HOCKEY SLIDESHOW: Rugby Ladies' 1st XI on their way to victory over Sutton Coldfield

Pictures of the Ladies 1st XI game by Mike Baker

REWHC Ladies 1st XI 3 Sutton Coldfield 2nd XI 0

A penalty corner rebound saw Nicki Siarbawa fire the ball into the top corner to put Rugby ahead at the start of the game. It would have been 1-1 soon afterwards, had it not been for Captain Belinda Stephens, whose heroic dive saved the ball on the line. This was much to the admiration of all, including the Sutton attackers. They had another chance to equalise, but Emma Olifent won the mind game, and the Sutton player sent a penalty flick wide.

The second goal began with a delightful long ball from right midfielder Isobel Bower, through to Nicki who beat the keeper down to the bottom right corner.

Nicki’s third of the day came from a tight angle, from a beautiful ball in from Naylor.

REWHC ladies 2nd XI 6 Long Buckby ladies 1st XI 0

In the first ten minutes of the game, Laura scored the first and only goal from Rugby’s 15+ short corners. In the second half Rugby scored five more goals. Natasha Wood scored two, both from deflections. Lil also scored two, the first a hit from the top of the D into the bottom left corner and the second was tapped in between the keeper’s legs from a rebound. The last goal was scored by Laura, hitting the ball in from the top of the D.

Man of the Match: Lissie for some amazing runs from the defence to the opposition’s D.

REWHC Ladies 3rd XI 5 Old Sills 2

Rugby started the game with lovely passing and within a couple of minutes Nadine Bell hit the ball underneath the keeper to take the lead. Rugby were motivated by their captain’s aggression and this led to Annie pushing through players to chip the ball over the keeper. With some great passing Nadine then made another attack at goal with a one-on-one with the keeper, which led to another goal for Rugby. Rugby then won a short corner where Grace was able to smack the ball into the net.

In the second half Sills got a goal back but Lara kept Rugby heads up by scoring another goal from a rebound.

REWHC Ladies 4th XI 1 Sutton Coldfield 6th XI 2

A fairly evenly matched first half saw good Rugby possession but one goal conceded. They gritted their teeth and pushed forward in the second half, scoring early to equalise through Ruth Gibson.

Rugby played well as a team, with valiant work in the midfield, in particular Keeley. Unfortunately Sutton scored again in the last few minutes.

Man of the Match: Rachel Goudie - for getting the 4ths out of trouble on multiple occasions.

U18s Girls: REWHC 6 Wakefield 1

Sunday’s game started with pressure from both sides with first-time goalie Evie Scutt making some strong clearances. The opening goal came from Alice through good teamwork with Lucy but Wakefield were soon able to equalise. Despite being robbed on a one-on-one with the keeper, Kirby put Rugby ahead with a reverse stick shot after good passing up the wing saw Emma Allroggen thread the ball through. A second goal for Kirby through a deflection after great build-up play made it 3-1 going into half time.

Great skill from Emma Allroggen saw a fourth goal for Rugby before she scored again through great team passing. Kirby was finally able to complete her hat-trick through virtue of another, this time successful, one-on-one with the keeper. Evie Scutt made some great saves to earn herself Man of the Match. This win secured a place in the National semi-finals in April.

REWHC Men’s 1st XI 4 North Stafford 3

This was the 1st XI’s fourth league win since Christmas puts them fourth in the table with a game in hand on fifth place. Despite missing chances and only converting one short corner, Rugby showed some good team play. Going 1-0 down early on they fought hard to go level through Man of the Match Fred Notman. A long ball beating Rugby’s defence allowed them to go up again. The 1sts brought it back with Rich Major converting one to the top left corner. After scoring their third and final goal tensions rose. Luke Armstroong converted one from a drag flick. Five minutes before the end Rugby took the lead for the first time, Alex Hammant scoring from Chris Graham’s great run from the half way.

REWHC Men’s 2nd XI 0 Notts Uni 2nd XI 6

The 16 students didn’t take long to break the deadlock and continued to put four past Rugby in the first half. The scoreline didn’t quite reflect the play, as Rugby had spells of good hockey, Ethan Mannion, Liam Brown and Ben Kluth doing well to counter-attack when possible.

Tireless work from Dominic Marcano and Rob Best in the midfield kept Rugby contesting tightly and despite conceding two more, the second half was an improvement. Superb saves as always from Connor Robson, excellent defensive work from Ollie Gardner, Luke Naunton, and even Euan Walker.

Man of the Match: Ben Kluth

REWHC Men’s 3rd XI 1 Nottingham Trent 1st 3

A half court press saw strong defence throughout the game with the first half ending 1-1, with Trent scoring a dragflick which trickled over the line and Toby Bower scoring his first of the year. Bower picked a bouncing ball from Ryan Hibberd to beat his man and meet the rushing keeper at the top of the D and flicked a ball up, up and over the tall Trent keeper in what may be the goal of the year as the Trent defence could do nothing but pull the ball out of the net.

The second half saw Trent score two goals, a tap in at the start of the half and a deflection part way through. The game ended with a short corner attempt from Trent which was saved before the rebound was smashed into an adjacent building.

Man of the Match: Matt Mortley for strong defensive efforts throughout.

REWHC Men’s 4th XI 4 Leicester 3rd XI 2

Don’t be fooled by the scoreline, Rugby scraped a 4-2 win at home to Leicester by scoring from a short corner in the last second with David Manning knocking it in. The 4ths went 2-0 up in the first half but Leicester scored right after the break. Goals from Richard Cook and two from Paul Ryan kept Rugby ahead.

Man of the Match: Joe Manning

REWHC Men’s 5th XI 5 Old Sills 3rd XI 2

Rugby started the better side, but for the fourth game running conceded first with a tap-in at the back post. However, Rugby finally got back into it after Wokka scored a straight strike on a penalty corner from a Keith injection. The 5ths then grew into the game, with Keith setting up Wokka from another penalty corner for the lead.

In the second half, Isaac Mowbray became the latest 5th team defender to set up an opposition forward, as they were given a lifeline back into the game. After a nervy ten minutes, Rugby finally managed to regain their lead through Keith setting up Archie in a replica of their second goal, with Wokka setting up Archie shortly after for 4-2. A drive down the byline from Max Murphy led to the fifth goal, as he pulled it back to Archie, who finished it over the keeper to complete a well-deserved hat-trick.

REWHC Men’s 6th XI 7 Nuneaton 3rd XI 0

Somehow, for once, Rugby managed to put their past failings at penalty corners behind them with first Hardy (Sr.) converting chances in the opening few minutes.

The second half saw further great play by Jimmy, who managed to convert one of his several chances. Charlie Morrison also popped up to score, having bravely played on after taking a painful knock in the first half, to leave the 6ths easy 7-0 winners.

Fixtures Saturday 16th

Men’s 1st v Birmingham University 2nd away

Men’s 2nd v Leek 2nd – Hart Field 1400

Men’s 3rd v Loughborough Students 3rd – Rugby School 1200

Men’s 4th v Ashby 2nd away

Men’s 5th v Ashby 3rd – Rugby School 1200

Men’s 6th v Leamington 3rd away

Ladies 1st v Leek 1st – Hart Field 1200

Fixtures Sunday 17th

Ladies 4th v Barford Tigers 2nd – Rugby College 1200

Boys U18 v Lichfield away

Mixed XI v Banbury – Hart Field 1400