Posted on: December 12th 2014 | Category:
On Friday the 5th of December, Norfolk House boys competed in the annual Inter-House Rugby Tournament. For myself, as someone new to the school, I was hugely looking forward to this! With our exceptional ex-England Youth Player and Norfolk House Coach Dan as referee, the boys from each house proudly donned their colours and organised their teams.
The winner of the day, with two wins out of two and twelve tries in the process, was Nelson House. Runners-up were Wellington, with one win and seven tries; and the infamous ‘wooden spoon’ went to Clive, who scored an impressive six tries but without registering a win.
Since joining the school, I have been so impressed with the attitude of pupils here, and this was another event that evidenced this. The boys now work together, across year groups, to work as a team in rugby. The Form 6 boys were natural leaders of their teams, and helped their younger peers to get involved and constantly lead by example both on and off the pitch. During the matches, the competition was high, but after each game the boys shook hands with each other and the referee, demonstrating their appreciation of the value of respect and sportsmanship in sport, as well as healthy competition.
Another pleasing thing to observe was the new techniques we have been working on this term in rugby. All the players now work together to form a flat defensive line, they pass backwards to their teammates and position themselves to make this possible, and are starting to develop an understanding of offside after each tackle. They are also starting to use passing, rather than running, to stretch the opposition and create space in which to score.
Overall, an exceptional afternoon full of camaraderie, sportsmanship, teamwork, skill and fun. Congratulations to this year’s winners!