GAMES REPORT (BOYS)

RUGBY

Captain: R. Warren. Vice-Captain: D. Squire.

1st XV Colours 1956/57: P. L. Bastin and R. F. Warren.

1st XV Colours 1957/58: D. A. Squire.

1st XV Colours 1958/59: G. A. Gaunt, J. H. Lucas, C. A. Newman, T. G. Maylor, C. E. Thomas, M. B. England, P. L. Niklaus.

Record, 1958159 Season: Played 18; won 15; drawn 2; lost 1. Points for 411, points against 74.

The 1st XV continued their earlier promise, as reported in the Christmas edition of Exmothiensis, through to the end of the season. In fact the record was improved for, apart from a drawn game, 3 all, against Hele's 2nd XV at Exeter, every game was won, with our score entering double figures on every occasion.

The strength of the side this season has lain in their spirit and teamwork. They have always played open rugby and relied upon speed to carry the day. The passing was at times ragged, and very frequently advantages were not driven home, but the team have always played with obvious enjoyment, and in doing so have given enjoyment to those watching the game. The proof of teamwork lies in the fact that of 20 boys who played at one time or another for the team, 17 of them scored points during the season. The points scoring was topped by Warren, the captain, with 101 pts., made up of 5 tries, 40 conversions and two penalty goals; following this came Squire (69 pts.), England (46 pts.) and Gaunt (42 pts.)

Since the previous article the team has been moved round positionally. Gaunt became a useful, and ever improving, fullback however he was always there to score a try or two although this reduced him to normal proportions in the scorebook. Nevertheless he celebrated being put in the centre later by scoring 5 tries against St. Mary's School, and still could not be accused of being selfish. Full-back remained our problem position throughout the season -there appears to be a vacancy here next season. Warren continued to lead the side well, and found a team that responded to him, and Squire and Stuart could be devastating in the backs, although at times midfield passing let them down.

Crowe, who can do well when reused, is too prone to find an excuse for failure. His whole game is dominated by the first minute of play - a good move by him then will mean a good game throughout but . . .

Bastin played a much better game when he returned to the pack. His tackling and covering were always good, and he became a most reliable team player. England became settled at fly-half and combined well with Newman. His power and acceleration were always an asset and gave a fast set of backs, a good start. Lucas continued throughout the season as a complete player in any position behind the pack. Stuart, in the centre, is a powerful, runner who should be able to dominate the game in his remaining seasons with us.

The pack combined better as the season went on. The front row of Niklaus, Gibson, and Thomas were swift in the loose, and bound well together. Niklaus' speed and tackling and covering ability were used to advantage at being forward. Fullelove was reliable at second row, usually packing with Maylor, a square chunk of strength who began to move swiftly round the field and tackle powerfully towards the end of the season. Robertson found a regular place in the team from the end of November, firstly as a line-out specialist, but later as a most useful player in every department of the game.

Others who played, and it was their keenness and skill which to a large extent kept the team at strength even when regular players were absent, were Hine, an able and very mobile hooker; Selway, a valuable utility player anywhere on the field who ably filled the full-back position in the last two games, having been previously in the pack occasionally; LindseyHalls, a good wing, in and out of the team until he left at Christmas; and Harris whose keenness and determination could always be relied on.

v. Hele's School 2nd XV Drawn 3 - 3

v. St. Mary's School Won 12 - 0

v. North Devon Technical College Won 26 - 11

v. Exeter University 3rd XV Won 10 - 6

v. Sidmouth Colts Won 42 - 0

v. Hele's School 2nd XV Won 14 - 6

v. Sidmouth Colts Won 79 - 0

v. St. Mary's School Won 58 - 0

v. Torquay Grammar School Won 24 - 3

v. Withycombe 2nd XV Won 19 - 10

D.C.B.W.

Colts XV (Photograph)

Captain: R. Horn. Vice-Captain: P. Bamsey.

Playing Record: Played 12; won 9; lost 3. Points for 261, points against 65.

Another very successful season. The playing record really speaks for itself for most of the games were won by a large margin. The team have played well throughout the season and have always played the "open" game.

The pack was well led by Horn, and although very light made up for this with speed and clever handling and it was not an uncommon sight to see them joining in the handling movements of the threequarters.

At half-back, Newman (i) and Bamsey (or Madley) always showed complete understanding and were the "brains" behind the back-division's attacks. Thomas, Madley and Maers were often conspicuous for their clever and determined running. Haysom showed promise at full-back and should be a more than useful member of next year's XV.

Bamsey was again our chief points scorer with 123 points (19 tries, 24 conversions, 6 penalty goals), Thomas 36 points, Maers 24 points, Madley 19 points, and Newman 18 points with nine other scorers made up our scoring list.

Colts XV Summary since 25th October:

v. St. Mary's School (H) Won 44 -0

v. North Devon Technical College (A) Won 14 - 13

v. John Stocker School (A) Lost 3 - 14

v. Exmouth Secondary Modern School (A) Lost 5 - 6

v. Exmouth Secondary Modern School (A) Lost 5 - 14

v. John Stocker School (H) Won 15 - 0

v. St. Mary's School (A) Won 49 - 0

v. Technical Grammar School (H) Won 21 - 12

v. Technical Grammar School (A) Won 29 11

The following boys played for the Colts XV: Bamsey, Benton-Jones (i), E. Burch, Coate, Cole, Greenaway, Hardy, Haysom (ii), A. Hill, Horn, King, Lashbrook, Luxon, Madley, Maers, Moore, Newman (ii), R. Smith, A. Thomas, Tozer.

CRICKET

1st XV

Captain: D. Squire. Vice-Captain: C. Newrnan.

Playing Record: Played 4; won 1; lost 1; drawn 2. Results to June 6th.

v. Tiverton G.S. Drawn. Tiverton 73 for 7. School 60 for 6 (C. Newman 25 not out).

v. Queen Elizabeth School, Crediton. Lost by 3 wickets. School 64 (C. Newman 21). Q.E.G.S. 65 for 7 (Squire 4 for 34).

v. Newton Abbot Grammar School. Drawn. Newton Abbot 97 for 7 (Warren 3 for 20). School 30 for 8.

v. Torquay Grammar School. Won by 9 runs. School 40. Torquay 31 (Squire 5 for 7, C. Newman 5 for 13).

We have been looking forward to this cricket season for some years. For the first time since 1955 our batting, on paper, has looked adequate, and the bowling, unchanged from last year, could obviously be relied on. Yet in the matches so far played things have not gone right. After the disappointment at Crediton and the shock against Newton Abbot we managed to win against

CRICKET REPRESENTATION

Newman, R. Bamsey, Tozer, Pearcey and Maers all played for East Devon Schools against Exeter and District at the County Ground. Bamsey (57 retired) and Newman (56 retired) put on 100 runs in 59 minutes for the third wicket and with Bamsey's 6 for 13 bowling spell played a big part in East Devon's victory.

After the final County Trial at Exeter Newman was selected to Captain the Devon side for his third successive season against Cornwall at Plymouth, and Somerset at Taunton; he will also keep wicket.

RUGBY REPRESENTATION.

The School was indeed proud to know that one of their promising Colts XV players, P. Bamsey won his way into the England under-15 Rugby team against Wales at Leicester on April 4th.

To earn his International cap Bamsey took part in eight trial matches, scoring points in each match made up as follows: 6 tries, 9 conversions, 6 penalty goals and 1 dropped goal - total 57 points.

In the International game watched by 10,000 spectators Bamsey was unable to show his attacking potentialities as he did not receive one pass during the game, but was conspicuous for some fine defensive work.

R. Horn, our Colts XV captain, also earned county honours for the School and played for Devon against Cornwall as a wingforward.

ATHLETICS

Boys' Captain: J. Maylor. Girls' Captain: P. Palmer.

Owing to the patience shown by the Editor in waiting for the arrival of this report we are able to put the results of the Devon County Schools Athletics Meeting on June 13th into print. The County Championships were held at Bideford this year and East Devon entered in nearly every event. Comment here will be confined to the entrants from this school of which there were 17, 7 boys and ten girls.

Our only representative in the junior boys events was Luxon, in the 880 yds. His win here was convincing and showed good judgment and fitness on a day ideal for athletics. The time of 2 mins. 11 secs. is 7 secs. slower than the National standard, which he should achieve at the National Championships at Norwich, Cheshire, on July 17th and 18th. Kite, in the intermediate mile, ran to a splendid and unexpected win; the time, however, of 4 mins. 50 secs. being the same as in the junior mile, and 12 secs. slower than the National standard. He showed courage and intelligence in the race but I think that it is asking too much of him to knock off those seconds in a month. He also has the disadvantage of succeeding Rossiter, of Kelly College, who was second at the Nationals at Durham last year in 4 mins. 18 secs.

The relay team of Stuart, Banisey, Swayne and Crowe did well to get into the final and these came second to the strong Plymouth team. Individually Stuart was fourth in the 220 yds., Bamsey second in a fast 100 yds., and Burch and Crowe competed in the 880 yds. and long jump respectively.

The junior girls saw the relay team of Stephanie Large, Lee Davey, Mary Pond and Jackie Witts reach the final only to be pipped at the post by a strongly finishing Plymouth team. Half way round I thought we had won this event for the second year successively but the last two Plymouth runners were remarkably good sprinters for their age. Repeating her last year's success was Stephanie Large in the long jump. Her jump of 16ft. 1 1/2in. is 4 1/2in. over the National standard but 2in. below the Devon record she created last year. I hope it will not appear churlish to comment that lack of sufficient effort in training is wasting what is undoubtedly great ability. Jackie Witts had a full day. She had heats for both the relay and 150 yds. and showed great ability in both. In the latter she was just beaten into second place in the final, having the same time as the winner, which coincided with that of Jackie's win in her heat, of 18.1 sees., .2 of a second inside the previous County record. She has shown great ability in this her first real athletics season.

The intermediate girls had mixed success. Barbara Jennison once again showed her great sprinting ability in, winning the 150 yds. in 17.6 secs, which equals the National standard. Gillian Brown won the discus, after a painful afternoon of waiting and frustration due to poor marshalling which reached its climax when the loudspeaker announcement of the result gave the impression her throw was disallowed The distance of 87ft. 1 in. is nearly 13ft. short of the National standard, but this might be achieved as Gillian is improving at every throw. Lynda Hann came third in the high jump, and Anne Jennings fourth in the javelin. The relay team of Lynda Hann, Angela Hunkin, Gillian Hookway, and Barbara Jennison failed to qualify for the final, but this served to show the standards of to-day's athletics in schools and throws the successes of the other members of the East Devon teams into sharper relief.

The County is divided into 8 areas and in the area competition East Devon came as follows:

Junior Girls - second (19 points) to Plymouth (23 points).

Intermediate girls - third, to North Devon and Plymouth.

Junior boys - third, to Plymouth and Newton Abbot..

Intermediate boys - third, to Plymouth and Mid-Devon.

Previous to the County Championships were three meetings of differing importance. Immediately before the journey to Bideford was the East Devon selection meeting, held on our ground on June 5th. We have already referred to those who went forward from that meeting to the County. At the selection meeting we entered boys and girls for every event, with mixed success. Some who came second or third performed very well, whereas some who won did so only because of a low standard and therefore were not considered for the East Devon team. However the result showed that athletics in the School fares quite favourably in competition with other schools in the area, although, as yet, we cannot say we have achieved a high standard except in the case of one or two individuals.

The boys competed in the meeting promoted by the Exmouth Amateur Athletic Club on the Cricket Field on Wednesday, May 27th. Here we managed to win the Home Trophy for Youths, this being a National age grouping approximating to our juniors. The competition was rather disappointing, there being only three schools competing, and our own performance here was not overencouraging. In the Junior age groupe quivalent of our intermediate and seniors - the competition was of a high standard and were able to see that as individuals our efforts leave something to be desired. The sprinting of Stuart however impressed, even under far from good conditions.

The girls competed in the Devon Public and Grammar Schools Sports at Torquay Grammar School on May 23rd, for the first time, and out of the 15 teams competing, came fourth to Plymouth High School, Totnes High School, and Plympton Grammar School. The points were 44, 43, 421, ourselves 40, and Devonport High School fifth with 35. This was most encouraging, although Penny Palmer, the captain, had the disappointment of coming second in the 100 yds., a race that largely determined her selection for the County team to the Nationals.

Jackie Witts came second in the junior high jump, won the 150 yds. Juniors, and with Stephanie Large, Lee Davey, and Mary Pond came third in the junior relay. Barbara Jennison won the 220 yds. and with Lynda Hann, Angela Hunkin and Gillian Hookway won the senior relay. Anne Jennings was second in the senior javelin, and Jane Strudwick fourth in the junior hurdles. Others performing were Gillian Brown and Anne Cooper, who did creditably although not among the first six in their events, who scored points. It is interesting to note that both Gillian Brown and Stephanie Large failed here, at Torquay, but won the same events at the County Sports at Bideford, three weeks later. If only!

D.C.B.W.

SEVEN-A-SIDE RUGGER.

Team: Squire (Capt.), Stuart, England, Newman, Mayler, Niklaus and Bastin.

The Devon Public and Grammar Schools Seven-a-side Rugby Competition was held at the Devonport Services Ground, Plymouth, on Wednesday, 18th March. Our reputation was not one to be envied as our team has never in previous years survived the first round. We were drawn against St. Boniface College, Plymouth, whose main strength was in Scantlebury, 2nd in the 220 yds. at the National Athletic Championships last year and a powerful sprinter, but whose entire side was strong and, according to at least one newspaper report, was expected to proceed a long way in the tournament! They were coached by Keith Maddocks, whose name will be remembered for many years on both sides of the Usk.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and with greater confidence than in previous years, possibly justified, the team set about to deserve the afternoon off. The play was scrappy due to nerves and cold fingers to start off with. The backs showed an inability to hold on to or give passes that would have been accomplished without a second thought on all but this particularly awe-inspiring occasion. Mauling and close marking were the order of the day, which while it cramped the normally open play of our own team also gave the St. Boniface backs no room to move. Stuart gave us a try after it appeared that the chance of a win was going to be lost after muddled and unconstructive play in front of the St. Boniface posts. This was counteracted by St. Boniface having a penalty goal, and extra time was required. We settled down better in this period and from our 25 yard line Bastin intercepted a pass, and, eluding despairing tackles, hurled himself to the other end of the field.

Next was Blundell's! The writing was on the wall for Blundall's have always a team superbly versed in this type of Rugby - always a pleasure and a lesson to watch. We went down 13 points to nil, and Blundell's went on to beat Hele's in the final by the same margin, 16 - 3. The whole picture of the respective team strengths should give us confidence for the future, although it will be a great year should we get as far as even the semi-final. Much however depends on the draw. An unlucky team it is to draw Blundell's or Hele's in the first round, whereas many of the schools of our size and standing can perform well and add zest and surprises to the competition.

Finally, just a brief word on the individuals in the team in respect of their peculiar type of Rugby. Squire was a sound captain whose great value was before the team took the field. The practice and team building was greatly helped by his thought and enthusiasm; it was a pity that the occasion of actual competition brought an unexpected show of "butter-fingers". England and Stuart are both strong sevens players who surprisingly did not succeed on the day as they had previously in practice. Newman lacks some of the speed and guile required of a scrum half in sevens play but is a steady, reliable and intelligent player. The forwards carried the day. Niklaus hooked skilfully, and ran and tackled like a back - an admirable sevens forward. Bastin was mobile - as his try proved beyond doubt - and his defence was strong as it has always been. Then Maylor, the most improved member of the team, who carries his weight round the field swiftly, has a shrewd positional sense. Probably it was his tackling and unexpected appearance that saved us from defeat in the first round.

D.C.B.W.

RUGBY

CRICKET

Colts XI (Photograph)