Olavian U13s continue cross-code success March 2013

Following on from James Toop's fifth successive win in the Rugby Fives National Singles Championships before Christmas and Fiona Barnes and Karen Hird's triumphs in the Ladies Winchester Fives tournament a couple of weeks ago, it was the turn of the St.Olave's Under 13 squad to prove how adept Eton Fives players are at turning their hand to other codes of Fives.

On Sunday 17th March a team consisting of James Tate, Kieran Walton, Kameron Swanson, Sohayl Ujoodia, William Carew and Sam Caine travelled to St Pauls' School in central London to take part in the U13s Rugby Fives Nationals in both the singles and doubles. This squad of players dominated both events with the Eton Fives players barely dropping a single point in the group stages of the Singles.

In the Singles event the players finishing in top position automatically qualified into the quarter-final knock out stages. St.Olave's took 6 of the 8 Quarter-Final places, with Pilgrims top 2 players taking the remaining 2 places. It was inevitable that the Olavians would have to take on each other in order to make it to the final.

James Tate (1) took on Pligrims 1 and eased into the semi-final with a 15-1 victory. Kameron Swanson (3) took on William Carew (5), who progressed into the semi-final beating fellow Olavain 15-1. The toughest quarter-final of the day was between Kieran Walton (2) and Sohayl Ujoodia (4) which saw St.Olave's 4 beat St Olave's 2 in an epic 15-10 victory. Sam Caine (6) took on Pilgrims 2 but unfortunately could not make it an all Olavian semi-final and lost 15-6.

In the first semi-final Kameron Swanson took on James Tate and sailed into the final with the unexpected score of 15-1. Sohayl Ujoodia took on a great player from Pilgrims School in Winchester in another epic nail-biting match. The score was neck and neck up to seven all when Sohayl manged to gain a 3 point lead. This did not last long and the Pilgrims player piled on the pressure and it looked like a comeback was on the cards at 10-9 but Sohayl had a run of points and managed to clinch victory and a place in the final by beating Pilgrims 2 15-9 to create an all Olavian final.

Before the singles final could take place Kameron Swanson and Sohayl Ujoodia had to join forces and compete in the doubles. Again the Olavian pairs dominated this event with all three pairs reaching the semi-finals. St. Olave's (2) Kameron and Sohayl ended up playing St. Olave's (3) William Carew and Sam Caine in the first semi. This was a fantastic match and the score does not do the match justice. St. Olave's 2 beat St. Olave's 3 11-2. The only other School to reach the semi-finals were Blundell's School from Devon. St Olave's (1) Kieran Walton and James Tate eased into the final beating Bundell's 1 11-2, and this victory ensured another all Olavian final.

The singles final was the first final to take place which saw St.Olave's (3) Kameron and St. Olave's (4) do battle. This was a great final which was the closest singles game of the tournament, with very long rallies and lots of volleying which caused a real stir amongst the Rugby Fives spectators. Kameron Swanson beat Sohayl in the final, 15-10.

The doubles final took place after a short but well earned break. Kieran Walton and James Tate took on Kameron Swanson and Sohayl Ujoodia in one of the best ever finals in the tournament history. All players had improved throughout the day, now regularly having to return the ball off the back wall and returning a very high percentage of serves which created some very long rallies. One rally lasted at least 60 shots before all players ran out of steam! The final was eventually won by the first pair of Kieran Walton and James Tate who a week earlier also won the Eton Fives U13s Schools Nationals at Eton College and will most likely be the only ever pair to win both codes of Fives at the U13 age group.

This was a fantastic achievement for the squad and the RFA (Rugby Fives Association) organiser, Frank Akerman, invited them to take part in the U14s event which he said " might be more of a challenge".

This was also the first time that the players had played on a proper Rugby Fives court and used a Rugby Fives ball, which is slightly different to an Eton Fives Ball.

Congratulations to all the players who took part in this competition and who adapted so very quickly and well to a different code of Fives.