U16 County Rugby champions
On Wednesday 5 March Eastbourne College U16 rugby team beat Dorothy Stringer High School in the County Cup Final at Hove RFC.
After absorbing some intense pressure on their own line, Harry Lloyd capitalised on some offside players at the base of a breakdown to dart through and score the first try, George Brassett converted to make it 7–0 to Eastbourne College. The Dorothy Stringer team rose to the challenge and a mistake by Eastbourne led to a break away try for the opposition. They converted making it 7–7. However with extremely committed tackling and well organised defence, the Eastbourne College try line looked safe for the rest of the game.
As the match progressed the confidence of the Eastbourne College U16s grew, and with it the level of the rugby they were playing. Consistent pressure led to Fergus Piper scoring just before half time, George Brassett converted to make it 14–7 to Eastbourne College.
After the break it was one way traffic with the Eastbourne team achieving some incredible tries. Hugo Millns showed that second rows can dance, scoring under the posts, much to the annoyance of the opposition 8. Harry Lloyd scored again with a sniping run. Representing the U15s were Michael Gatehouse and Hugh Turnbull, both making valuable contributions to the team. Michael finished a superb team try.
The power of the forwards and superb ball retention resulted in a powerful try by Tom Tasharrofi who was running rampant around the fringes.
Leading the team superbly and the most vocal player on the pitch, Ben ‘Road block’ Biltcliffe was also a huge presence in defence and refused to let anything past him.
The final score was 38–7 to Eastbourne College.
Tries: Gatehouse, Lloyd (x2), Millns (x2), Piper, Tasharrofi.
Conversions: Brassett (x4)
Squad: Biltcliffe, Blythe, Booth, Brassett, Fieldhouse, Gatehouse, Gregorie, Gordon, Haller, Horsman, Lloyd, McClure, Millns, Perrett, Piper, Singh, Tasharrofi, Trzebinski, Turnbull, Veasey, Walker, Wilson.
