King’s St Albans Sports Review of the Week

This week at King’s St Albans, our sports teams have once again demonstrated exceptional skill, determination, and team spirit.

Rugby U11 – Mr. Jenkinson 

After some very promising performances at The Elms’ pre-season Rugby 7’s Festival, the boys from the Under 11 A team were raring to go in their first ‘Home’ fixtures of the term on Wednesday afternoon (12th September). 

Having already played Winterfold School and The Elms the previous Saturday, the boys knew that they were going to be playing against two very good teams and would need to work really well together as a team, in order to be successful. They did exactly that with some excellent attack and defence in their first match against The Elms. After St. Alban’s went ahead with an early try, both teams played well as the lead changed hands several times during the match, before The Elms finally managed to secure the win. 

After an encouraging performance in their first match, the boys continued to demonstrate great teamwork and determination to ensure that their second match against Winterfold was another close affair. Captain Ben J, led by example throughout the afternoon, whilst Archie demonstrated great pace and strength, scoring a brace of tries in his first performance for the team. New starters, Charles and Leo, both showed great strength when tackling and running with the ball, and the rest of the boys also played really well, with Harry, Arlo, Will, Jake, Uriah and Freddie showing excellent passion and commitment to the team. 

As is to be expected so early on in the season, the boys were able to identify a few areas where they recognised that there is room for improvement – which we will work on in Games lessons and Rugby club. However, it was a very positive start to the season, and the boys and I are already looking forward to their next match in a couple of weeks’ time. Well done to all of the boys who took part and thank you very much to all of the spectators who came along to watch and cheer the boys on! 

Rugby U11 – Mr Hooman 

The U11 team was full of excitement and anticipation for their first competitive fixtures of the season. We were thrilled to host both The Elms and Winterfold for a triangular fixture on the King’s fields this Wednesday afternoon. Given that it’s early in the term and some boys hadn’t yet experienced contact rugby, we opted to kick off with touch rugby. This allowed us to focus on our attacking and defensive structure, as well as refining our passing. 

Crispin N and George C both stood out with their confident ball handling, demonstrating great game awareness in knowing when to pass and when to exploit open space. Benjamin F and Luca E impressed by finding gaps in the opposition’s defence and gaining valuable ground for the team. Special mention goes to Henry S, Jackson B, and George P, who all played in their first rugby fixtures for the school. They showcased some of the skills they’ve been developing in games lessons and clubs. 

Overall, it was a fantastic start to the term, and the boys are eager to dive into contact rugby in the coming weeks! 

Rugby U10 – Mr Rowley 

On Wednesday, the U10 boys played in a triangular tournament against The Elms and Winterfold. A challenging afternoon for the boys, with it being their first game of the season, the boys showed brilliant determination in the first game against The Elms. A loss of 6-2 really doesn’t reflect how well the boys improved through the game. Against Winterfold, they came out of the blocks flying and scored in the first play of the game. Some great encouragement and support from the boys made the afternoon enjoyable for all. The standout performance was Ben D who played fantastically in both games. 

Hockey U11A – Mrs Clark 

On Wednesday we travelled to Bromsgrove to play our first hockey fixtures of the season. The girls were keen and raring to go. It was a triangular fixture, and our first match was against Hawford. They started well with some excellent defensive work from all the players. Five minutes into the match the heavens opened, and the girls showed great resilience playing on through torrential rain. However, things got notably worse with hail and then thunder and lightning, at which point we had to abandon the fixture. 

Hockey U11B – Miss Jordan 

On Wednesday afternoon, the U11B team travelled to Bromsgrove to play a triangular against Bromsgrove School and King’s Hawford. The first match started really well with Ariya taking the first push back and passing it to Yifei who dribbled straight into the goal! After the goal, the match was very evenly sided. The ball was up and down towards both ends. It was lovely to see the progress in a year and the girls were really working as a team. Special mention should go to Phoebe who saved some incredible would-be goals and to Ariya who was awarded opposition player of the match. Final score 1-0 to KSA. Unfortunately, that was when the heavens opened and due to the thunder and lightning the rest of the matches were called off.  

Hockey U10 – Mrs Hand 

The U10s were all warmed up and about to head on to the pitch when an apocalyptic hailstorm ripped across the astro. Everyone sprinted for cover under a large tree. We were debating with the Hawford staff whether we went back to play when an almighty crash of thunder boomed overhead. Unfortunately the game was called off so we look forward to future fixtures.