Category: Sport
Miss Sanders reports: Three out of our four Cross Country teams travelled up to Liverpool on Friday 2nd December to compete in the ESAA XC National Cup competition. Departing Woodbridge School excitedly, the runners were looking forward to having a night away but it was evident they were anxious about the race the following day – especially as a number of runners had been off school ill during the week. Although every runner had done the hard work to get the Nationals, competing in the area and regionals rounds, they wanted to give it their all and do their best. Arriving in Liverpool, Mr Goddard and Mr Turner took the three teams for a quick jaunt (well, run) around the docks to stretch their legs, before we all headed out to Zizzi’s for a carb-filled dinner and birthday celebrations for Amy Graham.
Saturday morning arrived. All runners stocked up on breakfast as they knew they needed the energy for their race and we made our way to The Range School in Formby. Luckily, the weather was kind to us – although a little chilly with a bit of wind. After walking the course, the Inter girls were up first. With their numbers on and chips around their ankles, they were lined up in their pens and ready to go. We heard Woodbridge School mentioned on the loud speaker, the organisers explaining that Dr Challoner’s High School and we were the only two schools with three teams competing at the Nationals, which made it even more exciting. The start was difficult, with all 140 competitors trying to get to the front of the pack, but Sarah Barker managed to fight her way through. It was an anxious time waiting at the finish line to see Woodbridge vests cross, but finally they came in sight. With only the first four counting towards our final score, the other two runners knew they have to work hard to prevent the oppositions’ 3rd and 4th runners from getting a better placing. Finally our results were in, 10th (Sarah Barker), 33rd, 52nd & 96th, which put us 12th overall out of 24 teams. Well done!
The Junior boys were next – very excited and definitely up for their race! Again, waiting in their pens for the starting gun, the boys knew they had to work hard to ensure they got themselves in a good position at the start. All six got away well, and towards the front of the pack, and at the finish line, they crossed in great positions… top five perhaps?
While waiting for the Junior boys’ results to come through, as there had been some issues, the Junior girls were last to run and although anxious, they were all determined to do their best. All penned in and waiting in anticipation for the starting gun, the team looked ready. With Bea Thomas fighting her way through, along with Molly Marshall just behind, it looked promising. Finally the girls came through the finish line – shattered but glad it was all over.
Still no news for the Junior boys’ results… then the Junior girls’ came through – 52nd, 58th, 76th, & 99th, putting us 19th out of 24th, another great result. Well done!
Finally, the Junior boys’ results were in…. Not fifth, nor fourth, third or even second… We had come FIRST! We were National Champions (by just 1 point!)… what an extraordinary achievement. Placings were 14th (Charlie Turner), 22nd, 23rd, & 54th. The boys were ecstatic and couldn’t stop jumping around – tears were flowing too (from Miss Sanders mainly).
All three teams should be extremely proud of what they achieved on Saturday – just getting to Nationals is a superb achievement, but actually winning is just phenomenal. Bruce Andrews, Secretary of the Suffolk Schools Athletics Association, told Mr Goddard that as far as he is aware, no Suffolk School has ever even won a medal at the England Schools Cross Country Cup Finals, let alone gold!
Well done to all, and thank you so much to all the parents who travelled up to support. Special thanks, of course, to Mr Mark Goddard, whose coaching, dedication and belief enabled these runners to achieve.
Mr Graham and I had such a great time… Roll on next year!!
Runners:
Junior Girls: Molly Marshall, Bea Thomas, Amy Goddard, Isabelle Eaton, Cecily Royal-Dawson & Anna Jackson
Junior Boys: Charlie Turner, Henry Dinwiddy, Kit Evans Lombe, William Franklin, Edward Rufford & Thomas Turner
Inter Girls: Sarah Barker, Milly Buckingham, Amy Graham, Victoria Burrows, Sophie Graham & Charlotte Dinwiddy.
Nine Woodbridge School cross country athletes have gained their first County recognition for the 2016/2017 winter season.
Seven athletes have been included in the Suffolk County Team to compete in the South of England Inter County Cross Country to be held in Oxford on Saturday 10th December 2016.
Congratulations to :
U13 Girls – Amy Goddard
U13 Boys – Charlie Turner, Kit Evans Lombe and Edward Rufford
U15 Girls – Sarah Barker
U15 Boys – Nathan Goddard and George Rufford
Two further athletes are currently on the standby list for the U15 Girls – Amy and Sophie Graham
We wish them well in this event and the rest of the winter.
Ready to give their best for the badge, Woodbridge started with great intensity and verve, Hugo Kelleway taking control of the forwards and directing with great accuracy and detail. It meant that for 20 minutes the play remained in the Culford half. Eventually the pressure told and following a stolen lineout from the salmonesque Fynn Kiley, the ball fell loose, Keiran Saxton made excellent yards before Tristan Hilger took up the charge and scored under the posts. Tom Innes converted and celebrated with his now customary Viking roar of passion. 7-0 to Woodbridge.
Culford started the second half strongly and Woodbridge had to defend for a while before an opportunistic interception from James Bellhouse and a ‘bolt like’ 20 metre sprint saw him flop over the line under the posts: 14-0 to Woodbridge. Soon after Hugo saw a chance to kick over the top, Tom Innes somehow ended up with the ball in his hands and offloaded to Jack Grant who crashed over the posts. 21-0.
Culford re-organised and eventually entered the Woodbridge 22 for the first time, and the Culford number 8 finally crashed over from a scrum to score. The try was converted and Culford’s tails were suddenly up. Not for long… a huge hit, a dislodged ball and Tristan Hilger set off down the touchline for the team’s fourth try… but… the referee was collapsed with cramp in the middle of the field and, unable to see, could not award it. It mattered not. Soon after, Alfie Agar dummied through the opposition to crash over for a well-deserved 28-7. Game over and a win for a Woodbridge team excellent to a man in attack and defence.
The next round of the National Cup is on Thursday 1 December at home: 2.15pm kick off.
U14B v St Joseph’s U14A
Score: Lost 2-0
This was the U14Bs first match of the season, so the excitement of a competitive fixture lifted the girls spirits, especially as they had been training hard. The sun was shining and the girls were in for a good afternoon – or so we thought… As soon as the starting whistle went, the sky darkened and the heavens opened. This did not stop the girls as they continued to play in the torrential downpour. To say we were all soaked through to our skin was an understatement! Our defenders should be extremely proud of how well they defended; tackling with tenacity and clearing the ball away. We managed to break away from play and take control on a number of occasions, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net, unfortunately. The girls should be immensely proud of their performance, particularly given they were up against St Joseph’s A team. Framlingham next …. the girls are ready!
The Match started with great pace and intensity, with Woodbridge immediately on the front foot and on the attack, the forwards and backs working well together. The inevitable opening appeared and Hugo Kelleway dummied through a static defence to race over in the corner and make it 7-0 after 5 minutes. Straight from the kick off, and following a great set piece play and ‘quick hands’ to Rupert Clogg on the wing, another try was added: 12-0; 10 minutes; Woodbridge cruising and in complete control: keep composed, play to a structure and the game would be over by half time… But the opposition fought back, and the game became a little messy for the next 25 minutes, with lots of turnovers, lots of dropped balls and some muddled thinking meant that for the rest of the half Woodbridge remained broadly penned in despite some excellent work from James Bellhouse and Tristan Hilger late on. The second half would need fewer mistakes, and better preparation and organisation.
Kieran Saxton obliged first with two barnstorming runs, barrelling over numerous opponents to put Woodbridge into a fantastic field position. A poor defensive kick to Hugo Kelleway; a catch in the middle of the field… side-step one, then two defenders, chip over the defence, speed through, catch his own kick, outsmart the full back and ….score under the posts! Even his own team mates stopped to applaud a fantastic individual try. 19-0.
Next, our defensive lineout to put into practice recent lessons, with Fynn Kiley leaping like a salmon under the support of Belhouse and James Brown, winning the opposition ball, offloading to Tom Innes who passed to the now marauding Saxton who swatted aside tackle after tackle before finally succumbing to about five in one hit! But the ruck was won quickly and Tom Lomas jinked expertly to squeeze over in the corner leaving two defenders on the floor bamboozled by the speed of his hips and feet. 26-0.
The game effectively won, what could Woodbridge add? A quick tap penalty, a driving run by Bellhouse, 20m more gained by the irrepressible Saxton, quick ball at the ruck, and a Kelleway dummy and dive to score under the posts. Conversion made. 33-0. A great second half performance driven by an outstanding display by Kieran Saxton.
Woodbridge play Beaumont School next, date and time to follow.
After an hour long bus journey we arrived at New Hall knowing how hard we would have to work, given New Hall’s tough reputation on the hockey field. We quickly got our heads in the game, managing to keep possession and ensuring that the ball rarely left our attacking half. This resulted in an impressive goal through a series of intelligent passes in the D with Rowena Wilson-Smith finishing it off – bringing us an advantage. The New Hall side quickly fought back with a sense of urgency to equalise, but there was nothing they could do to get through our strong defensive players, especially Eleanor Berridge, who managed to hold off their attacks, even with two short corners against us. Half time approached and the weather turned. Back on the pitch for our second half the rain was torrential but it failed to dampen our team spirit. The second half ended with Woodbridge 2nd XI triumphant. Both teams played with power and determination but ultimately we had the upper hand.
The team got off to a shaky start having arrived late for the game, but the girls turned this around quickly with a really professional attitude, and after the warm up the girls were ready to play.
The team started off well with some great play between the midfield and defence, and keeping the majority of the possession. But St Joseph’s weren’t going to make it easy for us, their players making it had for us to break through to the other side of the pitch.
After a team talk, the team knew what needed to be done to gain the upper hand, and did so extremely well. The forwards moved higher up the pitch creating more space in the midfield, allowing the midfield players more time and space to play the ball and pick passes. Once into their stride, the Woodbridge players played some excellent hockey, with Millie and Tess scoring to finish off the game.
It was a fantastic team performance, resulting in a 2-0 win for Woodbridge.
The U14A girls’ hockey squad came away with an impressive 5-0 victory against Culford on Saturday. Issy Stewart and Tori McCarroll scored a goal each, and a hard shot from the top of the circle from Verity Hobday resulted in another, all after Saffron Holliday opened the scoring with a brace of well-taken goals which owed much to her tenacity in the circle. Flora Pitt came up to play centre half, orchestrating another dominant game; and special mention also goes to Grace Childs who played her first game this season for the A team and then played for the U15s in their second half, helping them to a 3-0 victory, and being instrumental in setting up at least one of the goals to earn lots of praise from Mr Wright.
A great game and some great goals, hurray! We played really well, put some good defending with some great attacking play and Iris Morton put us ahead in the first half after lots of near misses! The second half saw a great goal in the corner by Emily Outen and another one by Anna Jackson – tremendous! Final score 3-0 to Woodbridge.
Well done all and player of the game was Anna Jackson.
The Junior first team produced a dominating performance against RHS, winning 6-1. It was a physical match from the start with some pushing and shoving but the Woodbridge girls managed to stand their own. Olivia Buchanan was outstanding and made her mark on the match within minutes. RHS could not cope with her power and speed on the ball. Olivia put the Woodbridge team ahead with a great strike at a short corner. Unfortunately the celebration was short lived as RHS took advantage of Woodbridge’s lapse in concentration and defensive disciplines and scored their own goal a minute later. After this Molly Marshall and Ella Walker never gave them another sniff in defence. With outstanding marking, confident stepping up, good tackling and accurate distribution they set the tone for the rest of the match. Woodbridge played great passing hockey as a team and produce excellent hockey to watch. Positional play and decision making were at a very high level. Bea Thomas was brilliant in her work in the press and putting RHS under pressure and then leading well again to attack. Woodbridge peppered the RHS goal with shots and penalty corners, bringing the best out of RHS’ very good goalkeeper.
Olivia scored another goal before half time. This was followed by Clara Simpson scoring from a well-executed penalty corner variation. After a deserved rest at half time, Woodbridge continued their fine form and passing play. Olivia Buchanan scored another 2 goals before Ella Walker scored the final goal after every player having a part to play, transferring and passing well. Clara Simpson received the ball in the D, having assessed her options well, and swiftly moved the ball to Ella at left midfield, who slotted a perfect effort into the far post. Perfection!
Well done to every player: Molly Marshall, Ella Walker, Annabel Nicholass, Jessica Elmer, Olivia Buchanan, Issy Eaton, Katie Norman, Clara Simpson, Bea Thomas and Emily Whyte. Player of the match went to the unstoppable goal scorer of the day, Olivia Buchanan. Thanks to all the parents and staff who supported the match.