Ambrose boys set sights on England squad
St Ambrose College has found itself two England Rugby Union prodigies, in the form of Tim Jeffers, fly half or full back and Alex Eaton, who plays in the second row. The boys, who are class mates in the fifth year, have progressed to earn call ups for the England ‘A’ and ‘B’ team respectively. Currently Tim plays for Warrington RFC and they are both part of the Sale Sharks Academy.
The process began when the lads were picked by Cheshire following consistently strong performances for their school and club sides. They then went on to represent the North of England and competed in a tournament with the South and Midland teams. Following this, they attended development camps at Abingdon School and Stowe School, before being selected. They will now prepare for the Wellington Festival at Wellington College in Berkshire from April 16-22. This international tournament will consist of the U17 squads from Belgium, Scotland and Canada as well as France fielding their U16 ‘A’ team. The North and Midlands will participate in the competition too. A warm up match has been arranged against Worcester Academy U17’s in Tim’s case and Leeds Academy U17’s for Alex.
Tim Jeffers said, “This is the culmination of many years of hard work. I am delighted to have been given this opportunity and I am hoping to progress even further”. Alex Eaton also said, “It came as a surprise to be called up as I had previously treated rugby as a hobby but it is a great privilege and I am really enjoying it”.
St Ambrose versus Truro U15’s Daily Mail Cup
Quarter final 08/02/11
St Ambrose’s Under 15’s took to the field against a
very strong outfit from Truro school, Cornwall in the Daily Mail Cup
quarter-final. With the stakes so high, it was always going to be a close
affair.
Ambrose started the better of the two teams,
pinning Truro in their own half for the opening ten minutes. However with
Ambrose just a couple of metres away from the perfect start, Truro won a
penalty to ease the pressure. After this, the Cornish side settled more and
more into the game, particularly dominating in the line-out area. They began to
play with added confidence with the back line looking increasingly dangerous.
Wave after wave of attacks followed and despite Ambrose’s resolute defence,
Truro grabbed the opening try of the match to lead 5-0. The rest of the first
period was tense, with both teams’ defence coming out on top. At the half-way
stage it was still 5-0 in favour of the away side.
At the start of the second period, the home side was
caught cold with a series of uncharacteristic mistakes. Following a scrum in
Ambrose’s 22, the Truro centre picked a hole in the defence to score the second
try of the match. This try was converted to increase the lead. Shortly after
this, Ambrose found themselves once more a short distance away from their try
line. After a kick was charged down, Truro was giving a penalty for an Ambrose
player being offside. The big, opposing forwards then powered over from 5 yards
to seize the initiative. A penalty was also scored quickly after this to leave
Ambrose trailing by 20 points with a third of the match remaining.
But determination never failed Ambrose and with the
home crowd cheering them on, they scored their first points of the game through
a try. The backs passed the ball quickly and efficiently down the line to leave
Harry Callaghan unmarked to dive over in the corner. There was a glimmer of
hope now for Ambrose and with renewed belief, they began to ask questions of
the tiring Truro defence. Scrum half Matt Beasley took a quick penalty to jink
his way through the defence, showing tremendous pace to score a fine solo try
and Ambrose’s second, much to the delight of the home supporters. With the
noise level of the crowd becoming progressively louder, the home team mounted
the pressure. Penalty after penalty was awarded to Ambrose with the fast speed
of the game being advantageous for them. Following an intense passage of play,
the ball was spread wide to allow Dave Jones to bundle over the line. The crowd
was ecstatic as they realised Ambrose was just 5 points down going into the
last 5 minutes of the game. With Ambrose throwing everything they had at the
opposition, it was an extremely entertaining last few minutes. Time was against
them however. The limited opportunities they had to win the game were quickly
shut down by Truro as their defence stood firm. After a gruelling game, the
full-time whistle was blown to enable Truro to advance to the Daily Mail Cup
semi-finals. The final was score was 20-15 to the Cornish side, in an
extraordinary game of rugby.
St Ambrose v Crossley Heath –05/02/2011
A
TRUDGE IN THE SLUDGE
On a miserable Saturday morning, the Ambrose teams
slid and slipped onto the Ashton-on-Mersey pitches to play their last match of
the season against strong Crossley Heath sides. With large puddles of water on
sections of the pitches, the playing conditions were always going to be
tough.
The U14’s conceded an early try but after that they
battled forward, regaining some control. Although they were facing a huge team,
the Ambrose lads tackled hard and contained the bigger units of the Crossley
Heath team well. At half-time the score was still 0-5 to the away side. After a
quick change around, the determination was clearly visible with Ambrose putting
their bodies on the lines at every opportunity with some outstanding defensive
work. With rain, mud and sweat pouring down both teams’ faces it was becoming a
battle of attrition. However, Crossley Heath's powerful running began to wear
their opposition down and they scored two tries in quick succession. This
seemed to wake the home side up and they played with added fortitude, enjoying
their best spell in the game. Ambrose subsequently scored a well deserved try
with Alex Fry diving on the loose ball following a series of through kicks. Joe
Burns then followed the try with a good conversion in the mud. It was too
little too late for Ambrose though with the full time whistle coming earlier
than they would have liked. The final score was 15-7 in favour of Crossley in a
thoroughly entertaining game despite the adverse weather
conditions.
On the other pitch, the U13’s played with great
spirit regardless of the rain lashing down. The game was fluent and open even
with the poor conditions. There were good tries from both teams but the pick of
the bunch came from Ambrose’s Matthew Gill. Gill ran 60 metres on the left
touchline, stepping in and out of the Crossley Heath players’ showing fantastic
balance. He then rounded off a fine solo try by showing terrific acceleration
to ease past the final defender to swoop round to put the ball down underneath
the sticks. Unfortunately for Ambrose, this exceptional try was of no avail as
Crossley Heath finished the game as victors in a 24-17 win.