The Autumn term has been a busy and successful one for BGS Sport. The term has seen over 40 teams competing in 250+ fixtures, with more than 630 pupils representing the school in different sports across the term.
In girls’ hockey there have been impressive performances across the age ranges: our U12 team beat Clifton College in the County semi-final to reach Regionals; the U13s and U14s both made the last-16 of their National Plate competition; the U16 indoor squad reached Regionals; and the First XI reached the ‘last-8’ of the National Tier 2 competition – the furthest we’ve ever gone in this competition. With impressive participation too – Year 7 and Year 8 regularly saw A, B, C and D teams playing – the future of girls’ hockey is looking bright. We are hugely grateful to Miss Rixon for her contribution to this as Head of Hockey and wish her all the best as she moves on from BGS at the end of this term.
The rugby First XV have had a much-improved season. After a narrow defeat in the first round of the highest competition in the Natwest Cup, they progressed well in the second-tier plate competition, reaching the last sixteen of the competition. Outside of the Cup, the team enjoyed a six-game winning streak which included a mini tour to London where they beat London Oratory School, and a Friday night lights fixture which saw visitors King’s Gloucester fall to only their second defeat of the season.
The U12s are a promising year group with the A, B and C teams all very competitive in all their fixtures. T U13s have been one of our standout year groups with the U13A winning five of their nine fixtures, while the U14 A and B sides both have impressive records, each winning six of their eight fixtures and scoring over 40 points in many of their victories. Three U14 players have excelled and played up in the U15A team who have had to find ways to adapt with a season plagued with injuries. After a tough opening few weeks for the U16 team they recorded back-to-back victories vs Wycliffe College and QEH and the Second XV have trained hard each week, pushing the First XV for places. Despite not winning a game before half term, the Second XV enjoyed an unbeaten run in the second half of term.
Finally, two big successes from rugby this term have been the start of girls’ rugby and touch rugby. The U14 and U18 girls have been training hard ahead of Rosslyn Park in the Spring term; this will be the first time the girls will have played at Rosslyn Park. Another first for BGS has been the start of touch rugby fixtures at U13 and U14 vs Sidcot School and Clifton College, allowing boys in the non-contact rugby group to represent BGS at rugby for the first time.
Netball has been training this term in preparation for the County tournaments at U14, U16 and U19 level. The U14s had a mixed tournament; they finished equal third in their group and some close games early on cost them a place in the semi-finals. The U19s also narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals, finishing one point behind Royal High School. They played well in defence and turned over lots of possession but unfortunately for us the goals just didn’t drop in. The U16s played well and were unlucky not to qualify for Regionals –after a hard-fought match against Redmaids’ High they are first-reserve team.
Football have seen excellent numbers for Seniors during Tuesday and Thursday afternoon Games, with the First XI playing both friendly fixtures and ISFA cup games. In the Cup the First XI beat Bournemouth Collegiate School in the first round, but then fell to a strong Abingdon side. In the Shield, we fell to another narrow loss against RGS Worcester. The U15s had the longest cup run, beating Bryanston and Truro, before falling to Lingfield while the U13s return to the ISFA Cup saw them lose agonisingly to Farleigh School on penalties.
Other highlights from the term include Bristol Schools Cross Country where eleven BGS runner secured guaranteed qualification for the Avon championships in January. At the event BGS had two individual winners, two individual seconds, and (from eight team events) three team wins and two second places.
In Climbing the Senior Girls’ team won round 1 of the SW Schools Bouldering Series, with top ten finishes for the Junior and Senior Boys and Girls teams competing as well. This is an excellent result as this year there are over 200 competitors from across the region, including some excellent climbers from other local schools.
Well done to everyone on such a positive and enjoyable term of sport, played with great sportsmanship and camaraderie. We are looking forward to more of the same in the Spring term – keep up-to-date with next term’s fixtures via our dedicated school sports website, https://www.bristolgrammarschoolsport.co.uk/ or in our weekly matchday programme (updated every Friday in term time) https://issuu.com/bristolgrammarschool/docs/sports_programme_1_?fr=sYmRiYzY3NDMyODk
