Rugby
I t is quite tricky to describe the ‘rugby season’ of 2020. In many ways it was one of developing technical skills, but in other ways it was also one of real frustration as we were, like everyone else in the country, unable to play fixtures against other schools. The impact of Covid-19 on school sport was hit hardest during the Michaelmas rugby term. However, what we lacked in external contact fixtures, we made up for with an exciting brand of Ready4Rugby with many internal competitions. I felt most for the upper sixth boys who literally had their final rugby season; it is the one we all remember as school pupils in whatever sport was our preference. However it is these boys to whom I give the most credit, with captain Jack Cohen leading the way in every single session. He, and indeed all of the senior rugby boys, never showed their frustration and they actually took to having to play touch rugby in a more formal aspect with a positive attitude. The brand of rugby we all tried to instil as coaches was one of pace and width. In the long term, we hoped that playing this way without the need for contact would actually end up as a positive, and many more of the reluctant rugby players would actually see how fun the game is and how much skill is required to be successful. The sixth form boys would regularly play the fifth form boys and it was amazing how competitive and fiery these games would become with regular tie-break situations occurring. The success of this touch rugby could be seen in the fact that the boys always wanted to carry on playing
well past the session time. It also showed how much teenage boys need competition in one format or another. The buzz at the end of these matches and the true elation, or
again was as fierce as any block fixtures that we might have seen on Newlands Fields in normal times. What was pleasing was how the game suddenly became accessible for
sadness, depending on the outcomewas actually incredible to witness when, in effect, the boys had simply played a touch game in training.
the ‘little guy’. It was amazing to see what playing for Australia or Scotland or Argentina suddenly meant, despite no actual affiliation to these countries from the teams. It was probably a reminder to us all
‘It now came down to a game of pure skill and it was clear to see that the small boys were the most determined that I’d ever seen them in my entire teaching career.’
Lower down the school, the U14 and
U15 cohorts showed no less competitive edge. Indeed it was on Saturday afternoons when, all together, we played out our internal World Cups. The competition once
that there is a real importance in making training both meaningful and fun. We even managed to get a staff touch rugby team out on a couple of occasions to play the
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