THERE was to be no cup final this time around for three teams from Warwick School after they all tasted defeat in their respective national tournaments.
The Under-18s bowed out of the NatWest tournament at the semi-final stage after losing out to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) from Wakefield at Allianz Park, which his home of Aviva Premiership side Saracens.
It proved to be a disappointing performance from Warwick who went in at half-time 8-0 down but they showed signed of improvement after the break.
QEGS’ ball carrying, driving mauls and work at the ruck continued to present challenges for Warwick but an excellent break out from deep in Warwick’s territory resulted in a 90-metre score by centre Will Roberts.
With just three points seperating the two teams the next score was going to be key and further forward drives resulted in another score to the Yorkshire side.
In the final ten minutes Warwick started to risk their hand and a well taken score by centre Jordan Ainslie took the score to 21-12 but the clock ran out and Warwick bowed out of the tournament.
The Under-15s produced an heroic performance against a strong Wellington College side but they were also knocked out of the competition after losing 7-3.
Warwick started the better of the two teams and some excellent kicking from fly-half Henry Mortimer and scrum-half Henry Miles kept Wellington in their own 22-metre line.
A forward pass and a deliberate knock-on denied Warwick from scoring the opening try of the match but they did go into half-time with a three point lead thanks to a Henry Mortimer penalty.
Wellington fought back in the second half and some constant pressure allowed them to score under the posts to take a 7-3 lead.
Warwick produced an excellent fightback with some powerful carries by Roger Jackson and Will Kelley taking them into positive positions but they were unable to make the vital break to the line.
Warwick’s Under-13s were also narrowly defeated by Trinity School from Croydon in the School Sports Magazine National Cup final at Maidenhead rugby club.
Trinity started with the wind advantage and kicked the first points of the game, however Warwick came back strongly and two tries by Tom Patrick either side of half-time gave Warwick a 12-3 lead.
But the larger Trinity pack started to dominate possession which resulted in two tries as they took a 15-12 lead.
Warwick threw everything at Trinity in the final ten minutes but they could not find a breakthrough and although the final whistle was met by disappointment, it had been a fantastic effort by the a team which has improved enormously over the season.
