The 1st XV team lost to a strong New Hall School 28 – 14, Eltham took the lead through a Joshua Chanthrakumaran try, but conceded a few soft tries. Dillon Robertson scored towards the end of the game.
The 2nd XV team put in another outstanding performance on Saturday to convincingly defeat an otherwise unbeaten New Hall School team. Excellent handling and strong running from all the players exposed weaknesses in the opposition defence and tries from George Jackson, John Tobi Agboola, Toby Baldwin and James Eckel helped record a 41 – 7 win.
The Under 15A team had a busy week playing Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School midweek and New Hall School on Saturday. The midweek game was a NatWest Plate third round game. The teams were evenly matched in the first half. Namir Khalil crossed twice with powerful drives and a try from Juan Chanthrakumaran on the stroke of half time gave us a 15-10 lead. Eltham dominated the second period with waves of attack which were stopped by some strong defence from the visitors. Eventually Juan scored with an excellent sprint to the line. James Bush added the conversion and a penalty making the final score 25-10.
On Saturday we met a resilient New Hall team who had beaten Felsted School (one of our two defeats so far) the previous week. Eltham played really well in the first half but only had one try to show for their endeavours. New Hall had a late surge in the first half scoring a good try. At half time the scores were level at five all. After the break, a combination of Eltham injuries and New Hall using their powerful forwards saw them score two tries and go ahead 5-19. Our boys showed great spirit and determination to save the game with some strong attacking play in the last ten minutes leading to two tries from James Lambton. James then showed nerves of steel to kick the conversion on the final whistle to draw the game at 19 all.
The Under 15B team continued their fine season with a physical 50 points to 26 win. Excellent line speed and quick counterattacks saw the home side pull away in the last ten minutes. Special mention to Dominic Norton Raybould who was ferocious throughout and hit well above his weight.
The Under 14A team produced their best team display of the season in a superb 39-0 win over New Hall School. The boys put in a tireless display as they rucked and mauled to perfection to enable the space for the back division to benefit. Thursday will see the boys play against St Olave’s Grammar School in the Kent Cup semi-final.
Despite the shaky start, the Under 14B team got into their stride (helped by a key New Hall substitution) and, with first time appearances for Jake Lumbis and Ojorumi Edozie, dominated the rest of the game to win 39-14. Still unbeaten!
The Under 13A team struggled against an unbeaten big, quick and skilful New Hall School team on Saturday. Although Eltham had plenty of possession during the game, they were unable to break down the New Hall defence. The opposition unfortunately had no such problem against the Eltham defence and scored regularly throughout the game and won convincingly. The team tried hard with David Bampoe and Luke McCool in particular working hard in both attack and defence.
The Under 13B team recorded a tremendous 40 points to 35 win over New Hall with Isaiah Ozigbo-Esere scoring no less than seven tries. However, it would be wrong to say the victory was all down to one man. Rugby is the ultimate team game and requires everyone to play their part and the Under 13B team did – especially in defence as the home side pressed hard for a last minute equalising try. A number of the players making their B team debut and performed outstandingly well, namely Ruben Molloy and Mario Chukwukere who tackled ferociously and Jacob Jones and Sam Trinick who ran strongly with the ball in hand. Captain, Miles Matthews led by example and the forwards Thomas Hoque, Noah Compton and James Miller had immense games with the latter breaking a collar bone whilst defending a final play rolling maul. The three quarters also attacked and defended superbly but it was Isaiah who won the day – his rampaging runs were just too much for New Hall to cope with. Congratulations to one and all on an outstanding performance.
The Under 12A score line did not reflect the game as Eltham went down 9-5 to a strong new Hall side. There were notable performances from Dominic Wade, Lucas Fonseka Koon and Benjamin Adamson.
The Under 12B team were a few players short on Saturday morning but put in another excellent performance to win 4 tries to 2 against New Hall School. Eltham conceded early following a slow start with too many missed tackles but then got into their stride. A prolonged spell of pressure eventually led to a try for Max Dugard to level the score at half time. The side began the second half brilliantly with Orin Vitalis breaking away to put Eltham in front before Ezana Betru and Will Stone crashed over to extend the lead. Although Eltham conceded late after a few injuries the side secured an impressive win.
