Rugby at New Hall Preparatory School
Rugby at New Hall is enjoying a large number of boys participating in Years 5 and 6 and also for Years 3 and 4. With fixtures against other schools, and tournaments coming up over the year, there is lots to look forward to. Following last year's Year 6 pupils making the transition into the Senior School, our Year 6 pupils from last year have got lots of promising Year 5’s to help re-build the team.
For the Year 3 and 4 pupils, we are pleased to offer a rugby club, which will start to develop the key skills important in rugby from the younger age. This will include Tag-Rugby, but also looking to introduce some contact skills as our youngsters gain more experience.
Rugby vs Old Buckenham Hall
With an exciting new season for the Year 5 and 6 rugby team ahead, New Hall welcomed Old Buckenham Hall (OBH) for the opening game. With lots of new boys making their New Hall debut, it was going to be an exciting game. Captain Henry Baird won the toss and decided to kick off. Right from the first tackle OBH knew they would be in for a physical game.
To start with, it was clear that OBH had played together a lot as a team, as they tried to pass the ball along their well organised backs. New Hall fly half Justin Smith and centres Henry Baird and Darragh Moore put lots of pressure on the opposition, as OBH tried to play a running game, forcing them into some mistakes. The first try went to OBH, who quickly looked to pass the ball after being tackled to supporting players. Their speedy winger when he was given a bit of space managed to sprint around Theo for the first score in the left corner. Before half time OBH continued to pass the ball well, with New Hall boys sometimes finding it difficult to line up and defend. Before the break OBH scored 3 more tries and 2 conversions.
After a team talk at half time, all of the boys increased their effort. In the second half, James playing as scrum half was able to get more possession for the backs to try and use. This was helped by the forwards driving OBH off the ball. Tackling became more ferocious – with one point 3 New Hall boys chasing down OBH right wing just stopping him scoring. From the scrums, Cameron Griffiths, Richard Barber and Harry Morgan kept the front row solid, they also managed to win the opposition line-out 3 times! The forwards also improved their rucking throughout the game, with William Baird, James McLeish and Harry Morgan showing real commitment to the team.
Despite the improved attacking and defensive play by New Hall boys, it was OBH who scored 4 more tries in the second half, 2 coming from very good support play and the other 2 from passes out to the quick wingers.
The best run by New Hall was Justin Smith, advancing nearly ¾ of the pitch, just missing a support player to help New Hall score.
Throughout the game lots of boys made some excellent tackles and kept playing right to the end. After only 1 games session and 1 training session for the team, this was a very good team performance. With more practise to help the new players, and other keen Year 5 and 6 boys to play, we will look to learn from this tricky first game.
Final score: New Hall 0 OBH 44
