Hard work rewarded in this week’s fixtures

U9 Hockey vs The Blue Coat School.

On Tuesday 26th September, the U9 Hockey Teams travelled away to The Blue Coat School in Birmingham. There was much excitement throughout the day for the road trip ahead, and the positive energy on the minibuses was almost tangible.

The girls met a well-drilled and strong Blue Coat Team, but stepped out onto the field with confidence. They played 7-a-side for the first time, and adjusted well to using the whole width and length of the pitch. Charlotte F captained her team this week and led from the front with a strong and consistent performance, putting in some tremendous tackles in defence and sending some strong clearance balls forward to the midfield. Ruby, Ariana and Valerie continued to work hard with the defensive press, keeping Blue Coat back in their own half, and found that this week they had to mark up as Blue Coat launched some dangerous attacks. Adelyn showed her versatility as a player this week, displaying some lovely individual skill in attack but also excellent vision and precision passing from the midfield. It was Adelyn’s pass down the right wing to Florrie that initiated a beautiful attack. Florrie took advantage of the space, and executed a textbook cross into the area to find Jasmine, who finished the play with a strong shot on target and a goal. Zara was never far away from the ball, offering support in attack and maintaining a menacing presence against the Blue Coat Defence around the goal area. She worked hard throughout the game and was a deserving Player of the Match, as voted for by the opposition.

It was then the turn of Daisy’s team to step out against Blue Coat, and once again adjust positionally to the 7-a-side formation. Daisy captained her team with a real sense of purpose. It was a tough first quarter, as Robyn, Maisie and India all had to chase back and make strong challenges to stop a flowing Blue Coat attack but, as the match progressed, the girls grew in confidence. Annie maintained her position as attacker and put pressure on the Blue Coat defence right from the push back, whilst Izzy and Bella linked up with some passes into space through the midfield. As time went on, the girls launched several attacks, with Bella getting the ball into the area, and the team found themselves having several attempts on goal. The opposition chose Bella as the Player of the Match this week, for her strength and determination. Well done Bella!

U8 Rugby Festival at Winterfold.

This week saw our U8 boys in action in their very first competitive rugby fixtures for the School. The boys travelled to Winterfold, where they enjoyed three very competitive games of tag rugby. The Hawford team were devastating in attack, creating many great runs. There was also a great deal of resilience and organisation shown in defence.

The boys thoroughly enjoyed their first experience of competitive rugby for the School and it was wonderful to see so many parents and grandparents supporting the boys from the side of pitch.

All of the boys played extremely well, and Mr Stigant was impressed with the whole team. Tom H impressed with his elusive running, Josh R demonstrated some brilliant support play and Cassian W’s on-pitch leadership really helped his team.

KSW U11A Millfield Festival.

This week our U11 boys joined forces with the boys from King’s St Alban’s to form a King’s Worcester U11 side. Having trained together for the first time on Monday, the KSW Under 11A squad were keen to make a positive impression in their first outing as a combined side.

Their first fixture was a tight physical encounter against a well-drilled Millfield side. The two defences were in the ascendancy throughout, and the game was decided by a breakaway try from Millfield in the first few minutes of the game. As the game went on, King’s started to show greater attacking organisation and threatened to cut loose, only to lose the ball at crucial moments.

The next two games against Taunton School and Chafyn Grove saw the King’s side produce some scintillating rugby, with the boys running in nine tries and conceding nothing. They started to make great decisions in attack, mixing direct running with excellent handling to threaten the outside channels. The boys finished the day looking forward to their next joint outing, when they will travel to Hymers College for their Under 11 7s festival.

KSA U11B Millfield Festival.

After the steady drive down the M5 to Somerset, the boys were keen to get going at the U11 rugby tournament at Millfield School. The tournament proved to be an excellent opportunity for the Year Six boys to put the rugby skills that they have been developing in Games lessons and after school rugby club into practice against teams from Millfield, Chafyn Grove, Selwood and Taunton School.

A strong start in our first match against Chafyn Grove School resulted in a comfortable win, with impressive team tries. Another excellent team performance followed straight after, with a convincing victory against Taunton School. Confidence was high after two wins from their first two matches, although the boys knew that Millfield would no doubt prove to be tough opponents. This proved to be the case, but the boys showed great teamwork in both attack and defence, alongside the boys from KSA, to secure another comfortable and well-earned victory of which the boys were particularly proud!

The toughest match of the day came in our last match, against Selwood’s A-team. It was a game that could have gone either way and resulted in a narrow loss, by just a single try. The boys all demonstrated strong tackling and running with the ball throughout the afternoon and everybody on the team represented King’s School extremely well.