One week to go until Christmas now, but Tiffin Sport doesn’t quite slow down just yet with a big weekend of Rugby in our block fixture against Reigate Grammar School, with Year 7 and 8 taking part in a triangular fixture with RGS Guildford and Reigate too! We have an in-depth feature on our ever-growing girls’ Rugby programme, as well as a couple of brilliant Netball results to report on!
In this round-up, we will be having an in-depth focus on our girls sport over the past half-term, which is expanding and improving at an alarming rate! Our Head of Girls’ Rugby, Mr. Brown, has wrote a feature piece on the Girls’ Rugby programme so far this year:
“The autumn term has been an exciting one for Girls’ Rugby. It began with the overwhelming number of incoming Yr12 girls willing to give the sport a try which saw well over 30 (representing 1/3 of the year group) join our taster sessions in September. By half-term, the vast majority of this number were now full members of a squad some twice the size of any we have had before. More good news came over the October break in which Johanna W (Yr13) and Jules G (Yr13) were both selected to represent Surrey, having the bonus honour of being the only players selected who were not club rugby players! They were later joined by Clem C (Yr13) who was invited to train with Surrey having sadly missed the trial and was commended for her outstanding ability that no doubt would’ve ordinarily seen her selected as well.
November saw fixtures begin. Having never previously played a fixture before Christmas, this would prove a real test for a squad mostly made up of inexperienced players playing their first competitive rugby just two months after first picking up a rugby ball. Despite this relative inexperience, an incredibly committed performance was sadly not rewarded with a win away to Graveney who prevailed 33-15, thanks in no small part to the excellent play of their own Harlequins academy player! Debutant players Millie D, Rosie H & Amelie H (Yr12s) were picked out as players of the match for their particularly dogged performances. Perhaps this could be a score to settle later in the season as the girls continue to grow. From here, via a friendly fixture at Reigate College in which Tiffin effectively fielded one and a half teams to supplement Reigate’s numbers, the girls ended our “pre-season” term on a high away to Langley Park. Against a physically imposing side, Tiffin started strong with two early tries before responding well to a counter surge from Langley buoyed by the support of their peers finishing school and passing a pitch placed at the very centre of the school site. However, under enormous pressure, our girls responded marvelously first by defending their own try line for some 20 phases with great aggression before then re-establishing territory and possession to finish the game back on top with a 34-17 win. Players of this match were Lara S (Yr12) for her wonderful play at 10, Annabelle R (Yr12) for her tireless work in the pack and Lucy M (Yr13) not least for her hat-trick of tries, but also her commitment having dashed to the coach after her virtual Oxbridge interviews!
All eagerly anticipate the start of our season proper in January in which there are high hopes for both our 1st XV and even Tiffin’s first ever girls 2nd XV.”
Alongside the Girl’s rugby, the three Netball squads have been growing in confidence, commitment and ability over the half-term, which culminated in two exceptional performances in their matches against KGS on Wednesday. Two beautiful games of netball were played in which all players showed, in no uncertain terms, their love and prowess for the sport. The A’s won 32-18 and the B’s won 23-9, which are two fabulous results against a strong outfit in KGS. Congratulations to Lily P & Tessa J who were awarded players of the match for the B team, and Ana playing GK for the A’s!
These results followed the exciting recent addition to Tiffin Sport’s calendar of the Y13 Leavers vs Staff Netball match. The staff were looking to at least better their performance from last year (a dismal 21-2), and a great match played in brilliant spirit followed. The staff at least managed to make this match a little more competitive, but the Y13 girls still deservedly ran out victorious. We eagerly await the highly anticipated staff vs. prefects Rugby and Football match, as well as the famous Widger to cap off the year, to hopefully get one back for the staff. 1-0 to the students as of now!
In other news, the week started off with the U14A’s looking to bounce back from their close defeat (24-29) against St. Benedict’s last weekend, which maybe should’ve gone differently on another day. Sometimes, a short turnaround is all you need after a narrow defeat, so a solid win (22-7) against Saint Cecilia’s a couple of days later helped to right some wrongs of the previous game, and get the U14A’s back on track for their season. A big weekend of Rugby awaits for most other teams against Reigate Grammar, so let’s see how we get on after a week’s rest in our final fixtures before Christmas!
Best of luck to all Tiffin athletes involved in sport for the last week of this term. The countdown to Christmas is well and truly on!