Sports News – 8 February 2022

It’s been another busy and successful for sport at St Paul’s School. We are delighted that there has been a number of achievements in Squash, Rugby, Football and Swimming.

Squash National Schools

Well done to the Eighth Form squash players who qualified for the National Schools finals in Nottingham in March. They beat Harrow School 3-2 and Aylesbury Grammar School 3-2.

George Livesey (U8th)

James Rossiter (L8th)

Rana Sarin (U8th)

Olly Hatfield (U8th)

Tom Jensen (U8th)

Surrey County Swimming Championships 2022

This weekend, it was the start of Surrey County Swimming Championships 2022. We had five pupils participating; well done to Christian Duetoft, who received one gold medal and one silver medal and to Andy Wang, Wilder Daffey, Anderson Daffey, who all made the final of each of their events. Tom Street also qualified for the Surrey County Championship.

Shiplake 7s

Well done to the 1st VII Rugby team for their performance at the Shiplake 7s yesterday. They won all their group matches with impressive wins over Bedford School and Millfield School. In the knockout stages, they won the quarter-final against Clifton College but sadly lost the semi-final against the eventual winners, Wellington College.

Football Report

A chastening day for 1st XI, who struggled to convert early dominance into goals, going into the break with a meagre 1-0 lead; in the second half Epsom’s superior fitness told, and they ended up winners thanks to some clinical finishing. A stark lesson for St Paul’s in that it is not enough in football to be tactically and technically astute – athleticism is also key.

At St Paul’s, it was great to see the games played in good spirit to reboot this fixture in a positive light. It was a difficult away day for the 15s and 16s and the As had a challenging time but our depth was highlighted with some great results in the lower teams across the age groups.

Superb commitment from the boys in terms of availability for this away fixture.

U18A

Home

Epsom College

Lost: 1 – 3

Goals: Gorin Delmas

MVP(s): Jack Taylor

U18B

Home

Won: 1 – 0

Goals: Capper

MVP(s): Cameron Capper

U18C

Home

Won: 5 – 0

U18D

Home

Lost: 2 – 3

U18E

Home

Won: 3 – 0

Goals: Buckland, Howorth, Saldanha-Blackwood

MVP(s): André Saldanha-Blackwood

U18F

Home

Won: 9 – 0

A dominant display from St Paul’s, the home side started fast, with Grimstone bagging a hat trick inside the first 15 minutes. Marked as a dangerous player by the opposition, he was then fouled in the box, with Hill converting the penalty after self-nominating himself as the taker before kick-off.

Epsom pushed for a goal back coming close with an excellent strike against the post, with St Paul’s then defending a pair of corners. Vujnovic, who had been combining well with Hill up the right flank, grabbed a brace before halftime.

For the second half, St Paul’s switched to an attacking 3-5-2, upping the intensity in midfield and crowding Epsom out. Baig bagged a brace with a pair of well-taken strikes before Pavell rounded out the scoring for St Paul’s 9th and final goal, having switched to a more central role behind

Goals:

Hill, Baig(2), Vujnovic(2), Grimstone(3), Pavell

MVP(s): Jamie Grimstone

Boys-U16A

Away

Lost: 1 – 2

U16B

Away

Draw: 1 – 1

Goals: Wadhwani

MVP(s): Jonah Collett and Conrad Gardey

U16C

Away

Draw: 1 – 1

Goals: Tully

U16D

Away Won : 3 – 0

U15A

Away

Lost : 1 – 7

Goals: Baghai

U15B

Away Won: 6 – 1

Goals: Shukla, Hinkis(3), Toledano(2)

MVP(s): Alex Toledano

U15C

Away

Draw: 2 – 2

U15D

Away

Won: 6 – 0 the pair of strikers