Eureka Bulyka

Player of the tournament Reni Bulyka was in sensational form at Scrum Half as Southam College won all three games at the Leamington Rugby Club festival. Reni scored three tries, but it was his tenacious hassling of the opposition Scrum Half, low tackling and his quick passing that gave him the deserved accolade.

Southam 25 Myton 0

Ben Davies was the star of this game with several excellent powerful runs at the heart of the opposition. This got the pack rampaging forward, particularly Oli Kitson who takes some stopping when in full flow. Oli scored a marvellous try, breaking through three tackles before sprinting to the line. In true Second Row style, it did take him some time to get back to the half-way line for the restart! Ashley Barnett scored another, displaying his explosive strength to good effect. Captain Brendan Simms was in terrific form, his all-round performance topping the tackle count and scoring two fine tries in this game through his clever angles of running. However, try of the game came from excellent winger Paul Hickey, who scored a classic winger’s try cutting inside one defender before using his pace to go outside the last tackler.

Southam 30 Heart of England 0

I was a very happy coach after five minutes of this one! Logan Morrison made an excellent couple of breaks in quick succession but had the vision to pass to Brendan Simms in space for an early try. A few moment later it was Brendan making the break and passing to Logan to finish. Great teamwork from the two centres and a far cry from the victory against Bilton a couple of weeks ago, when we forgot we could pass the ball. Added to which excellent mauling from the forwards, especially Cameron Ounsworth,  set Oli Kitson up for two further tries. Reni Bulyka took a quick penalty 5 metres out and ran at the heart of the defence, somehow finding a gap to squeeze through to extend the lead. Brendan Simms added another to complete the scoring. In fact the only uncoordinated moment was the clash of heads between the talented Jacob Goatley and Ben Davies that saw the Second Row left with the egg bump and the diminutive Scrum Half unscathed! Toby Cox and Callum Stewart deserved particular mention for their defensive play, closing the opposition down so quickly.

Southam 40 North Leamington 0

Both teams came into this last match unbeaten and North Leamington looked very dangerous in the early stages through superb passing and good recycling of the ball. It took a sensational individual try from Jaden Meek to give Southam the ascendancy. Jaden’s danced through tacklers deep in his own half before showing blistering pace to sprint sixty metres to score. A second soon followed as Ashley Barnett powered through two tackles and looked up in shock at how far he still had to run for the line! To his credit he showed impressive speed but was blowing heavily afterwards. Although 10-0 up, North Leamington were playing better team rugby in the early stages. However, this soon changed as the physicality of Southam at the ruck and maul started to show. Thomas Werren, Rory Spencer and Ruben De Beer showed great handling skills in linking forwards and backs. The gaps were starting to appear with two more tries for quick thinking Reni Bulyka and a brace for Brendan Simms. The last of which saw a burst of acceleration as he blasted through the deflated defence for a solo try that had the crowd applauding.  Jaden and Ashley completed the scoring with further tries as Southam eased to a comfortable victory in a game that was so tight early on.

So a great evening’s rugby and no tries conceded. However, tackling is the most important skill and too many were missed tonight which could prove crucial against stronger opponents. When we have the pace and skill of Hudson Byatt, Charlie Cooke, James Pelter and Oscar Wain out wide we must try to move the ball to the wing. If we get stopped on the right, recycle it and move it back to the left, and so on until the gap appears. The last play of the final match saw a sensational move that saw 10 of the 12 players touch the ball in a wonderful Barbarian style move. This is the sort of free flowing entertaining rugby we want to play boys!

Mr Eadon

Each year 7 class teacher will nominate their favourite poem and HAPs will be awarded for the winning poems.

We look forward to celebrating Diwali with you!