This Friday Night Merchant Taylors’ once again host Reading Blue Coat under the lights to round off their ‘Phab Week’, the schools charity partner, which includes events throughout the week.
The 7pm kick off will be available on the NextGenXV YouTube Channel and through the embedded link below, and if history is anything to go by, it should be a cracker!
The last two editions of this game have been utterly spectacular, both won at the death by Reading Blue Coat. In 2022, see below, the two sides were level at 21-21 reading into the final play of the game before Reading Blue Coat tighthead Jack Rushton danced through the home defence like an outside back to secure a dramatic victory for the visitors.
In 2021 it was even more dramatic. Merchant Taylors’ had a 14-8 lead going into the final play when Reading Blue Coat’s Joe Smart crossed the whitewash from a driven lineout to bring the visitors within a point. The whole game lay on the shoulders of Blue Coat’s Tom David, who nervelessly slotted the extras for the most dramatic of 15-14 victories.
So drama is intertwined with this fixture, a fixture that has become almost the fixture on the calendar for the two with Reading Blue Coat now established firmly as the opposition for this special Friday night game at Merchant Taylors’, they have been the opposition for the last four Friday encounters.
Merchant Taylors’ are going to be determined to reverse the fortunes of the last couple of years though, and recent form suggests that they are looking good. St George’s Harpenden, Watford Grammar, and Bishop’s Stortford High have all been defeated this season, with only Magdalen College and the exceptional Mill Hill getting the better of them. Indeed at the Eltham College Festival before half term they also won three games, their only defeat being a tight 5-0 loss to Mill Hill – holding Mill Hill to that sort of score says everything about this group.
It’s been tougher going for Reading Blue Coat, who have won just two of their nine games so far. However that is as much of a sign of the quality of their fixture list as anything else. Their performances in the last two or three years have been exceptional, including some great runs in the Vase. That has increased the challenge of their fixture list, making them one of the biggest fixtures for each side they face.
Everything points towards another classic, these Friday night fixtures have a real knack for producing them. It should be an incredibly special evening, all for a hugely important cause, and all in front of what is likely to be a huge, and vociferous, crowd at Merchant Taylors’!
To see more about Phab, please visit their website: Phab inspiring and supporting disabled and non-disabled children, young people and adults to make more of life together.
Merchant Taylors’ v Reading Blue Coat – Friday, 7pm KO – LIVE on NextGenXV
