The strong Under 13 Christ The King Rugby squad set out on an overseas fixture vs Portsmouth Grammar School last week with a view to playing some exciting rugby.
The squad began the match returning kick off and, right from the first contact made, it was known the Christ the King boys were up for the match. The forwards dominated around the breakdown meaning that Christ the King retained possession extremely well and led for Ben Sanderson to find gaps and look extremely dangerous early on in the first half.
Christ the King got their hands on the ball and played some great running rugby with Jake Bushnell edging close to the opponents try line, only for a knock on to scupper the chance of scoring.
It was Christ the King to score first, however, when Callum Buckley (Year 7) stole the ball from a ruck and powered away from the Portsmouth Grammar defence, touching down under the posts. 5-0 and returning the kick. Christ the King struck immediately after with pace-man Jake Bushnell finally gathering a slippy ball. He then raced through the Portsmouth Grammar defence darting in and out of tackles, running in from his own 22, to score once again. 10-0 after failing to convert again.
With time closing in on the half, Christ the King struck it lucky and Callum Buckley pounced on some good work from the forward pack Chester Smith, Josh Lee and Nick Early, to make it 15-0.
In the 2nd half, the scrum of Christ the King were working as a powerful cohesive unit, led by some marshalling by the bossy scrum half, Charlie Dyer. Jake Puckett looked lively throughout, picking and driving where possible. The Christ the King defence withstood a large period of pressure with some fantastic tackles from Jack Turner Alex Cole, and Zach Ward.
Christ the King then made it 4 tries by stringing a number of phases together before the ever lively Sanderson sprinted over to make it 20-0 with a drop goal conversion from Puckett making it 22-0. Christ the King then battled through the hail and a pressing Portsmouth Grammar side battled into our territory again. Christ the King held them for as long as possible, however a couple of weak tackles in key areas led to Portsmouth Grammar going over to score.
With little time left on the clock, Ben Williams, on only his 2nd game for the school side, stepped his way to an opportunity to score, only forgetting where the try line was, he diverted to the posts and into traffic and was tackled just shy of the line. The forwards were up with play and a couple of passes to the wing led to Alex Cole to crash over for the victory.
Final Score: Christ the King College 27 – 5 Portsmouth Grammar School
Squad: J.Nelson, J. Bushnell, B. Williams, B. Sanderson, J. Davis, C. Dyer, J. P
Photographed – Back L-R: Josh Lee, Callum Buckley, Zach Ward, Nicholas Early, Jack Turner, Chester Smith, Alex Cole, Jake Puckett. Front L-R: Tom Hollis, Ben Sanderson, Ben Williams, Jake Bushnell, Joe Nelson (middle), Charlie Dyer, Rufus Wood, Jack Davis.
