This Friday sees Merchant Taylors’ host Reading Blue Coat at 6.30pm in the final game of their superb ‘Phab’ Rugby Week.
The week has seen fixtures across the age-groups throughout, and money is raised for the Phab Charity, which you can find out more about here: https://www.phab.org.uk
Every year Phab Week concludes with this incredible Friday night game, played out under the floodlights in front of a packed crowd and a superb atmosphere. The 6.30pm Kick Off will be broadcast LIVE here on NextGenXV through the NextGenXV YouTube channel, TikTok, and through the embedded video below.
Reading Blue Coat have been the opposition for Merchant Taylors’ throughout most of Phab week, the two met at 2nd XV and U16 A & B level on Wednesday, at U14 A, B, and C level on Tuesday, and at U15 A and B level on Monday. Other schools that have participate this year are York House (U13), Berkhamsted (U15 C), Queen Elizabeth’s Barnet (U14 C, D, and E), and Shiplake College (3rd XV). There will also be U11, U10, and U9 games in the build up to Friday’s 1st XV encounter.
Last year’s game saw Merchant Taylors’ avenge back to back last play victories for Reading Blue Coat when they secured a 25-17 victory in yet another tight game (see below). Both sets of players will remember that one well, and will be eager to put on another epic.
Games between the two have tended to be epics, since 2018 Merchant Taylors’ have hosted Reading Blue Coat on a Friday night, winning three of those five. Three of those games, 2018, 2021, and 2022 were all decided by a converted score or less, even the biggest victory was still relatively close, 21-10 to Merchant Taylors’ in 2019.
That tension has been a part of what has made these Friday night games so fantastic, and whatever the form of two coming in over the years, the occasion and the atmosphere always seems to have made for a fantastic game.
This season Merchant Taylors’ are in fine form, they are a founding member of the new West Anglia Schools League and kicked off their campaign there with a 36-22 victory over St George’s Harpenden. They backed that up with a superb 20-8 victory over St Edward’s Oxford at Iffley Road, which was live here on NextGenXV (see highlights below). That was the first of three Friday night games in a row, the third of which is this week, the second of which was last Friday against Mill Hill at StoneX. It was an epic game and though they fell to their first defeat of the season, it was a thrilling 38-34 effort with a fantastic second half performance against a side stacked with academy talent. Merchant Taylor’s are flying along.
Reading Blue Coat have meanwhile had a tougher start to the season, they are yet to pick up a victory however they have been incredibly competitive, losing narrow games to Teddies, St Albans, and St George’s Weybridge. That Teddies game perhaps is the biggest indicator for this Friday, given Merchant Taylors’ victory over them, but as the past has shown this game is an outlier – anything can, and does, happen, from last minute tries to stunning late kicks, it is always on a knife edge.
Reading Blue Coat know they need to be at their best, but that is what they always seem to bring to North West London for these occasions. Merchant Taylors’ know that, and will be highly aware that they need to be sharper even than previously this season.
It’s a huge game, the conclusion to a fantastic week, and all for a wonderful cause.
Merchant Taylors’ v Reading Blue Coat: Friday 4th October, 6.30pm KO, LIVE on NextGenXV
Phab brings together disabled and non-disabled people of all ages to make more life together – with exciting and challenging holiday projects for disabled and disadvantaged children and young adults, wheelchair accessible holiday homes, and 140 Phab Clubs across England and Wales with 8,000 members. Thank you for supporting Phab and Phabkids – with your help we can make a real and lasting difference to the lives of so many more children, young people and adults with disabilities, to their families and to local communities.
