The final weekend of term witnessed many very tired pupils putting in Herculean efforts in matches against Bryanston and KES. Additionally, the U16 girls came within a single goal of winning the West of England indoor hockey.

The final rugby matches against local rivals Bryanston reflected the season as a whole: great successes amongst the senior teams whilst junior squads showed huge spirit, but without a successful outcome. The junior teams all suffered defeats, some by very narrow margins:

U16B   L 24-0

U15A   L 5-3

U15B   L 34-0

U14A   L 15-5

U14B   L 24-0

U14C   L 22-17

Most of these games were played away. At home, the seniors performed magnificently. The U16A team capped a fine season with a fine victory which also secured the title as Dorset cup winners. They will play Bishop Wordsworth in January for the Dorset & Wilts title - U16A Won 20-8

The 2^nd XV and the 3^rd XV secured excellent victories with the 3^rd XV getting back to winning ways with a comprehensive demolition of their opponents:

U16A   Won 20-8

3^rd XV  Won 41-0

2^nd XV Won 17-8

The 1st XV match was a treat for the many spectators who nervously watched the closest possible struggle. Early play was dominated by Bryanston who pressed hard with a series of penalties. Canford withheld this pressure with superb defence and very accomplished work at the set piece. (Throughout the match, Canford won all its lineout ball and stole a couple of opposition lines. Canford even took one scrum against the head.)

The 1^st half evened out and then finished with a fine Canford try in the corner. So the home team was 5-0 up at the interval. Early in the second half the Canford defence capitulated as Bryanston went over to even the score, only for Canford to rapidly regain the ascendancy with very accomplished play leading to a penalty and three more points. And so the score stood at 8-5 to Canford. Play then went to and fro with spirited attacking and sound defending and with only a couple of minutes to go a Canford victory looked the best bet. With very little time left a kick was charged down, Bryanston fed it to the right winger on the overlap and the try and conversion gave Bryanston a 12-8 victory.

It was a cruel end to a great game and an excellent season, but the ten Lower VIth players in the team will be looking forward to their 2009 season with great confidence and determination not to let it slip next time round.

The final weekend for the girls’ hockey was less close. Canford won four matches against KE Southampton, and drew one match. This last weekend was no exception, as these results indicate:

1^st XI   Won 7-0 (including a hat-trick by Cumming-Bruce.)

2^nd XI  Won 2-1 (including Pheobe Thornton’s first goal of the season)

U15As Won 3-2 (two goals for Kirsty Holt and one for Elise Micklewright)

U14As Drew 0-0

U14Bs  Won 7-2 (including two goals each for Chapple and Dean)

Our girls were also in action indoors over the weekend, with the U18s playing in the West of England indoor tournament. The team drew its first two matches against Clifton College and Blundells School, 2 – 2 and 3 – 3 respectively. The third match was against Millfield who were unbeaten so far that day, and in the game of the tournament, to the pleasure of the neutral crowd Canford came out 4 – 2 victors. The final pool match saw us take on Cheltenham LC in a winner take all match for a place in the semi-final, and from the high of beating Millfield, came the lows of losing to a goal in the final second 2 - 3. A fantastic day’s hockey and some outstanding performances, especially from Lou Linley-Adams.

Overall, the girls’ hockey has proved highly successful this term and their overall record is hugely impressive and a credit to all involved.

Finally, on Sunday 7^th December our U16 boys’ indoor hockey team took part in the West of England Finals at Wellington School in Somerset. In a particularly tough group we were runners up purely on goal difference to Millfield. Starting with a 3-1 win against Exeter School, we then drew with Millfield 1-1 before finishing the group stage with victory over King’s College, Taunton 3-0. This put us in a semi-final against Ashmoor Hockey club in Devon. In a hard fought game the school went down 1-0, having run out of steam during the course of the afternoon!

The boys should be very proud of their efforts not only in the tournament but also in making training at 7am every Tuesday Morning!

Match pictures

Hockey
Many of the same girls then had to venture on to the hockey pitch to compete in matches against Wellington College. Understandably the Canford girls looked somewhat jaded and conceded two first half goals before waking up and then dominating the second half. But it was too little, too late and they went down 2-1. This was the only loss to Wellington all afternoon, as these results show:

3rd XI vs Wellington U16A Draw 1-1
4th XI vs Wellington 3rd XI Win 3-1
U15A Win 4-2
U15B Win 5-0 (after a goalless first half)
U15C Win 4-0
U14B Win 4-0 (Cooper, Murphy, Johnson & Entwisle scoring)
U14C Win 1-0 (with a last minute goal from Bingham)

There was no match for the 1st XI girls because they played in the Regional Finals on Sunday against the winners of eight other counties and, in the process, were runners up in the West of England. This is a fantastic achievement and, although the entire squad is to be warmly congratulated, the performance of Lucy Waller was particularly praiseworthy.

The results for the tournament were as follows:

vs Millfield Lost 0-5
vs Blundells Won 1-0
vs Truro Won 3-0
vs Marlborough Won 1-0
vs Cheltenham LC Won 1-0
vs Clifton College Lost 0-1
vs Guernsey Won 3-0
vs Hereford Won 2-0

Rugby
Canford teams took on  West Country opponents Taunton School and managed to secure six wins, one draw and suffered two narrow defeats.

After a long coach journey the 1st XV made a sluggish start to their match but bounced back with an impressive second half, four tries to one and ran out winners by 13 points to 24. The back row of Stephenson, Scott and Van Tuyl played a crucial role in this victory.

The 2nd XV, 3rd XV and U16A team all continued with their run of fine winning performances: 7-33; 10-47 and 10-25 respectively. In the U16A team victory, Nathan Young played a crucial role in the 2nd half.

Other results from the rugby teams were:

U16B Drew 7-7
U15A Lost 5-7
U15B Lost 5-19
U14A Won 24-5
U14B Won 54-0

Golf
Our top three players travelled to Berkshire to play in the second round of the ISGA regional tournament. Our loss was certainly no disgrace as we came up against one of the strongest school golf teams we have encountered. Our three players were comfortably beaten by the Wellington College trio who must surely go on to win the national title. Despite our defeat, it was a pleasure to play on such an impressive course.

Thursday 13th November

Hockey

On another wet day Canford travelled to Bryanston looking for the double victory over the local rivals after beating them in the U18 County Finals a few weeks earlier.
As always, this match was a close affair and for the first 10 minutes each team tried to find an opening. However it was Canford that found the target with a reverse stick shot from Alice Toynton. Canford continued to press and started to take hold of the game, only looking in danger from Bryanston’s counter attack. With half time approaching, Canford were awarded a short corner and a well-worked routine saw Alex Jackson crash the ball into the goal.

The second half saw Bryanston press higher up the pitch and were awarded a penalty stoke which was converted to bring the score to 2 – 1, however with a few minutes a fast flowing move saw the ball being slip to Emily Habin at the far post to score into an open goal. Canford again pressed forward and after a series of fine saves from the Bryanston keeper, the ball rebounded to Alice once again and found the corner of the goal 4 – 1.

With 5 minutes left to play Canford conceded a goal from a short corner.
Overall, a very well earned and convincing victory to Canford.

Saturday 8th November

This Saturday must register as our toughest fixture day in the term’s calendar – a double header against Millfield (rugby) and Marlborough (hockey) presented the Canford teams with some formidable opposition. However, we always want to test ourselves against the best and in these opponents we came across two schools, bigger than Canford and with well-coached sides. Periodically, we secure a large number of wins against these schools, clearly ‘punching above our numerical weight’, but this weekend, honours were even against Marlborough whilst Canford came off second best in the rugby.

Rugby
Millfield is a school bristling with international sportsmen and women and that was certainly true of their 1stXV. Canford played with remarkable composure and determination against very talented opposition, particularly in the pack. We conceded a number of tries in the first half and were clearly unable to combat the speed and agility of their backline. That said, Canford played some excellent rugby and competed very well.  Our opponents earned great respect from the Canford hosts and the supporting parents, not only because of the quality of their play in the first half but also for a generous realignment of their backs at the half-time break. This adjustment led to a very even and competitive second half, in which Canford just managed to outscore Millfield. The end result of a 33-9 loss was certainly no disgrace at the end of a high quality rugby match where both teams could hold their heads high.

The best result of the afternoon was secured by the Canford U16B team who defeated the Millfield U16C team 43-5. O’Neill, Parham, Bouquet, Close, Owen and Sugden all contributed to the points score.

Other results were as follows:
2nd XV lost 29-42
3rd XV won 29-12
U16A lost 6-26
U15B lost 0-65
U15C lost 12-72
U14A lost 0-66
U14B lost 10-27
U14C lost 0-42

When we have suffered such a string of defeats in the past, it has been gratifying to see how well Canford has responded in the ensuing year to bounce back, and that is what we shall aim to do.

Hockey
Three losses, three wins and one draw sums it up. Honours shared.
The 1stXI played some of their best hockey of the season and could count themselves unlucky to have gone down 2-1 in this match. They dominated much of the first half but failed to capitalise on their dominance. Their opponents were equally competitive and it made for a scintillating tussle. Alex Jackson netted for Canford.
Our 3rdXI lost in a high scoring game against the Marlborough U16A team (6-3), whilst the one drawn match was carved out by the 5thXI (1-1).

At U15 level Canford were very successful with both our A and B teams beating Marlborough who were hitherto unbeaten at this age group. The U15A team played excellent team hockey to win 4-2, with goals from Michelwright (2), Kilpatrick and Willder. The B team’s success was secured by goals from Whillans and Howarth – result: 2-1.

The U14 girls had two commitments on Saturday: the A team played their county tournament (see below) whilst the B and C teams took on Marlborough. The B team lost narrowly (3-2) with goals from Cooper and Barringer. The C team won narrowly (2-1) with goals from Sparkes and Johnson.

Canford U14 girls are County Hockey Champions!
For the sixth time in seven years, the Canford U14 girls have been crowned County Champions. This also means that Canford have secured all three girls’ county titles (U14, U16 and U18).

Their pool game opponents were efficiently and ruthlessly despatched:
vs Talbot Heath    Win: 11-0
vs Parkstone Grammar Win: 9-0
vs Leweston    Win: 4-0

In the semi-final Canford conceded their only goal against them all day, but scoring 6 against Sherborne gave them a comfortable winning margin (6-1).
The final against Bryanston was, predictably, Canford’s closest match, but at the end of a gutsy performance the best team of the tournament came out on top with a 1-0 win and the County title. The Canford coach, Patrick Rossiter, was thrilled to be able to pay credit to the all-round, committed squad performance – all the girls gave it their all and reaped the rewards of success.

Thursday 6th November - midweek sports results

It can be difficult picking up the pace again after a half-term break, but this did not seem to prevent the various Canford teams from notching up some excellent results ahead of the very competitive weekend approaching.

Netball - U18s through to Regional Finals
On Tuesday, the U18 netball team competed in the County Tournament. The tournament started with a round robin pool competition in which the Canford girls won all their games:

➢ beating Woodroffe School 14-2
➢ beating Gryphon School 12-4
➢ beating Sherborne 18-0
➢ beating Bryanston 14-3
➢ beating Leweston 14-3

Canford defeated St. Peter’s School 9-4 in the semi-final before Bryanston defeated Canford in the Final, but by that stage, it did not matter too much as both of the top two teams go through to the Regional Finals.

U14s qualify for County Finals

The Poole & East Dorset U14 netball was played on the Thursday. The Canford girls won all their games and have now qualified for the County finals next week, hosted by Canford. The girls’ results were:

➢ beating Parkstone 15-2
➢ beating Purbeck 15-1
➢ beating St. Edward’s 20-0
➢ beating Lytchett 15-6
➢ beating Poole High 17-5 (semi-final)
➢ beating QE Wimborne 9-3 (final)

Well done to the netballers!

Hockey
Meanwhile the girls’ 3rd XI hockey team ground out a one all draw against Clayesmore 1st XI. A highly commendable result.

The U15B team girls’ hockey players started out against Hampshire Collegiate. After rapidly notching up an 8-0 lead it was clear that the teams needed to be more closely matched for everyone’s benefit. Accordingly, the U15C team took over and enjoyed a 3-0 win.

Rugby
It was good to have a number of midweek fixtures against our near neighbours Poole Grammar School. The results were mostly in Canford’s favour:

Canford 2nd XV beat Poole GS 1st XV 33-29
Canford U16B team lost to Poole GSA team 10-48
Canford U15A team beat Poole GSA team 27-0
Canford U14A team beat Poole GSA team 12-7
Canford U14B team beat Poole GSB team 22-15

Many of these matches were exciting and close – especially the top game.

Whilst these school matches were being played out, the Canford U16 rugby team defeated Woodroffe School 28-14 in the semi-final of the County Cup.

So, there have been some very exciting and successful midweek matches and competitions, but the approaching weekend will provide some huge challenges in the form of rugby against Millfield and hockey against Marlborough – our boys and girls are looking forward to these examinations of their skills.

Saturday 1st November

On the first weekend after the half term break the rugby players were all engaged in a fascinating inter-house tournament. This was played with the usual passion and commitment which accompanies all house competitions. Played in cold, wet conditions, the weather did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the participants:

Rugby
In the senior tournament, Franklin beat Salisbury in a very close final that twice had to extend to extra time to resolve the match. Wimborne defeated Monteacute to win the plate.

In the junior competition, School House beat Lancaster in the final, whilst Wimborne prevailed over Salisbury in the plate final.

Hockey
In inter-school competition, it was the girls who held centre stage this weekend with a full block fixture list of hockey matches against St. Edward’s, Oxford. There were ten matches, of which Canford won eight and drew two. There were 34 goals scored by Canford and only 7 conceded. All teams played well in appalling conditions, with the following match details summarizing the afternoon:

1st XI Won 3-2. Scorers: L.Thornton, Waller & Habin
2nd XI Won 3-0. Farrar on the score sheet again. Excellent defence by Clarke.
3rd XI Drew 2-2. Mella adding to her formidable tally of goals.
4th XI Won 1-0 O.Thornton the scorer.
5th XI Drew 2-2. Scorers: Doherty & Wotton.
U15A Won 1-0 Scorer: Mickelwright
U15B Won 3-1. A fine all-round performance.
U14A Won 9-0 Scorers: Taylor (3), Andrews (2), Brown, Glew, Wotton & Rose
U14B Won 6-0 Scorers: Cooper (3), Dean (2), Barringer
U14C Won 4-0 Scorers: Lickiss (2), Sparkes & Johnson.

In the 1st XI match, a very competitive contest was played out with enormous commitment and resolve by both teams. It was a very even contest in which the deadlock was broken by an opportunist strike by Emily Habin. St. Edward’s equalised almost immediately from a short corner. The Canford lead was restored five minutes before the interval following a flowing move down the right and a sweetly struck shot by Lucy Waller. But again, Canford succumbed to pressure just before the break and at half time the honours were even. A tense second half ensued, but Canford finally came out on top fifteen minutes before the end, when Louise Thornton converted a well-rehearsed short corner routine. This capped an excellent team performance and a thrilling match, with spirited play by both teams.

These are outstandingly good results against a school which has a fine sporting tradition.

Golf
The golf match against Dorset Golf & Country Club had to be abandoned after nine holes when the course became unplayable in conditions where players were unable to keep a grip on their clubs!

Thursday 16th October

The first half of term was rounded off with the second county title in three days – read about the U18 Girls’ County Championship, reported below. In addition to this there were rugby and other hockey successes.

Rugby
Whilst the Canford 3rd XV lost by a score of 27-7 to Bournemouth School for Boys 1st XV, the U16A team advanced through the quarter-final stage of the County Cup with a 45-5 victory over Clayesmore.

Hockey
Canford Crowned U18 Girls' County Hockey Champions

Thursday saw Canford travel to Sherborne GS for the U18 County finals. The team faced Leweston in the first match, an even game in the centre of the pitch but Canford created more chance in front of goal; it was from one of these attacks in the final minute that a Penalty stroke was won. Lou Linley Adams calmly stepped up and slotted it in the net. 1 – 0 win. Next, Sherborne took the field and although they played a hard physical game, the defence held firm. As the game developed Canford started to take control again, but this time, with the final hit of the game, Lou deflected the ball into the net from a well-worked short corner.

A change of pitch and a change of system, Gillingham pressed well but look weak at the back, and as Canford started to step up the pace goals started to flow with Canford running out 6 – 0 winners. St Mary’s followed and with Canford now in the mood for goals they continued as they had finished in the last match, winning this time 9 – 0.

The final game of the series saw us play against local rivals Bryanston. Bryanston had beaten us 2 – 0 in the prelim tournament and they quickly took the lead - this was the first time Canford had been behind in a match or even conceded a goal. However Canford’s confidence was high after winning all previous games and equalized thought a sweeping shot from Issie Cumming-Bruce. Canford pushed on and were rewarded with another short corner, and once again a well-worked move resulted in Lucy Waller scoring. Bryanston looking for an equalizer found Jordan Puttick in fine form between the posts and produced a great save at the final whistle to leave Canford winners of the U18 County trophy for the first time since 2003.

Both the 3rd XI and 4th XI had convincing wins over Bryanston: 6-0 and 4-0 respectively. At 3rdXI level, Flo Mella netted another five goals! She is proving more prolific at scoring than Wayne Rooney!
The U15A team drew 1-1 with Dauntseys (scorer: Mary Davenport) and the U14A team beat Hampshire Collegiate College 1-0.

Squash
There were some bravely fought matches by our Canford Squash team against Winchester, with our number 1 and 2 players highlighting the fighting spirit of Canford’s team. Tom Monk had a superb match with the Winchester number two narrowly losing 3-1. Julian Ingram defeated their number 1 in a hard fought match, which saw both players leave the court completed shattered. A great win for Julian and a fine example of the battling qualities you need in squash by the Captain.

Canford 1 Winchester 9

Further stern tests of our ability and resolve will follow the half-term break.

Tuesday 14th October

It was unusual to have so many sports fixtures on a Tuesday but it proved a busy day with mixed results.

Netball – Canford are U16 County Champions!

In a tiring, but high energy tournament at Budmouth College, the Canford girls produced an inspiring stream of performances to win the county title. They had already qualified as the Poole and East Dorset winners and had to take on the six other regional champions.

The results went as follows:
Canford beat St. Mary’s Shaftesbury 12-8
Canford beat Woodruffe School 21-1
Canford beat Bournemouth SG 7-5
Canford beat QE Wimborne 9-2
Canford drew with Leweston 6-6
Canford beat Talbot Heath 11-3

The two most telling matches were those against Bournemouth School for Girls and Leweston. In both these games Canford was trailing at half time, only to turn matters around with resilience, hard work and intelligent play. When other teams tired, the Canford girls stepped up a gear and found the resources to dominate play. It has been a four year gap since we last won the U16 county netball title – congratulations to all the girls involved.

Golf – HMC Foursomes, 2nd Round
If ever a team conspired to throw away a clear winning advantage, this must have been it! Nevertheless, congratulations to Reading Blue Coat on their 2-1 victory over the Canford golfers.

The Canford first pair of Willder & Hawkins had secured a 3&1 victory, whilst the second pair of Searle & Hassell had lost 4&3 to their opponents. This left the third match of Mitchell & Shepherd-Walwyn to decide the fixture. The Canford third pair came to the 18th tee one up. They stood on the final green needing to two putt from eight feet to halve the hole and win the match – they three putted! As they went down the 19th they resumed the advantage but then landed their approach shot to the green inches short and plugged into the face of the bunker. The advantage, the hole and the match were lost. It can be a cruel sport of ‘if only’s!

Rugby
There were two matches against Queen Elizabeth School Wimborne; both enjoyable and successful fixtures. The U15A team won 32-12 with tries from Hanna (2), Gobinet (2), King & Rodrigues. The U14A team won 38-10 in a match which showed some excellent patterns of play emerging from the Canford team.

Saturday 11th October 2008

There could be few better ways of drawing the first half of term to a close than with seventeen competitive matches, yielding sixteen wins and one draw! The seven rugby matches against Downside were all won, some by big margins. The squash team were successful against Millfield. The golfers won the St. Andrew’s Challenge Trophy against the Club and the eight hockey matches against King’s Taunton resulted in a draw for the first XI and wins for the rest.

Rugby
The rugby club should take pride of place this week, not because they secured seven wins, nor for scoring 291 points and conceding only 10, but because of the quality of play exhibited in all the matches. At U15 and U14 level, each playing A and B team fixtures against Downside, their wins of 24-3 (U15A), 17-0 (U15B), 45-0 (U14A) and 51-0 (U14B) were all lauded by their respective coaches for producing their finest performances of this year’s campaign to date.

The U16A team produced a high-octane performance against very well-drilled opposition. Paddy Allen and Giles Lewis were outstanding in both attack and defence and made a major contribution to the 28-0 victory. The margin of victory for the 2nd XV was 54-0 and they finally showed the kind of form that has been anticipated, but not materialised, until this weekend.

The most impressive match was witnessed by a fair, but partisan crowd on the 1st XV pitch where our top side blew Downside aside with a 72-7 win. There was superb handling and support play throughout the game. The intensity never relaxed and the successful outing was capped by some fine goal kicking from Tom Jenvey.

Squash
Five Canford boys took the challenge to a Millfield B team and worked hard to squeeze out a 3-2 victory; each rubber played as the best of five games. Tom Monk and James Moorhouse both won, whilst Gerard Chalkly-Maber and Musua Kilonzo lost, leaving the fixture in the balance. The deciding rubber was played out in the top match where Julian Ingram defeated the Millfield No.1, 3-2.

Hockey
The girls’ hockey club dominated in a block fixture against King’s Taunton. The 1st XI had another frustrating afternoon in which they pressed hard for most of the match and yet lacked the clinical finish – Alice Toynton scored the only goal in the 1-1 draw. Canford is certainly strong in depth: the 2nd Xi won 3-0, the 3rd XI won 8-0 (with four more goals for Flo Mella) and the 4th XI gained a 3-0 win (scorers: Wilkinson, Silk and Warwick). As with the boys, there were matches at U15A & B and U14A&B levels, all successfully completed: U15A (won: 4-1), U15B (won: 3-2), U14A (won: 6-0), U14B (won: 4-0).

Golf
The school team competed against the Club in the annual St. Andrew’s Challenge. The six singles matches are played off scratch and the resulting victory of 5-1 was secured as follows:
Ollie Willder Won 2&1
Ed Searle Won 2up
Elliot Hawkins Won 7&6
Nick Hassell Won 2&1
Sam Jones Lost 4&3
Will Mitchell Won 4&2

An excellent weekend, matched by wonderful weather and supportive crowds.

Week 5: 

Midweek Sports Results – Thursday 9th October

Ahead of next weekend’s block fixtures there are some exciting and successful sports results to report. However, before focusing on the midweek results there is a late addition to last weekend’s sports report:

Girls’ Hockey

The 4th XI girls’ hockey team also ran out as winners against Dauntsey’s in a close match, by a score of 1-0. Holly Wilkinson netted on this occasion, but it was an excellent all-round effort by the girls, who remain unbeaten.

On Tuesday the U18 girls’ hockey team took the first steps in their county tournament (the U16s having already been crowned county champions) by progressing through the pool stage to qualify for the county finals. Tuesday also saw the U15A girls’ hockey team enjoying a 2-0 win over Portsmouth Grammar School (scorers: Elise Michelwright and Kirsty Holt)

Netball

Although netball does not feature very fully in this term, nevertheless our girls did win their county preliminary matches quite comprehensively and have qualified for next week’s county finals. The results this week were:
vs Ferndown Upper (W: 16-3)
vs Queen Elizabeth (W: 8-1)
vs Parkstone Grammar (W: 10-4)
vs Corfe Hills (W: 11-4)
vs Purbeck (W: 15-1)

However, we were equally comprehensively beaten in a boys’ squash match against Bryanston. It was a bit of a mismatch, as our opponents fielded their top ten players whilst we went on court with a number of beginners and improvers. We went down 10-0; however, some of the matches were quite close.

Squash

Far more exciting was the girls’ squash match. Both Bryanston and Canford fielded a team of relative novices. Canford managed a 3-2 win with pride of place going to Helen Nicholson who came back from 2 games down to win a very tight and decisive match 3-2. (Results: Antoinette Cotton W: 3-2; Ellie Charles W: 3-0; Caroline Coates L: 3-1; Sarah Thomas L: 3-1; Helen Nicholson W: 3-2). The girls are eagerly anticipating the return fixture.

Golf

The golfers hosted a strong Sherborne team. Canford has consistently enjoyed success over our Dorset rivals for a number of years. Our visitors arrived, confident that this year might see a reversal in their fortunes. Indeed, two of the match did remain close for much of the afternoon, but Canford retained their long unbeaten record by two matches to one in a ‘fourball betterball’ format. The scores were as follows:
Ollie Willder & Elliott Hawkins Lost 2&1
Ed Searle & Nick Hassell Won 3&2
Will Mitchell & Christian Hayward Won 7&5

Earlier in the week our U15 rugby team made a speedy exit from the Daily Mail Cup

Five sports, dozens of participants, most age groups, a lot of enjoyable competition and a high degree of success.

in losing to the Gryphon School 15-0.

Week 4:

Sunday 5th October - Results from Reading Small Boats Head

WJ15 1x Chitty
1st - Canford (16:18)

WJ16 1x Chitty
4th - Canford (16:29)
Winners - 15:55

WJ15 2x Cate Battson/ Verity McCann
3rd - Canford (16:13)
Winners - 15:17

WJ16 2x Cate BattsonVerity McCann
2nd - Canford (16:28)
Winners - 15:49

J18 1x Jon McCann
6th - Canford (14:59)
Winners - 14:34

J15 1x Alex Wilding
7th - Canford (16:33)
Winners - 15:39

Saturday 4th October

The weekend fixtures saw the boys pitting their rugby skills against Portsmouth Grammar School, whilst the girls tested their silky hockey skills against Dauntsey’s. One important feature of the weekend programme was the County U16 girls’ hockey tournament held at Bryanston; let’s start the report there:

Canford win the first of the County hockey tournaments of the academic year - County Champions!
The tournament started well for the U16 girls’ team as they won their pool, scoring fourteen goals in the process. They went on to defeat Leweston 2-1 in the semi-final before claiming their crown as County Champions against the hosts Bryanston with a 2-0 win in the final. The victory was won well, with good performances from the whole squad. Tournament scorers: Alice Toynton (7), Cat Battson (6), Emily Habin (4) and Kirsty Holt (1).

The other hockey teams were also acquitting themselves well in various matches against Dauntsey’s School. There was no match for the first XI, as they are preparing for their County tournament in the coming week. The other senior teams gained impressive victories: the 2nd XI won 2-1 (scorers: Manton & Fairchild); the 3rd XI were 4-0 winners in a strong and fluent performance (scorers: Mella (3) and Githuku)

The U15B team notched up a 6-0 win, whilst the U15C team had a 1-1 tussle. The U14A team had a fine 4-0 win (scorers: a hat-trick for Sophie Taylor plus one for Ellie Glew) and the U14Bs won 2-0. The biggest win of the day was gained by the U14C team in their excellent 9-0 win. (Scorers: Lucia Johnson (3), Millie Sparkes (2), Sophie Stalker (2) and one each to Jags Bingham and Ellie Wilson).