Hockey: Boys Christ College U16s crowned National Champions in emphatic style! U12s are Runners-Up!

30 Apr 2012

Hockey: Christ College U16s won the National Championships which took place in Newtown on Thursday 26th April.

With their third successive victory in the South Wales tournament, the U16 team travelled to Newtown to defend their Welsh National Schoolboys title against last year’s defeated finalists Eirias High School of Colwyn Bay.

A full strength team, captained by Dominic Hayes and featuring boys from Form 3, 4 and 5 made heavy weather of the first half, struggling to convert any chances with the ball spending most of the time locked in a tightly packed midfield. Just before the half ended, however, Welsh international Ben Wigmore converted an excellent penalty corner to give Christ College a narrow 1-0 lead.

With both sides very much in the match, the second half started at a very high tempo and seemed to tip dramatically in Eirias’ favour when, after 5 minutes, they were awarded a penalty flick for a professional foul in the ‘D’. The Eirias captain who stood up to take the flick, however, could not muster a full strength shot and it was comfortably saved by keeper Ellis Barnett-Smith. Unfortunately in the aftermath of the penalty, Hayes was sin-binned for 5 minutes, leaving CCB down to 10 men with the momentum seemingly in Eirias’ favour. The penalty miss, however, seemed to take the wind out of the northern sides sails and Christ College, even with reduced numbers, started to find more space through the excellent Ranas, Jiwan and Alan. With Wigmore now dominating midfield and pressure on the Eirias goal increasing, the northern side spectacularly collapsed as CCB scored 3 goals through Wigmore, Alex Bush and Harrison Kent in a totally dominant 10 minute spell (nearly half of which was spent with 10 men!). At 4-0 up the game was all but over and in the next 15 minutes Christ College were able to score another two goals through Bush and Abdul Alothman.

The northern team did manage a consolation goal as CCB pushed for a seventh but the final whistle followed soon after with Christ College earning a deserved and impressive 6-1 victory through a combination of ability, stamina and fortitude.

Thus CCB became one of the few schools in the modern era who have retained their national title at any age level and with 3 National titles in as many years, it is safe to say that Boys Hockey at Christ College is now at an all-time high.

Hockey: Silver Medals for U12 VII Mixed Hockey at Welsh National Finals on 26th April 2012

Christ College U12 VII mixed hockey team, managed to gain themselves silver medals today in the Welsh National Hockey finals, against strong opposition. Playing through downpours of rain, they kept to their game plan and maintained their focus and team work.

The format was two 10 minute halves across a full sized pitch and the first game was against Tywyn who we eventually beat 2-1 having gone down 1-0 in the first half, Lenka Halpin being injured for the rest of the tournament, her place was ably shared between Ella Valentine and Cari Lewis.

Goals first from Harry Copp and then from Jet Treasure-Jefferys went a long way to raise spirits and build confidence. The second game was against Glan Taf who were winners of the S.Wales tournament (beating us 3-1 in Swansea). Full credit to the team who could have gone out feeling the underdog, but they settled quickly into the game and made it look a very even contest. Glan Taf scored from a break but the team kept their heads and an equalizer was scored by Matthew Jenkins who had just been subbed onto the pitch, this was supported ably by some scrambled defensive work from keeper Craig Whittal and a huge effort from Ben Gower-Fox who came on as sub. Final score 1 all.

The last game was against Rydal a large side with good skills, at this point the competition was wide open. Harry Copp did well in getting the better of their centre midfield player and Jet Treasure-Jefferies put in some wonderful defensive work. Oliver Maggs worked terrier-like on the wing and Cari Lewis high level of fitness proved a thorn in the side of Rydal , despite a number of penetrating runs Will Bush could not quite get the ball in the net and the score after a nail biting short corner completed after the hooter was 0 all.

Final results: 1st place Tywyn (6 points), 2nd place Christ College (5 points), 3rd place Rydal (2 points), 4th place Glan Taf (2points, lost on goal difference).

The CCB U12s did not lose a game and we beat the eventual winners on a very wet day after a long journey. With 18 pupils to choose from, they deserve to be very proud of what they have achieved.

Squad: Harry Copp (capt.), Craig Whittall (GK), Will Bush, Lenka Halpin, Matthew Jenkins, Oliver Maggs, Ben Gower-Fox, Cari Lewis, Jet Treasure-Jefferies, Ella Valentine.

Well done all!

Photo: Christ College U16s – South Wales Champions and now National Champions!