Trinity School U13s win National Rugby Final
18 Mar 2016
In the presence of a large crowd, Croydon’s Trinity School U13 rugby team won the national final of the Schools Sports Magazine Cup in a hugely exciting game against Warwick School. Both teams braved tough match conditions in cold sideways rain to play a thrilling final at Maidenhead RFC’s 3G pitch last Tuesday 2nd March. This was almost exactly a year on from last year’s final in which the schools had already come face-to-face.
Trinity started the brighter of the two teams. Their pressure on Warwick quickly paid off with the Croydon side winning a penalty early on in the game in Warwick’s 22. Scrum half, Joe Jones, successfully kicked, putting Trinity 3-0 in the lead. Trinity School was then itself under pressure either side of half time and a brace of tries from a strong Warwick team put the Midlands side firmly in the lead at 12-3.
Cheered on by 100 or so Year 8 school mates who had been given special permission to come and watch, the Trinity boys then clawed their way back. There were tries from the centre partnership of Sam Tilley and Lorcan O’Byrne Nestor and in a thrilling last few minutes Trinity finally won 15-12.
Trinity Director of Rugby, Aaron Liffchak was delighted and commented: “There is always a lot of pressure in a final and this one was no exception, especially given the media interest it attracted. Both teams played incredibly well and Warwick deserves our congratulations. Of course, I am absolutely delighted for the Trinity U13A players and coaches. For a team to come back from 12-3 down against the wind and momentum shows a huge amount of resilience and mental strength. No matter what has been thrown at our U13s this year they have managed to bounce back and play as a team to reach their ultimate goal of becoming the National champions.“
Trinity School has had an exciting year for Rugby. It hosted the French national Rugby team who trained at Trinity during Rugby World Cup 2015 last September, and has had a number of players called up to national sides. The U13s victory shows that the next generation also means business!