Every rugby team was in action on a busy Wednesday afternoon before the first Exodus Weekend. The Ducks (our Form I boys) took on Newark Comprehensive - kickstarting a longstanding rivalry for the next generation of Columbans. Sadly, the results didn't go their way with a 10 try to 1 loss - our sole try coming from Jack Hayes. The Leps (Form II boys, with a sprinkling of Form III) also had a tough day at the office, going down 54-19 to St. Michael's U14 C's. Tries from Andrew Pollock, Patrick Haire & Mikhail Sukhachev (and two conversions from Daniel Swift) weren't enough but there were some encouraging performances.

However, our JCT had a great home league win against St. Conleths. Thady McKeever had a super game at 10, expertly guiding his outside backs while putting his pack in strong positions with some expertly weighted kicks. He also finished off two St. Columba's moves, dotting down for a brace of tries, and converted one of his teams seven tries (to be fair, most of the conversions were from the touchlines). Sam Lawrence also had a great game at 8, both in attack and defence, and scored three great tries including one from a hack through. Other notable performances were from young Matthew Russell, who ran well and chased Thady's kicks enthusiastically, while Ollie Townshend was excellent at 13 - tackling anything in green. There were also tries from Sakhile Khumalo and Thomas Somerville.

The Senior Seconds were in action against a St. Mary's Transition Year team and performed extremely well. The St. Columba's team consisted of quite a few beginners and there were some excellent performances including try scorer Joel Taylor, Julius Schaefer, Victor Klingmueller, Rowan Sweeney and Grigory Kryukov (who converted Taylor's try from the touchline). Alex Meijer continued his good form at scrum half and must be close to challenging for a starting place on the SCT. Unfortunately, despite a plethora of try scoring opportunities, SCC lost 24 points to 7, but no one was too disappointed.

The Senior Firsts were also in action - away from home against St. Michael's C's. With confidence high after a good league win against Sandford the previous week, our boys played with a determined spirit. However, Michael's were stronger in all departments and the game finished 33-0.

Keep a look out for our first "player profile" posts coming shortly.