Well here we were – our first ever final.
After last year’s disappointment of being demolished by Chinnor in the Cup semi final, and losing by one point to Quins in the Plate semi, we were determined to do ourselves proud this year in the Shield Final against Faringdon.
At U14 we had beaten Faringdon 17-15. Earlier this season we had beaten them 19-17. In fact throughout age grade there had never been more than 2 points between us – it was going to be close, and a final is a different occasion. Faringdon had experience, having won the Shield last year, but we were determined the boys wouldn’t be overawed.

It had been a complicated route – after Chippy forfeited in the semi-final meant we didn’t get a game that week, and being demolished to nil by Quins in a friendly 2 weeks previous, we didn’t know what shape we would be in. At least the Quins friendly had given our players who had never played rugby a rugby match before a taste of action, so apart from Ashton and Tig being unable to play for registration reasons, and Harvey being unavailable post-surgery, we had a full squad to call on. Considering we started the season with 15 players, having 21 players available (and 3 unavailable) for our final match is a win in itself, and a credit to how the boys have welcomed new team mates.

Harvey’s injury meant that we had hastily held auditions for scrum half. Of all the players, Chris and Ianto showed the most ability there, but given our need for Ianto’s rock solid presence in the front row, and Chris’ skillset meaning he can play backs or forwards, he got the nod to start at 9, having also played there for St. Birinus on occasion.

The team to kick off was Filip, Ianto and John in the front row, George and VInzen in the 2nd row, Theo and captain Oli on the flanks, with Alex at 8. Chris at 9, Liam running things at 10, Toby and Reuben as centres, with Owen, Henry and Bradley making up the back three.
On the bench we had Rodion and Rabi to bolster the forwards, and William, Tyler, Aidan and George R (our former player on loan from Wallingford) to change things up in the backs. A strong bench! An actual bench. With players on it…

The latest addition to our coaching team is Elliot, who having recently come back to rugby – when he started playing for our senior teams after a few years out – was keen to offer his experience to us coaches and our boys towards leaving the Junior ranks up into Colts and playing for the Seniors. Not only strength and conditioning and structure but also the mental and psychological things of match day. At his direction, our warm ups included being more loud and vocal, in contrast to Faringdon who were warming up quietly – the aim being to get the blood running in our boys, and put doubt into the opposition. We had always been slow starters in games, and we had to raise our intensity. We would see if this would make a difference come kick-off time.

Kick off. Faringdon break through and score. 0-5 down (conversion missed) after 1 minute. OK, so that’s not what we wanted. Luckily it was just a blip early on. From that point in the first half, we tore Faringdon apart up front. John, George, Alex, Vinzen – everybody stepped up to lead pods and puncture the defensive line, and everybody around them rucked over to protect the ball and give us stability. We had talked about how much more tiring it is to defend than attack, and that 10 phases of retention is not good enough if you lose the key 11th one. Faringdon were having to concede penalties to slow us down, and it was one of these occasions where John powered over for the first score, which Liam easily converted to give us a 7-5 lead. We kept the ball pretty much in their half from then on. Losing Alex to a bad nosebleed didn’t disrupt things – Rodion came on on the flanks, and Oli moved to 8. With all the penalties we were winning being expertly kicked into touch in dangerous areas by Liam, our lineout looked secure with Rodion or Oli catching and George and Vinzen lifting. From a well-constructed rolling maul after one of these lineouts, Ianto took the ball from the back, saw the opportunity and peeled off to power over from 10 yards through a couple of flailing defenders. Liam hit the post with the conversion, but we were 12-5 up and flying. Shortly before the end of the first half, John powered over the line unseen (by the ref), and in the play-on from that, Chris did what all good scrum halfs do, and pounced to dot over. Conversion missed, we were 17-5 up. John succumbed to his shoulder knock, and went off for the rest of the half, and Vinzen really stepped up at tighthead. Theo moved from flank to second row, Alex came back on and moved to 8, and Oli went back to flank. We creaked a little in the scrum but ultimately held firm.

Half time. We would have preferred to keep going at that point given our momentum, but rules are rules! We talked about keeping it up, and keeping the ref on our side by playing clean and aggressive. We changed things up in the backs; Henry came off, with Bradley moving to full back. William replaced him on one wing, and Aidan came on for Owen on the other side. John came back on, meaning Rodion went to the bench, and we were back to the same starting forwards.

Apparently half time was just what Faringdon needed. If the first half was about our attack, the second half was about our defence. On the inside, we were robust – our defending forwards were hitting hard, particularly Theo who found his mojo and rose to the fore. When the ball came out to the Faringdon backs, even with a DPP outside half drafted in, they were easy to read. Reuben and Toby were hitting hard and fast in the centre, and William, Bradley and Aidan’s back three organisation meant the fringes were safe when play was structured. It was a real arm wrestle that kept the game between 22s for a long time. After 10 minutes of the second half, however, Faringdon found our Achilles heel. We have been prone to conceding points all season when an opposition full back/winger takes a kick in space in broken play, and runs round the outside of the defence. They crossed in the corner, which meant the conversion was missed. 17-10 – edgy stuff.
The way to win a referee is usually to have the ball, and as we didn’t have it as much, we started to concede penalties ourselves. Faringdon powered over from one of these penalties to make it 17-15 – again, conversion luckily missed. To try and make things more tight, we brought on some experience in the backs. Aidan came off to be replaced by Tyler on the wing, and George came on at full back, replacing Bradley. We made our last forward change, and brought Rabi on for Filip, moving Vinzen to loosehead, Theo into second row, and Rabi on to the flank to replace him. The last 10 minutes were played in our half. Faringdon had chosen to kick a penalty which had missed, and we were really up against it. With 2 minutes to go, we won back possession in our 22, and the forwards carried for a phase or two to calm things down. Just as I thought we were going to clear it, the ball ended up with Toby, running it out from the backs. The ball was stripped, and we were suddenly defending for our lives again. In this defence, we conceded a penalty, near the edge of our 22, just to the right of our posts. Last minute, a Faringdon kick to win it.
Luckily for us, the outside half really didn’t have his kicking boots on, and pulled it wide. We let the ball go dead, and on the way back to the 22 for the dropout, the referee explained that the ball had to be played, but then the whistle would go. Having missed this opportunity to win, Faringdon were so disconsolate that they didn’t put anybody further forward than our 10 metre line, so Liam was able to grubber the dropout a few yards, reclaim it and boot it out into touch. We had won!

The joy on the players was a wonderful thing to see especially when a fair few of our squad had had bad news a few days previous about staying with Gloucester DPP for next season. For a moment they could forget it all and celebrate with their team mates. As much as we agreed we had been lucky, the history books will read Oxford U15 County Shield winners – Didcot RUFC.

A great way to end our season, and with a squad approaching 30 players on the books for next season, we look forward to life in the Bucks & Oxon league, and the transition to Colts. Full rugby rules too, including contested lineouts – we can’t wait!