Christ College 12 Crawshays 17

IN front of a large enthusiastic crowd the Christ College 1st XV put on an excellent display of rugby against a physical Crawshays Welsh XV.

The Crawshay’s are a world famous invitational side selected from across the whole of the Welsh Regions as well as bringing a few boys from the Welsh Exiles based in England; Christ College showed their steel and guile against this high quality opposition.

Watching the match was a number of invited names from Welsh rugby as well as former Crawshay’s players. Included in the entourage was the proud 1st XV sponsors Ty-Mawr Lime Ltd.

The game was of excellent quality given the difficulty caused by the weather. The first half ended quite even and the College were unlucky to be 17-7 down having missed a couple of chances to score after sustained pressure despite playing into the wind. Rampaging Archie Trevethan at number 8 drove hard and caused the Crawshays defences many headaches all through the game.

As the second half progressed the College took control up front which allowed Huw Thomas the fly half to gain good field position with some fine kicks with the wind at his back. Led strongly by captain Henry Morgan-Gervis the forwards continually drove into the Crawshays and gained a foothold into their territory for much of the half. The bigger Crawshay forwards held firm close to the line with the college being denied a try on a number occasions having been held up over the line. Henry Edwards and Ollie Newey combined well in the lineout to ensure quality ball and attacking opportunities.

Not being outdone by the forwards the College backs showed excellent skill, in difficult conditions, to move the ball at pace and get in behind the defences. Olly Lewis and Charlie East formed an exciting pairing in the centre and were able to put Tom Richards, the fleet footed full back, away into space several times. Tom showed wonderful foot skills to out step and out run the defence to score from 30 metres. With the score at 12-17 and the Christ College XV hammering away at the try line the Crawshay’s showed brave defensive, led by local boys Josh Hamilton, Prys Eckley and Josh Pritchard, to hold out until the end.

This game was an excellent advert for school rugby in Wales with the highest skills on show from both sides.