Fives
This year’s National Schools Championships, held last month at St Paul’s, saw our players competing strongly in the U14 events. At more senior level, St Paul’s made it through to all four Colts and Open finals, winning two of these.
In the U14s (Year 9, Fourth form), Lars Heidrich was our most successful player, reaching the semi-finals of the singles and the final of the doubles. In the Colts singles, an injured Yul Kahn Pascual beat fellow Pauline Ben Beltrami (both Year 11, Sixth form) in the semi-final, and then lost in an epic three game final to the boy he had beaten to win the West of England tournament in January. The Colts doubles was an entirely St Paul’s final, with Ollie Arnold and Ben Beltrami beating Ben Ashraf and Yul Kahn Pascual.
In the Open singles, three of the four semi-finalists were Paulines: Theo Parker, Sam Russell and Francis Thomas (Year 13, Upper Eighth). Francis defeated Theo to reach the final, where he lost a tight match to the number one seed from Bradfield.
In the Open doubles, Theo Parker and Francis Thomas won convincingly. Having also won the Schools Winchester Doubles at the end of last year and the West of England tournament in January, they have now won everything on offer this season and have established themselves as one of the strongest school fives pairings for several years.
Read The Rugby Fives Association’s full report of the 2012 Championships.