Triumph and Disaster

Everyone has days in sport where things just do not quite go to plan. Just ask the England goalkeeper! Today we just couldn't get things going. They played half court and sat back and tried to hit us on the break. It was not pretty but it proved effective. I also understand the frustrations of playing some of these 2nd XIs where they swap players back and forth between their first team. This is not really what the starred player system is designed to do and it is not the way that we choose to do things as a college.

I am pleased that you played with good sportsmanship and did not let their on field comments get to you or retaliate to some of the aggressive behaviour with stick chopping and pushing that their referee let go. Hopefully we will get another crack at them later in the season.

We need to take our chances and to support the ball carrier better and to pass from front stick to front stick. We hit way too many passes into the area of a player rather than to them. We also need to keep improving our basic skills. We can't keep topping balls, miss traps and tackles and expect to win games. It comes down to inches and to us working hard to improve our skills, our concentration and our fitness.

They made more chances in the game and we badly missed Nick in the middle and at PCs attacking and defending. We battled well and 0-0 at half time was a fair reflection of the first half. Tom should probably have been penalised more harshly for his take out and Jamie should really have finished the break away into the circle. They tucked in a deflection on the post from a PC where we didn't defend that cleverly and their second goal near the end flattered them but we were as well pressing forward and trying to score.

Players of the day were Bunsi for some awesome cover tackling and Tom for some great saves.

Result Wellington College Under 15 A 0 Scots College 2nd XI 2


Despite the loss today and being knocked off the top of the table at the last minute I am really proud of what you have achieved in the first half of this season. It is no small thing to be competing in P3 let alone to be contending at the top of the table. You are developing and working hard and we can continue to improve. I know you were disappointed today but you have handled victory and defeat with maturity in the grading round and been excellent representatives for the school on and off the field. One of the reasons we play sport is that it builds character. Above the entrance to the centre court at Wimbledon is the inscription "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same" It is a line from the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling.


If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

The message is - we may not have won today but you have done your college, your families and yourselves proud this season and we are all proud of the young men you are becoming.


See you tomorrow for the game against the 2nd XI!!