REPORT | Royal Grammar School 13-10 King’s School
Royal Grammar School claimed a hard-fought 13-10 victory against arch-rivals King’s School on a wet night at Sixways.
The sides exchanged penalties in the early stages through Joe Thomson and Ethan Summerwill, before Thomson added a drop-goal on the stroke of half-time to give RGS a lead at the break.
RGS’s Thomas Matthews went over for the first try of the game in the second period as the hosts stretched open a 13-3 advantage.
Ethan Summerwill responded for the visitors as King’s dominated the latter stages of the match, but RGS held firm to secure the win.
The match started in ferocious fashion as both sides looked pumped up for a physical encounter with huge tackles flying in.
The sides took it in turns to attack as play moved from end to end, but defences were gaining the upper hand in the early exchanges.
RGS took the lead midway through the first-half as Thomson struck a penalty from the King’s ten-metre line, but King’s replied within minutes as Summerwill added three points of his own.
RGS looked to gain the initiative and started to dominate proceedings as the first-half wore on, but their string of attacks were repelled by the King’s defence.
King’s were holding their own despite being under intense pressure, but RGS grabbed the upper hand at the interval as Thomson added a delightful drop-goal on the stroke of half-time.
RGS picked up from where they left off after the break as they launched a series of attacks as James Aikman went close.
And the hosts’ persistence paid dividends as Matthews eventually found a gap in the King’s defence to break through for RGS’s second try of the night.
Thomson’s conversion gave RGS a 13-3 advantage as they started to make their dominance show on the scoreboard.
But King’s refused to bow down to the hosts and soon started to pile on the pressure at the other end.
And they were rewarded with their first try of the night with 15 minutes remaining as giant number eight Owien Harriott-Davis bundled his way forward before teeing up Summerwill, who found space to dive over in the corner.
King’s started to enjoy a spell of dominance of their own as the match entered its final ten minutes and they certainly looked the more likely of the two teams to get the next try.
But RGS clung on for the win.
Royal Grammar School | 15 Ben Hawkes, 14 Harvey Munro, 13 Thomas Matthews, 12 Joe Thomson, 11 James Aikman, 10 Benn Llewellyn, 9 Ollie Trobe, 1 George Mann (C), 2 Jacob Williams, 3 Rory Nelson, 4 Edward Griffiths, 5 James Dipple, 6 Ethan Harper, 7 Zac Elsey, 8 Thomas Berry
Replacements | 16 Luke Allen, 17 Ben Challoner, 18 Jacob Murray, 19 Tristan O’Neill, 20 Benjamin Lee, 21 James Mann, 22 Joe Corlett, 23 Drew Dixon
King’s School | 15 Charles Clark, 14 Dan Humphrey, 13 James Austin, 12 Jacob Newby, 11 Sam Lowe, 10 Ethan Summerwill, 1 Josh Moorhouse, 2 Tom Gidney, 3 Will Revill, 4 Max Richardson, 5 Matt Green, 6 Henry Armstrong, 7 George Bates (C), 8 Owien Harriott-Davis
Replacements | 16 Will Bishop, 17 Henry Tunnicliffe, 18 Tom Hale, 19 Sam Martyn-Smith, 20 Joe Connor, 21 Joe Pritchard, 22 George Hale, 23 Robin Willis
Timeline
20m | Thomson pen 3-0
24m | Summerwill pen 3-3
40m | Thomson dg 6-3
48m | Matthews try 11-3
49m | Thomson con 13-3
65m | Summerwill try 13-8
66m | Summerwill con 13-10