RUGBY: Oriel beat St Wilfrid's to become Crawley schools champions

On Friday 27th October Oriel High School and St Wilfrid's Secondary School came to Crawley RFC to take part in the Crawley Schools Rugby Championship final held on the evening of the rugby club's family firework and Halloween event to play a floodlit game in front of a large visiting crowd.
Crawley Schools Rugby Championships final: Oriel v St Wildrid's SUS-171031-133242002Crawley Schools Rugby Championships final: Oriel v St Wildrid's SUS-171031-133242002
Crawley Schools Rugby Championships final: Oriel v St Wildrid's SUS-171031-133242002

The game was a showcase event to reward the Year 7 & 8 children from the schools to play in what was an unforgettable opportunity for them to play in front of a large crowd.

Oriel took an early lead and dominated the first half of the game with some fantastic team work and showed some high skill levels with some excellent line breaks from Ethan Davies and support play to lead the first half 25-0.

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But in the second half St Wilfrid’s who took a while to find their feet in the first half began an outstanding comeback and themselves showed some great levels of determination and skill levels.

St Wilfrid’s took advantage of some penalties awarded to them for oriel being offside and scored four unanswered tries from powerful running lines from Josh Horn and great support play and effort from the entire St Wilfrid’s team.

Coming into the final few minutes of the game Oriel were still holding onto a 25-20 lead with their defence getting its structure back and were stopping the attack from St Wilfrid’s who were pushing hard towards the Oriel tryline but Oriel were holding on firmly and the game finished 25-20 to Oriel.

Crawley RFC youth chairman and game organiser Daniel McGurran said: “These young men were put out of their comfort zones on Friday night and both schools played some excellent rugby throughout in front of the large crowd who came to the event we hold each year at the club and each player worked extremely hard on the night and can take a good sense of achievement and pride away from how well they all did in this game.

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“It was a great example of the relationships the rugby club and the local schools have with getting these children out playing a sport they all enjoy playing and is a good example of the hard work put in by the schools and rugby club each week of the season.

“They should all be really proud of what they have achieved and taken part in for many years to come.”

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