King’s Worcester secured the U18 Schools Bowl in a brilliant performance at Sixways Stadium, beating Glyn School 34-10.
As one of the schools in Worcester Warriors’ catchment area and playing the Modus Cup against RGS Worcester at Sixways every year, King’s looked totally at home on the artificial surface that is the home of Worcester Warriors.
Scoring an impressive six tries this young group showed real maturity, despite some frankly ridiculous, and utterly unwarranted, noise coming from the stands in the direction of both the officials and their kicker Ethan Summerwill.
Fortunately on the field both sets of players were pouring every last ounce of energy into their performance and they produced a great game of rugby. While Glyn may not have had a lot to show in terms of points the score actually belied some of the quality of their play and the intensity of their defence.
Unfortunately for them, King’s just had too much of a blend of power and skill, and when they scored after just seven minutes through Hamish Stigant after a quite sensational break from full back Charles Clark, who was majestic throughout, they had the momentum to add to that.
Seven minutes later bullocking number 8 and captain Max Richardson was over for King’s Worcester’s second try of the game, another who was simply sensational throughout.
Glyn responded though, stemming the momentum with some good play of their own. It did not yield points but it gave them belief, at that point belief was enough, 12-0 was no mountain yet.
However King’s Worcester managed to change all of that around when they scored their third try of the game right on the stroke of half time, through second row Will Bishop, an absolute killer time to score that sent them into the break 17-0 up.
They were at it again almost immediately after the restart as Max Richardson crossed for his second try of the game and a 22-0 lead, blasting over from the back of a driven maul.
Glyn were good in this second half though, every time they looked like they were down and out they came back with a try. That started after Richardson’s try, Glyn responding by getting control of the ball and then sending substitute Daniel Jones scuttling through of their first points of the game. With half an hour to play, there was still plenty of time.
King’s Worcester were in no mood to let anyone spoil their party now though and almost immediately they hit right back through tighthead prop Josh Moorhouse, extending back out again to 27-5.
Once more though, Glyn kept digging in, never giving up and showing all the qualities that have made them so admired through this campaign. They crashed over for a second try, but with ten minutes left there was serious work to do to get back in it.
Try they did though but when King’s turned the ball over in midfield and right wing George Hale saw space, he sensed the chance for something special as he looked up, turned on the afterburners, and scorched right around the defence to score his side’s sixth try of the day, sealing the final score at 34-10 with Summerwill’s conversion.
It was a fitting final score of the game really, King’s Worcester had been magnificent all afternoon, scoring at crucial times and scoring with real majesty too.
Glyn were brave though, oh so brave. The refused to give in even when the odds were utterly against them many other sides have collapsed under such firepower in these major schools final, but not so here.
Ultimately though King’s Worcester were simply sensational all game, playing some gorgeous rugby with real pace and verve at times. After a tricky couple of years, they have emerged with the U18 Schools Bowl, and not only that, they did it in style, with a sublime performance.
Full Time: King’s Worcester 34-10 Glyn
King’s Worcester
15 Charles Clark (vc), 14 George Hale, 13 Willem Humphreys, 12 Dan Humphrey, 11 Alex Lowe, 10 Ethan Summerwill, 9 Joe Pritchard, 1 Joe Richardson, 2 Sam Martyn-Smith, 3 Josh Moorhouse, 4 Hamish Stigant, 5 Will Bishop, 6 Joe Connor, 7 Tom Hale, 8 Max Richardson (c).
Replacements: 16 George Monce, 17 Fletch Overfield, 18 Owen Preston, 19 Matt Doughty, 20 Tom Otley, 21 Ollie Berlet, 22 Kit Coleman.
Glyn
15 Tom Busby (c), 14 Louey Hurley, 13 Charlie Connett, 12 Toby Knight, 11 Tatenda Shangazhike, 10 Nathan Andrews, 9 Herbie Archer, 1 Toby Evans, 2 Euan Clifford, 3 Finlay Milton, 4 Jack Benton, 5 Harry Carmichael, 6 James Besley-Tyrell, 7 Henry Swan, 8 Elliot Smith.
Replacements: 16 Daniel Jones, 17 Harry Scarlett, 18 Joshua Mitchell, 19 Paddy Cox, 20 Daniel Sidlin, 21 Ayanfe Oladokun, 22 Rory Eddison.
