Bloxham’s 1st‘XV got their Natwest Cup campaign for 2014-15 off to a rousing start earlier this month with a dominant performance against a Royal Latin side, many of whom had played in the Vase Final at Twickenham two years ago.
Toby Butler’s side reached half time only 14-0 up and were guilty of trying to force the pace, but after the interval they settled down to play some spectacular rugby. James Davenport showed quick feet for his two tries, and other good scores came from Jack Ellis, Jack Briggs and George Cassell, while Jake Dew treated the crowd to some acrobatics as he went over for his try; in all, there were seven different try scorers, while Man of the Match William Gurney kicked four conversions and Briggs added two more. The 52-0 final result was a credit to the power our team demonstrated throughout the match, and we are delighted to see this impressive result even glean recognition in The Telegraph’s Sports pages, where Bloxham are now even being sighted as a potential contender for this year’s title. Read The Telegraph’s review of the Natwest Cup’here. The team has gained further recognition on the England Rugby website,’accompaniaed by a few words from a very proud team coach, Andy Goldsmith.’
Colts captain Oli Kilgallon came on for’his debut’in the second half and caught the eye with some powerful runs. After three home games Bloxham have yet to concede a point, and now look forward to the next round against Lord Williams’, Thame, in a fortnight. Meanwhile, the Junior Colts went down to a 26-12 defeat against Cokethorpe in their cup game, an excellent encounter which saw some outstanding tackling from the Bloxham boys, in particular Freddie Betteridge, who also scored two tries. This was another much-improved performance and the side will surely soon be winning games. The Colts continued their unbeaten run with a 27-10 victory over a Warriner side who played their full part in a well-contested game.
(Photos courtesy of Simon Grieve)