Rugby: Wilmslow High reach semi finals of Nat West Cup

Wilmslow High School marched into the semi finals of the Nat West Cup following a nail biting encounter with St Joseph's, Ipswich on Wednesday, 25th February.

Played in perfect conditions in front of a large and vocal home crowd, St Joseph's would have fancied their chances given home advantage and the quality of the strike runners in their backline. A strong start for the home side saw Tom Emery open the scoring with a well struck penalty from the 10 metre line. St Joseph's looked dangerous every time they touched the ball and soon added to their lead with an impressive 60 metre try from wing Adrian Sanday. Wilmslow soaked up an immense amount of pressure during the opening 20 minutes but gradually fought back to gain a foothold in the game and an outstanding try from Year 11 wing, Broghan Wilson helped turn the tide and put Wilmslow on the front foot for the remainder of the half. Picking up the ball deep in his own half, Wilson beat several defenders on his way down the touchline to bring the score back to 10 – 5.

Wilmslow upped the intensity with the pack slowly getting the upper hand in the tight exchanges. Some relentless phase play with forwards and backs running hard and recycling, saw Wilmslow drive deep into the home side's 22 and captain, Christian Taylor eventually proved too much for the defence to handle as he went over to level the scores at 10 a piece. In the last play of the first half, Wilson claimed his second try, claiming an interception and racing away to score his second of the game. The try was converted by Luke James, extending Wilmslow's lead to 17 – 10 at the half time interval.

It was the home side who struck first in the second half with another sweetly struck penalty from Emery, but this was quickly answered with a penalty from Wilmslow centre, Luke James. Wilmslow started the second half strongly, playing with drive and ambition, but their fourth try came from a St Joseph's mistake as Wilson picked off another interception and went the length of the field to complete his hat trick and extend Wilmslow's lead to 25 – 13.

When you might have expected the home side's heads to drop, they raised their game and responded strongly, scoring 2 tries of their own through impressive full back Betts, his second coming with 2 minutes remaining in the game. The home side and their supporters were fired up and sensed that the next score would be theirs, but some heroic defending meant that Wilmslow were able to hold out until the final whistle. Both sides knew that a draw would be enough for the away side, as they had outscored their opponents by 4 tries to 3. So it was the Wilmslow supporters who had made the long journey down to Ipswich who celebrated loudest at the final whistle and immediately started to look forward to the semi final at Allianz Park, the home of Saracens Rugby Club, against Dulwich College on Saturday 7th March.

Guest post by Huw Williams.

Tags:

Nat West Cup, Rugby, Wilmslow High School