You may have seen the clip we posted on social media last week of the very exciting final moments of the BGS 1st XV vs Collegiate match which was fortunately live streamed on SOCS as part of the Daily Mail Trophy featured fixtures this half term. (If you haven’t, make sure you check it out!) Long before that final minute, our rugby players were hard at work preparing for this year’s league, including a training session with Brad Barnes, Head Coach of Bristol Bears U18.
Brad has been the Head Coach of the Bears U18 for a number of years and has also coached many OBs who have been involved with the U18 programme. As a partner school with the Bears, we were delighted to welcome him to Failand to focus specifically on the team’s attack. Brad challenged their thinking and understanding in certain areas of the pitch and was very impressed with their ability to move the ball to space at speed.
Brad said after the session, “It’s good to get a feel for the school programmes and the quality of players”. He came to watch the game on Saturday and was impressed with how well the team fought throughout the match and kept coming back after conceding scores. He noted Upper Sixth’s Kaelan and Alex for their impact on the game. A huge thank you to Brad for coming down.
Following the training session, on a glorious sunny Saturday afternoon at Failand the BGS 1st XV took on the sizable challenge of Collegiate School. Collegiate have been the dominant team in recent meetings, so this match offered our players another opportunity to measure their progress. The key message going into the game was to play with control, confidence and togetherness.
BGS started the match well, making good headway into the Collegiate half. A turn of play saw Collegiate race away to score. BGS rallied with a cross-field kick from Felix to allow Seb to race onto and score – we were back in the game.
The first half remained edgy with both teams scoring again to leave the score 24-26 to Collegiate. Further tries were traded in the second half and it all came down to the final ten minutes. Archie slotted a touchline conversion to make it 31-31 and ecstatically ran back to rejoin his team for the kick off.
The final moments of the game ebbed and flowed but neither team could find the ultimate pass. With two minutes remaining, Collegiate broke the line to score in the corner. That left one last opportunity for captain Felix to rally his troops. Ian Thomas, Head of Rugby knew it wasn’t over: “One thing that all those tough defeats in Year 10 and 11 has taught them is to never give up - with this team, they fight until the end - quite a remarkable mindset”.
With less than a minute on the clock, Collegiate cleared and kicked the ball deep. BGS fielded the ball, and up stepped Alex. He beat several defenders to score under the posts to make it 38-38 - euphoric scenes at Failand. The buzz around the ground with families, pupils and OBs all cheering the team along was something quite magical.
Ian Thomas wanted to add that mention must go to Mr Scott who has had a big hand in their development and has been there for every step of their BGS rugby journey. A massive congratulations to all the players on showing real determination and skill in the face of this challenge. We can’t wait to see what comes next!
