Match Results at The Grange School

We arrived at The Grange School to a very warm welcome. The boys and girls have enjoyed their stay in Santiago. It is a very impressive school in the shadow of the snow capped peaks of the Andes. The school is named after Grange Road in Cambridge as the founder spent some time in Cambridge living on Grange Road, before moving to Chile to set up the school. The school has a central courtyard reminiscent of a Cambridge College. They boys and girls have been sightseeing, having meals at the country club´s and James G. one of the U6th leavers even went skiing with his host family.

The school are very keen to set up a Gap Year exchange and it would be a fabulous experience working at the school and visiting the glaciers of Patagonia, the desert of the Atacama and the ski resorts of the Andes. The school has 40 English staff, one who worked at St. Johns School, Cambridge a few years ago and many more with recent connections to English public schools. The standard of sport is very high and the majority of lessons are taught in English. It has been a real pleasure visiting the English schools in Chile and we have been looked after extremely well and I hope we can entertain them if they come to England in the future.

The matches today were competitive and hard fought. The girls played really well against a superb school side which consisted of five junior internationals. They really enjoyed the challenge and despite conceding some early goals they fought hard to the end. The Grange substituted some of their best players and we began to enjoy more possession and we scored our first goal of the tour with a superb build up from Connie, Ellie and Cathy which created a chance for Nicky, who scored. We lost the game 7 -1 but it was a great performance and the girls were in high spirits at the end of the match. Player of the Match: Cathy, Duracell Award: Alice J, Champagne Moment: Nicky.

The U16 team lost 22 - 10 and had chances to win the game in the second half. They played with skill and commitment against a well organised team who created good chances in the first half. Jonathan scored an opportunist try from a 22 drop out when he raced to the line to score after a clever restart when the Grange were caught napping.

The 1st team won 42 - 0 against the Grange 2nd team. The Grange first team are currently on tour in Australia which was a shame as it would have been a very competitive fixture. However it provided an opportunity to try out some new combinations and The Perse were made to struggle in the first half by a determined team. In the second half the pressure told and we scored some excellent trys.

More detailed match reports and photos will be added soon when we arrive in Beunos Aires.

Hotmail address

Just in case you need to contact us on tour, remember you can email us on persesport@hotmail.co.uk

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Narrow loss for the U16`s

Wessex V Perse. Lost 17-13

The match was played at a National division 1 club; Los Troncos. Wessex School had come to watch and the pressure was on. The Argentinian Referee started the game and Perse made an impact immediately. The forwards, lead by Angus made good ground. Edmund commanded the back line, looking to put Mark into space. After having much of the territorial advantage we were unable to convert the possession into points. After 25 mins. Moumen kick a penalty to take us into the lead. However, 5 minutes later Wessex scored and converted a try. Early in the second half Wessex scored a good try in the corner. The Perse really needed to get get back into the game and a series of good runs by Mark and good forward possession allowed Moumen to score his first try of the tour. Unfortunately Wessex replied with a try after sustained pressure in our own half. Our defence was excellent, strong, organised and solid. A series of penalties enabled us to escape from our own half and apply some pressure. After seven phases of tight forward play the Perse were rewarded with a try for JP. However, time was not on our side and the game ended. 17-13. Man of match and best tackler Mark R. This was a better performance than the first match, despite the result. Every boy stepped up. Notable performances were from Alex M, Henry P, Moumen K, Peter H and Mark R. We face our biggest match on Monday against The Grange. The team are in great spirits, the rugby is going well and improving.

The Perse battle through to the second victory on tour

On a crisp winters afternoon the 1st XV squad warmed up infront of a large crowd in preparation for a tough confrontation with St John`s School. The match began well, with Alex C leading from the front in typical fashion. However, unlike the previous game the opposition contested well at the contact area which inhibited the Perse team from generating any phases. The boys felt frustrated by the lack of progress, and although they led 5 - 0 within 10 minutes, they struggled to really impose themselves on the opposition. Following two yellow cards the Perse team were down to thirteen players, however the team displayed a superb attitude defending continued advances at the try line by the opposition. The final result (27 - 5) reflected the competitive nature of the match, with the Perse evantually pulling away following an excellent interception try from the majestic Patrick. The Man of the Match award went to Tom for his hard work at the breakdown and his ambition in off-loading out of the contact area. The ´Bosh´ of the match (biggest tackle) went to Sam following a good kick chase from yet another excellent kick by Nick McL. The boys look forward to three days of rest before they face The Grange School in Santiago on Monday.

Another positive performance from the Perse

The girls played superbly this afternoon in the beautiful surroundings of St Johns School. They worked hard to apply the tactics and skills learned in the morning training session and they never gave up. I was impressed with their commitment and determination throughout the game and they were certainly tired by the end. The back six (Philli, Jo, Alice, Kirsty, Chloe and Alice) tackled and chased all game and they are becoming a really effective unit. The midfield worked tirelessly and skilfully. Connie, Ellie, Cathy and Sophie certainly showed that they are talented hockey players, who never stopped running. The forwards created chances; Nicky, Izzie and Becky were strong on the ball and determined in attack. I was really proud of their performance today and they have made considerable progress over the three matches. (DRC)

Players report (Izzy) - Following an extremely good training session and consistant improvement in the last two games, the team went onto the pitch with a very positive attitude. The match showed just how much we have progressed. There was far more attacking play and some very close shots on goal. The forwards were more involved than in previous games and made use of free hits to push the ball up the pitch. Ellie, Connie and Cathy were instrumental in midfield using a peel to protect the ball which we had learnt in training. Chloe demonstrated how much she had improved, putting some great tackles in for the defence.

The team can be proud of how they played and look forward to future games with a very positive attitude.

Player of the Match: Chloe

Duracell Award: Cathy

We arrive in Concepcion

We arrived in Concepcion to be met by our hosts at The Wessex School and St Johns School. The boys and girls have been made to feel very welcome by their host families and they are all meeting up at a party on Friday night. They arrived at school this morning at 8.00am travelling in on the school buses and we trained on the pitches before we went into town for a brief stroll.

It has been a wonderful experience meeting the families in Concepcion and the girls and boys have had plenty to talk about.

U16´s battle to a well deserved win 18 - 7

There was a buzz in the U16 team as we prepared to play St Peters. The first 20 minutes was very phyiscal, but the St Peters team kept slowing the ball down in contact. Eventually, the backs received good ball and fast hands by Mark and Phil created an opportunity for Peter to score the first try of the match. St Peters came back strongly through the forwards. They scored and converted to lead 7-5. A penalty in front of the posts to Perse put us in the lead by half time. The second half saw our forwards play a much harder and more direct game. This gave the backs more possession and enabled us to play the ball away from the the big St Peters pack. Peter scored his second try to extend the lead to 13-7. In the last ten minutes of the match, series of good passages of play gave Jonathan the opportunity to score in the corner.

Summary: Mr Ball had his first win on tour, Angus Man of the match, Matthew biggest tackle and great captaincy.

Perse take heart from improved performance

After a morning of team shopping, the girls headed back to St Margaret´s School, for training, followed by a match. We worked hard to improve from yestardays match. The weather was beautiful and from the pitch we had wonderful views of the Pacific Ocean. We were playing the schools U16A team, who proved to be as strong as the previous team. The game started with them scoring some quick goals against a lethargic, and stiff team. However we never stopped fighting, and as the match went on, we had some fast breaks, with a stunning attack from Cathy, who took the ball the whole way down the right wing. The match proved to be a vast improvement on yesterdays performance. We played as a team, encouraging each other and we have continued to learn. Kirsty made some great saves once again, and everyone really picked up their game, with some awesome tackles coming from the defence.

Player of the match was won by Phillippa for her constant support and skill in the defence. The Duracell award for hard work went to Ellie.

Perse triumph in a hard fought game

After an encouraging display in training, hopes were high in the build up to the first match of tour. The squad were very nervous before the game but these feelings were soon dispelled when the game started. There were big tackles from the beginning as the forwards laid a platform for the backs to attack. Owen had a storming first half which saw him blast through numerous tackles to score two tries and Jake also scored a try off the back of a rolling maul. The score was 17-0 at half time and the whole squad was buzzing and couldn’t wait to get back out. Mackay school came back strongly in the second half but there was excellent defence from the whole team, Mackay did score a try as a result of the continued pressure, but Perse showed tremendous character to come back and score two late tries to finish off the game. Tom scored after a flowing team move in the corner and James scored the final try, which left the final score at 34 - 5. It was a fantastic way to start the tour as every fit player participated in the game. The Man of the Match awards went to Owen for his two great tries and dominant presence and Josh S. for his all round commitment and excellence at the break down. Bosh of the game went to Paddy for a huge hit on his opposite outside centre.

Rugby Training at The Mackay School