Whitgift School clinched victory by a one-score margin over Ipswich School in the final of the Esher President’s Cup, a traditional pre-season opener in the South-East, after both finalists had won their respective pools with 100% records.
The warm summer weather continued for another day, with only short periods of precipitation, as teams from East Anglia, Somerset and the South Coast joined more local schools for this long-standing short-format (10 minutes each way, with no conversions or penalty kicks at goal) tournament at Esher RFC.
The pool matches were mostly decided by one or two scores. In the opening game of Pool 1, on the main pitch, Whitgift were held scoreless for most of the game by Millfield before finally breaking through with two late scores. In the meantime, on pitch 2, Hampton led Seaford at the interval before the Sussex school responded with two second-half scores. Hampton, after a quick turnaround, remained on pitch 2 and faced Whitgift, again going down by a single score, so the Whitgift vs Seaford game emerged as the pool decider, the Croydon-based school taking that to progress to the final, with Seaford pool runners-up.
In pool 2, Ipswich got off to a strong start with a decisive win over a Newman side comprising development and community squad players (their ACE squad being at the Hartpury Festival). The Suffolk school then clinched a narrow win over Hurstpierpoint College, before running in five tries against Tonbridge. The final pool game was a close one, with Newman holding Hurstpierpoint to a 10-10 draw, but that result was enough to see Hurst through to the second-place teams play-off against Seaford.
All three play-off games were closely contested. In the third-placed teams’ playoff on pitch 2, Hampton were held scoreless by Tonbridge in the first period but ran in two tries after the interval. The concurrent game on the main pitch saw an exciting battle between Sussex-based rivals Seaford and Hurstpierpoint, each having finished second in their respective groups. Hurst started strongly, winning good field position from a penalty, kicked to the corner. The set-piece possession was duly secured, and the Hurst forwards drove close to the line but were stopped. With the referee playing advantage, Hurst tried to take advantage of the free ball with a kick to the right corner, but the wind took it beyond the chasing wing.
Play thus came back for another lineout in the left corner, and although possession was again secured by Hurst, the resulting maul was well defended, and Seaford were able to regain possession from the scrum. Hurst ran back the ensuing clearance kick but were penalised at the breakdown, and Seaford were able to gain an attacking position, forcing further penalties. Although a kick to the corner from the last of those was overcooked, Seaford regained possession, and good recycling saw them score close to the posts as the first period came to a close. Hurst battled hard after the interval to secure an equalising score but were unable to gain an attacking position until the closing moments. A strong set scrum gave clean possession, and good handling took play deep into the Seaford 22 on the left, but the defence was able to snuff out the threat as time expired.
The Cup final followed on the main pitch. Ipswich were quick out of the blocks and secured an early score through centre and Netherlands U18 player Sem Bouwens on the left. Their high-tempo offloading game saw them have the bulk of the possession, and Whitgift were finding it hard to generate multiple phases, until, with the interval approaching, good handling put Orlando Moore into space on the right, and the wing was able to force his way over in the corner.
The momentum was now with the South London side, and a well-directed kick took play up towards the Ipswich 22. The Ipswich throw to the line-out was judged not straight, and the Whitgift forward pack forced a penalty at the ensuing scrum. With that kicked to the right corner and set-piece possession secured, a second Whitgift score seemed likely, but excellent counter-rucking by the Ipswich defence forced a penalty, and they were able to clear. However, the respite was brief as Whitgift again forced a penalty, and that was kicked to the left corner. The line-out ball was moved quickly at the front to hooker Freddie Overand, and he showed good pace to break down the touchline and crash over in the corner.
With only a few minutes left, Whitgift were able to secure possession at the restart and run out beyond their 22, but a pass was intercepted, and Ipswich forced a penalty, kicked to the right corner. Possession was secured, and the ball moved through the hands to the left, but the ball went loose, and Whitgift were able to recover and kick it dead to bring up the final whistle.
Playoff results:
Cup Final: Whitgift 10-5 Ipswich
2nd Place Playoff: Seaford College 5-0 Hurst College
3rd Place Playoff: Hampton 10-0 Tonbridge
Pool results
Pool 1: Whitgift 10-5 Millfield, Seaford 10-5 Hampton, Whitgift 10-5 Hampton, Millfield 5-20 Seaford, Whitgift 15-5 Seaford, Millfield 5-15 Hampton
Pool 2: Tonbridge 5-15 Hurstpierpoint, Cardinal Newman 0-15 Ipswich, Tonbridge 10-5 Cardinal Newman, Hurstpierpoint 5-10 Ipswich, Tonbridge 5-25 Ipswich, Cardinal Newman 10-10 Hurstpierpoint
By Peter Crawshaw
