Felsted 1st XV are on the road to Twickenham

Felsted 1st XV are on the road to Twickenham, following their 31-27 victory over St Ambrose College at Broadstreet RFC this weekend. 


On Sunday 3rd March, Felsted stepped onto the Coventry pitch to meet Manchester based St Ambrose in a battle for a coveted place in the Final of the Daily Mail Vase.

A strong team effort saw the Felsted boys come back from an early penalty from St Ambrose, as Max Malins dove over the try line in the 14th minute to score and convert Felsted’s first try. Felsted continued to battle forward and were comfortably ahead at 31-3, following four further tries from lock James Seager (2), wing Miles Singleton and centre Ben Latham, supported by kicking brothers, Max and Will Malins. 

It looked as if the match was in hand as Latham touched down the fifth try of the match, but St Ambrose did not give up. Determination for their place in the final was exhibited as St Ambrose closed the gap with two tries, sending alarm bells to Felsted. This was only made worse by Felsted’s Seager being sin binned 11 minutes before full time. Felsted then conceded two further tries and conversions, however this only spurred them on to hold out for the win.

Supporters who couldn’t be there in person tuned in to watch the match live on 247.tv. For those who couldn’t watch it, the dramatics of the match were updated on the School’s twitter feed, which saw tweets of support from an array of pupils, parents and onlookers.

Director of Rugby at Felsted, Andrew Le Chevalier said, “I was getting worried when we switched off in the last 15 minutes, but we held on. It’s amazing to get to the final. We have a small group of boys who have worked very hard. Our captain and U18 England Squad member, Charlie Kingham led the forwards, with Max and Will Malins running the backs. For a 16-year-old, Max showed terrific maturity and took his try really well. He’s one of four 16-year-olds in the squad, who are all improving.”   
 
Felsted await the result of their U15 XV, who play their semi-final of the Daily Mail Vase against Emmanuel at Broadstreet RFC this weekend (Sunday 10th March), to see if they will be the first school ever to have two teams at the National finals of this competition.

Both finals will be held at the home of English Rugby, Twickenham, on Saturday 23rd March, where Felsted U18s meet with Yarm to decide who will become National Champions.