7), Sophia Waterer(Yr5) & Eve Marson (Yr4)
The School fielded two full teams for the 80cms competition; with the teams taking 3rd & 4th place.
Third placed team of Fleur Ludgrove, Oliver Reid, Alex Ryder-Davies & Isla Appleby. Fleur was substituted in at the last minute as Zoe Newman had suffered a minor kick so was unable to ride.
This was the first 80cms competition for Oliver Reid & Isla Appleby.
The Fourth team was Olivia Brown, Tess Walker, Perdi Ludgrove and Ada Marson. Ada again produced a fast round but was pipped from taking the County Title coming 2nd.
Tabitha Wilson-Smith rode a top class round to take the individual Suffolk County title and qualify for the Championships in the 90cms with the team of Tabitha Wilson-Smith, Rowena Wilson-Smith, Zara Lye & Fleur Ludgrove narrowly missing out qualifying themselves by taking the 2nd place.
In the 1m class; James Brown took 3rd place and Zara Lye took 6th.
On Sunday the 29th January, a team of Woodbridge Riders contested the Suffolk County Dressage Qualifier at Easton College.
The Team of Caragh Paul, Tabitha Wilson-Smith, Rowena Wilson-Smith and the youngest member Oliver Reid did exceptionally well to WIN the Dressage qualifier and secure their place to the Championships.
An extra well done to both Wilson-Smith sisters and to Oliver Reid who competed back to back at the weekend on both days with superb results and qualifications on both days.
Dressage Team; (L-R_Caragh Paul (3rd), Tabitha Wilson-Smith (6th), Rowena Wilson-Smith (2nd) & Oliver Reid Suffolk County Dressage Champions
70cms Show Jumping Team: (L-R) Ada Marson (2nd individually), Olivia Brown, Perdi Ludgrove & Tess Walker NSEA Suffolk County 70cms Champions
On Saturday 28 January Alfie Glendinning and Minnie Wayman both competed in the UK Cold Water Swimming Championships at Tooting Bec Lido. With no wet suits allowed and the water an extremely chilly 1.5o c speed was of the essence! First up was Alfie in the boys u14 years 30m free which he won in 21.73 seconds. Minnie was next in the girls u14 years 30m free which she won in 19.07 seconds. Alfie then had another swim, racing in the boys u14 years 30m head up breaststroke which he won in 33.20 seconds. After a dip in the hot tub and some hot drinks Minnie competed in the mixed 4 x 30m freestyle relay with swimmers from Felixstowe, Diss and Leiston. They finished a highly creditable 5th out of 31 teams in a time of 1.26.83. The combined upper age limit for their category was 160 years, they came in at a combined age of 61 years, winning a special prize as youngest team. A hugely enjoyable day, they’re both looking forward to the next Championships in 2019!
Myles King (Woodbridge 1st team vice-captain) and Ben Kilburn (Woodbridge 1st team captain) competed at the U18 National Indoor “Super 6’s” Finals for their club, Harleston Magpies on 21-22 January. This was Myles’ second trip to the U18 finals weekend, winning the title last year. This year Myles captained the team who made it all the way to the semi-final stage of this prestigious competition. Magpies represented the East of England after qualifying through the county and regional rounds. The team showed great discipline in the pool matches in the way they played, winning three games on the way to qualifying for the semi-final. In the semi-final they came up against the experienced team from Canterbury and had to settle for a tightly contested 2-4 defeat. Some amazing indoor hockey was played and superb goals scored. This was a great experience and achievement for Myles and Ben, testing themselves against the best U18 indoor players in the country and placing their team amongst the top four indoor teams in England. Well done! We are very proud of you.
At 9.15am on Tuesday 17 January 44 athletes boarded the coach for Lincroft school for the annual Bedfordia Cross Country Competition.
Over 30 schools from all around the midlands took part and this created an excellent atmosphere amongst all competitors, especially the year 5 students who had never competed in such a vast event before.
Following a walk of the course the athletes changed and then it was race time.
Year 5 girls were first to race in a field over 300 runners, and they were superb.
Sophia Waterer had a storming run (83) and crossed the line in front of the rest of The Abbey students with Georgina Phillips (93), Charlie Hattan (96) and Havannah Vincent (106) not far behind. Mihi Forbes Ballard (227), Polly Scoggins (220) and Milly Johnson (221) decided it was best to run together to navigate the number of competitors and to stay safe during the run, all three completing the run with smiles on faces and keen to race again. The team finished a creditable 22nd out of 34 teams.
Year 5 boys were even more nervous after they had watched the ‘stampede’ of the girls’ race, as one of the runners called it!! Solid performances all round with Luca di Paola (33) leading the way, closely followed by Jonjo Walker (74)and then a throng of Abbey athletes with John Hall (132), Arthur Na Nakhorn (133) Henry Shaw (134) all pushing each other along throughout the race. James Hattan (150) did well to push his way through the crowd following a slow start and Edward Carter (206) and Jack Palmer (207) finished strongly to ensure that the team finished 16th out of 33 teams.
Year 7 Girls warmed up with a purpose, knowing that they had run several times before, and with the training were in excellent condition to do well.
The start was fast and furious and after the first 500yards the field settled into their running. Amy Goddard gradually made her way through the field, finishing in a fantastic 3rd position, Anna Jackson fought her way around the course and eventually finished 19th with Ella Pitt (40) and Lucy Clare(66) close behind, Annie Nicholass (102) and Iris Morton(105) completed the team effort and ensure that the Year 7 girls finished a creditable 7th in the competition.
The Gauntlet was thrown down to the Year 7 boys to finish higher still, and try they did with some excellent running from Ed Rufford (7) , Tom Martin (36) and Sam Bolus (44). The wait was on for the rest of the team mates to see if they could better the girls’ seventh place!! There was then a frenzy of finishers with James Holliday (107), Archie Sjoberg (121), Archie Bacon (122), Tom Childs (134) and Archie Cartwright (143) to make for a team placing of eleventh: the Year 7 Girls were still the best team of the day.
Year 8 girls were next to step up to the challenge and they were confident , with the experience of competing in events like this before. They were happy to let the front runners sprint off and then slowly pick them off around the course and that’s exactly what they did!! Bea Thomas (2) sat and waited as the main pack sprinted away, but an excellent run and strong finish saw her home with Molly Marshall (3), Cecily Royal-Dawson (6), Jess Elmer (7) and Emily Whyte(9). The team were in an excellent position, and when Ella Walker ran the final corner and sprinted to the finish line to finish (28) the team were reunited and just needed to wait on the result.
Year 8 boys had just witnessed an incredible run by the girls and knew that they had to match the outcome. Charlie Turner and George Wharam looked relaxed and chilled as the pack set off at a great pace, but the boys after numerous races were confident that they could win the race and do that they did! Charlie and George crossed the line hand in hand to finish joint first!… But the team had to back them up and finish strongly… and with Kit Evans Lombe (4), Tom Harper (10), Will Franklin (11) and Tom Turner (28) the team did just that. Mauricio Corfe (31), John Hendry (45) and Ruben Kill (80) who are all expert over shorter distances offered excellent support.
The Year 8 girls and boys did remarkably well, both finishing 1st in their competitions.
It was a great day, especially for the Year 5 students who have never competed in an event like this before.
A fast paced game that produced some end to end hockey. The first half was all Framlingham. They showed good pace and stick skills to spend a majority of the time in the Woodbridge half of the pitch. Woodbridge stood up to the challenge and defended amazingly. Saif Toubasey and Hugo Thomas in the middle of the defence were like a brick wall not allowing Framlingham to pass. On the odd occasion when they did find a gap Alfie Franklin was an imposing figure in goal making impressive save after impressive save to keep the score level. Woodbridge had to mainly counter attack and this paid off in the dying minutes of the half with repeat offences at a penalty corner resulted in a penalty flick. Hugo Thomas stepped up and converted the ball into the roof of the net, the travelling fans went wild. The second half was one of the best you may ever see at this age group. Fast paced attack and continued solid defence. Both sides having chances to get on the scoresheet but both unable to score. With the minutes ticking down Woodbridge held strong and ran out 1-0 winners at the final whistle. The effort and determination but all the players was incredible and the win was deserved in a very tight entertaining game.
This was a fantastic displays of some great netball by a large squad of players in the U13s. There were some great passages of play and we were always in control of the game. Olivia Buchanan, Emily Whyte, Ella Walker and Cordelia Griffiths shot well in the circle and they were well supported by some great defensive play by Issy Eaton, Ariane Bilgen, Molly Marshall, and Eleanor Wright. We looked after our turnover ball quite well but held it together in the centre of the court with Clara Simpson, who made some great interceptions, Rebecca Yardy who was cool under pressure and Jess Elmer who moved up and down the court effortlessly.
A great start to the season. Well done!