Year 8 Rugby, Second round fixtures

On a wild and windy Thursday night at Houghton RFC, the year 8 boys rugby team completed their second round of fixtures in the All-Schools competition.

Another strong CVEA team took on opposition from St Aidans and Oxclose, with some new faces in their ranks.

In the first game vs St Aidans, the CVEA team took an early lead with a very good set of attacking phases, with strong running and excellent rucking. Cailen Forrest getting the ball down after a bursting run through the St Aidans defence at the 4th time of asking. Defensively, CVEA had to be at their best with some committed tackles and excellent communication on display, they held firm until a series of quick attacking phases opened up a space on the left edge, and Joel Makuvatsine was unable to stop a strong running St Aidans player. CVEA quickly responded, and Joel then demonstrated his pace and aggression with the ball in his hands, as he ran in a try from 40m out to give CVEA the lead. The match could have gone either way at this point, with both teams threatening to score tries. CVEA held out until the very last play of the game, where unfortunately St Aidans ran in a try to level the scores at 2 tries all.

Up next was a game vs Oxclose, who had 5 players who represent local rugby clubs. This was a very tough challenge for the CVEA team, who would have to be at their best to compete. In a frenetic game full of excellent tackling, rucking and support play, tries were scored quickly by both sides in a back-and-forth encounter. Jaxson Spencer opening the scoring, before Oxclose hit back to level. Joel Makuvatsine scoring twice, giving CVEA a 3-1 half time lead. Oxclose (borrowing players from St Aidans) came out the second half with a very strong team, scoring another quick try to make it 3-2. CVEA's defence was solid and as a team, were giving everthing they had to stop the more experienced opposition. Eventually the pressure told, with another 2 tries for Oxclose giving them a 4-3 lead. Despite some attacking pressure in the final stages of the game, CVEA were unable to get the equalising try, but it was a truly fantastic team performance.

Man of the competition for CVEA was Joel Makuvatsine.

Well done lads!