Sports News

It is always a lovely event to attend alongside the U13 team. The journey is always long but the Netball is well worth it. All coaches, staff and players agree that such an early tournament really helps get the season off to a flying start.

Both Blundell's teams were in great spirits and up for the challenge of the pool matches before the afternoon playoffs. Twenty seven Prep schools participated in the event from all over the South of England, so it was great to be able to wave the flag for Blundell's and Tiverton. Both our teams certainly made the spectators take notice.

With the news of the U13 team winning their pool it boosted the U11 to work hard in their final pool matches. We finished a very pleasing second in the group, only losing out to Hoe Bridge from Woking, Surrey. Second place took Blundell's Prep into the Plate Competition and meant a semi-final against Port Regis. After a tricky first half and a stiff team talk the girls pulled some fantastic team work out of the bag and won the match 6-4 and a place in the final against Amesbury. It was a nail biting game with the scores level, 5-5, at half time. Blundell's Prep won the final 8-5 with an outstanding performance. It was a great moment for the team and their supporters! Their hard work had certainly paid off, well done!

The team won their pool comfortably scoring 5 goals and only conceding 1! They faced Exeter Junior School in the semi-final and managed a 2-0 victory to make the final against Queens. After a good 30 minute rest the team were ready and went all out to prove they had what it took!

It was a fantastic team performance and all the Blundell's prep supporters were very proud. Anna-Rose Gabbitass was a fine captain with Tabitha Vause having an outstanding tournament. Imogen Hamilton-green was a super goal keeper and only let 1 goal in the whole tournament.

Now the team look forward to the IAPS tournament in November.

This very hard tournament was started with a game against the hosts. Being 14 to 7 up at half time the team settled too much and we lost 14 to 21. The next game against Bristol Grammar saw the team gel and a good win came our way. The Dragon school was the last game in our pool and they won 7 to 21. The Dragon went on to win the main competition with Millfield second.

After a good win in the semi-final we met Bristol again in the final. The team had one more big effort even though there were a few injuries to some key players. The plate trophy was secured with a 28 to 7 victory. Everybody in the squad played their part to get as far as the team did.

On this years tour the boys played rugby against the Jersey 1st team, Jersey Rugby Club and Guernsey Rugby Club. The girls played netball and hockey against Jersey's 1st team in both sports.
Tour Schedule 2011

We recently participated in the Sherborne School U11 Hockey Tournament. Despite a great deal of effort and determination we struggled to win against some tough opposition. We eventually came through in the final, beating Wellington Junior School and winning the Vase.

An U9 rugby tournament was recently hosted by Blundell's Preparatory School. The tournament involved fourteen other schools, and we were Runner Up in Plate Final. The photos were taken by the children.

We also hosted also an U9 hockey tournament recently, involving sixteen schools, in which we came third in the pool.

Ethienne Fynn, an ex-south African rugby player and now a Natal Sharks coach, came to the school recently. He coached from Kindergarten to year 8 some cutting edge rugby drills and answered the children's questions. A lot was learnt by all.

The U10's played some fantastic rugby recently at the Queen's Tournament on Saturday 13th November. Blundell’s Prep U10’s were runners up in the main competition, losing in the final having played five other matches that morning.

Four boys, M Crowe, S Maunder, B Stevens and M Butterfield, represented the school at the Southwest Barbarians trials at Blundell's senior school. The boys trained with many other boys who came from around the Southwest. They came together to form three teams who played each other in three trial matches to see who would go on to represent the Southwest against the Southeast. In previous years Blundell's Prep have had national representation in the Barbarians and this year S Maunder and B Stevens have been chosen to play in the Southwest team with the chance of going on further. The boys also got to meet a couple of Exeter Chiefs rugby players who also helped out in the training.

Port Regis Prep School recently hosted a rugby tournament, in which the U11A team won the whole competition. They had only four tries scored against them throughout the contest. They beat the Dragon School in the final 28-7. The whole team played 'total rugby'; each player being able to ruck, pass, run and tackle in any position.

Mr Folland has been delighted with the way the U.11 A team has started the season. All the boys have contributed to two good wins over Kelly College and a good Taunton School side. Both games have been won by a healthy margin with Monty Crow bowling superbly, taking eight wickets in two games, well backed up by Christian Cabburn, Tobias Francis and others. Charlie Brown has scored well in both games, getting the team off to a good start and the team has battled with the bat to score well over a hundred and twenty in both games. The challenge will be to keep this standard going throughout the season. Well done lads so far!

A group of Year 6 girls went to watch a super league netball match - Team Bath v Mavericks. It was an exciting opportunity to see a high level of netball being played up close and the girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The event will be shown on Sky Sports 4 on Wednesday 24th March during the evening.

The U11 touring party to Jersey pose in their new tour shirts, kindly sponsored by Stags for the boys and Mendip Media Group for the girls. Posing in the pictures is Mr Lockwood from Stags and Mr Trevor from Mendip Media Group. The tour is over five days during February half term where the boys will play rugby against two local sides and their national side, and the girls will play both netball and hockey against the island's national teams!

Blundell’s Prep hosted an Under-9 rugby tournament in late November. 13 schools took part (156 boys), which all played two matches in their pool and then entered either the main competition, the plate competition or the shield competition.
The overall winners were St Michael's in a very close final with Millfield. The pictures are of Blundell's Prep battling against Queen's and Stover. Thanks must go to Island-Sports for sponsoring the tournament and Mr Ed Saunders (Director of Sport at Blundell's) for refereeing.

It was a fantastic turn out with 12 schools entered this year. Thank you to staff and parents who travelled from all over Devon and Somerset to participate. Despite the cold and wet conditions the teams played and performed very well. All 120 girls were in high spirits as their matches came thick and fast! It was wonderful to see such enthusiasm from all players and a high standard of U9 Hockey being played.
After the 30 pool matches, the semi-finals took place between Blundell's Prep & Millfield and Queens and Wellington. The final was between Blundell's Prep & Queens. After the 8 minutes of time the score was 1 -1 and so we played extra time for golden goal. With end to end play and after 20 minutes the score remained the same, so umpires decided to share victory.
Very well played to both sides; it was an exciting match to watch and you should be proud of your efforts today! 2009 Joint winners - Blundell's Prep & Queens College, Taunton.

Three Blundell's Prep Pupils played in the Prep School Barbarian U11 rugby. Jack Lockwood, Ben Clarke and Tobias Francis played in a terrific game, with boys selected from all over the South West to represent their School in the South West area match, held at Blundell's Senior School. We are delighted that Tobias has been selected to represent the South West Barbarian team in the next stage. The standard was high and the event gives the boys a great opportunity to pitch their skills against all the other leading school players and to mix with them socially throughout the day and train together. Jack, Ben and Tobias enjoyed a great day. Well done to all of them and our thanks to the senior school for hosting such a lovely event.

Much fun was had at the senior house matches recently, which were played in great spirits! The girls played with determination and desire. Lots of goals were scored and matches played. Thank you to all the parents and friends who came out to support the teams.

Blundell's Under 11 recently played Tiverton Rugby Club at Tiverton RFC. Score: draw, 35-35. Mr Swain Refereed an exciting game with many spectators from both sides watching. After the game a presentation of the school crest was made to the rugby club, along with first team socks to their captain and man of the match. It is hoped that all age groups will play next year in this new fixture.

We had an inter-house rugby competition on the last day before half-term. Grenville were the winners following a victory against Raleigh and a very close game against Drake. Everybody played well, showing the strength and depth of rugby at the prep school.

A rugby tournament took place at Port Regis School on Saturday 19th September. We came third in the Plate Competition.

Last week the school hosted Swanbourne House on a Rugby Tour to the South West. A competitive game led to a convincing win for the visitors. After the match the captains exchanged mementoes of the game. It was enjoyable afternoon.