WFA vs RFA 2016

Some tired boys at the end of a tough match won this year by the RFA. To view the detailed results click here.  

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We had our annual match against the Rugby Fives Association yesterday and despite the fact that Dan Tristao only emailed me at 4am on the morning of the match confirming their team (which was still 2 and a half hours before he went to bed!) they turned up with a very strong team.

Any team with John Minta and Ben Beltrami down as a third pair are going to be a match for anyone and indeed they proved to be too strong for the WFA team.

With each pair playing each of the opposition pairs in 1 game to 15 and then then 2 games against their opposite pair the RFA got their noses in front after the first round of matches and then continued to win each round such that in the end their overall winning margin was 249-214.

I would love to describe more of the matches but as mine was always the last to finish each round I did not see anyone else playing until we had the privilege of watching the final game between both team's first pairs.

The speed and anticipation of both Dan and Will (and Hamish and James!) around the buttress was absolutely incredible and a real treat to see.

Unusually for a fives match we finished bang on time and so we able to head to The Queen for so well earned lunch at the time we said we would be there!

Thanks to all for playing, especially those who came from quite a distance-John Minta for Manchester, Steve Coffey from Malvern, James Marshall from Brighton, Theo, Olly and Tom from Bristol then many more from London.

Next year we will get our revenge but the series is now poised at 3-3!

WFA vs RFA
2011     WFA win 248-217
2012     WFA win 252-223
2013     RFA win 237-217
2014     RFA win 258-230
2015     WFA win 266-257
2016     RFA win 249-214

Wood Cup Final Teams

We have had a fantastic weekend in London playing fives, with Wessex entering 2 teams into the club knockout. Our second team had matches against Old Paulines and Cambridge University and whilst they sadly lost both matches there were some strong performances. It was great to see James Bristow (formally of our parish but more recently having spent 5 years in Johannesburg) back on a fives court and looking fighting fit, and credit to Ben Hale for playing in both the matches before heading off to be tight head prop in his rugby team's cup semi final! Ed Hawke enjoyed a technical 11-0 over DanTristao (no ranking points in this tournament Ed I am afraid!) and Andy Passey, the oldest in the tournament by > 10 years was as steady and fit as ever. 
Our first team beat the RFA and then the West of England to set up a final against Old Paulines for the 3rd year in a row. 

It is difficult to write too much about what happened today as I did not see the other singles (mine being the longest.... and most painful!) but we came out 12 points ahead going into the doubles. Most of that advantage was due to Will Ellison's amazing 11-2 win over Dan Tristao which must have been some performance. In the doubles it was a case of could Dave Butler and myself loose less badly than Will and Giles would win by! Again I saw none of Will and Giles playing as their matches were shorter than ours, but that they lost only 9 points in their 4 games was a really amazing achievement. Whilst we would all like to have Will as a partner it was clear from the players and spectators that Giles had played a blinder as well. Dave Butler carried me well over the weekend and we scratched and scraped our way in the final and did enough damage limitation to ensure that Wessex came out 20 points to the good. Thanks very much to Tom Dean for organising the tournament and to Dan Tristao, Julian Aquilina and James Tilston for being such good hosts and fine opponents. 

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