Category: Sport
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.
It may have been a damp November day but somehow the cross country athletes from Woodbridge School brushed that aside with considerable ease. Spirits were high, with all four teams competing following their wins in the Suffolk leg. Anything seemed possible. We were up against seven counties including the might of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
The fact that Woodbridge School had never had a Team qualify for the National Finals gave the task ahead some context. 21 Teams (top three from each of the seven counties) would be reduced to three for Nationals in each of the four races.
First race of the day was the Junior Girls (u14) and although the team had worked hard and were likely to finish as a fairly compact unit, we were not expecting this young group to qualify.
How wrong we were!
Bea Thomas ran an exceptional race and every athlete raced for the line making every position count. The result – A Trip to Nationals by finishing third, beating 4th by just two points.
Individual results were Bea Thomas 5th, Molly Marshall 15th, Amy Goddard 20th, Issy Eaton 34th, Cecily Royal-Dawson 35th, Anna Jackson 66th.
Congratulations Junior Girls!
Second race was the Junior boys (u14), our strongest team and the one where we genuinely felt we had our first chance of qualification. We were not disappointed as the Woodbridge vests soon made their way to the front of the race and the boys finished second, a single point behind the school that won.
Charlie Turner was the star performer running an exceptionally well judged race to close in on the lead pack and then power home for second place.
Individual results were Charlie Turner 2nd, Kit Evans-Lombe 7th, Henry Dinwiddy 15th, Will Franklin 22nd, Edward Rufford 32nd, Tom Turner 47th.
Congratulations Junior Boys!
Next up were the Inter Girls (u16). Perhaps an outside chance we thought. Better than that the girls qualified for Nationals in a strong second place. Sarah Barker and Amy Graham worked their way through the field and were full of running in the closing stages to claim 3rd and 4th respectively. Special mention should also go to Charlotte Dinwiddy who ran a brave attacking race to finish 23rd.
Individual results were Sarah Barker 3rd, Amy Graham 4th, Charlotte Dinwiddy 23rd, Milly Buckingham 31st, Sophie Graham 38th, Victoria Burrows 40th.
Congratulations Inter Girls!
Final race of the day saw the Inter Boys (u16) line up. Whilst the Team realistically knew qualification was unlikely, the boys had trained well and were keen to improve on last years 7th place.
With Nathan Goddard leading from the front with another of his powerful displays for 2nd place, the boys packed well for the team to come home in 5th place.
Individual results were Nathan Goddard 2nd, George Rufford 19th, Daniel Davies 28th, Alex Evans Lombe 29th, Tom Harrington 35th, Nathaniel Gunn 42nd.
With that effort is has to be – Congratulations Inter Boys!
So off to Nationals we go. Formby, Lancashire on Saturday 3rd December.
With some 4000 secondary schools in England only 25 make it through to the Nationals and Woodbridge School will be in three of the four races.
We are one of only three schools in England to qualify more than two teams – Now that is something!