SCHOOL SPORT: Cokethorpe pull off a cup double (From Oxford Mail)

SCHOOL SPORT: Cokethorpe pull off a cup double

4:30pm Friday 18th December 2009

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Cokethorpe School (Witney) celebrated a rare Oxfordshire Schools' Cup rugby double at a rain-lashed Wallingford RFC.

They retained their under 19 crown with a 24-9 victory over Henley College in a repeat of last year’s final played on a quagmire of a pitch.

And Cokethorpe also captured the under 15 cup with a commanding 35-3 win over Gillotts (Henley).

Cokethorpe always had the edge in the under 19 final, with No 8 Rory Gratwohl and winger Jacob Wilson each scoring a brace of tries.

Full back Jonny Morris landed two conversions, while scrum half Adam Lubbock landed three penalties for Henley.

Cokethorpe’s victory – similar to last year’s 26-7 scoreline – was built on their forward dominance, with hooker Ed Church, who went on warm-weather training to Spain with South West England the following day, and prop Andy Berry, who is also on stand-by for England Under 18s, to the fore.

A hat-trick of tries from Jackson Burton helped Cokethorpe master the muddy conditions to grab the glory at under 15.

No 8 Josh Poole went over for a brace of tries and inside centre Ollie Lloyd also crossed the Gillotts’ line.

Scrum half Tom Wells was successful with a penalty and a conversion to complete a resounding victory. Jonny Adams kicked Gillotts’ three points.

Magdalen College School (Oxford) coasted to a 41-0 win over Warriner (Bloxham) in the under 14 cup final to make it a perfect ten wins this season.

Centre Giles White led the way with a brace of tries, and Paul Childs was also among the scorers.

Charlie Pullin kept running tirelessly from the base of the scrum, captain Will Spencer provided great service from scrum half, and Andrew Tolson controlled the game superbly at fly half.

Eddie Hines, Jason Yun and Findlay Webb also played leading roles in Magdalen’s triumph.

The cup finals were preceded at the same venue by the first staging of the Oxfordshire Vase finals.

Openside flanker Toby Jones starred with all the points for Blessed George Napier (Banbury) in a 13-10 win over Henley College B in the under 19 final.

He converted his own try and also landed two penalties as Blessed George Napier – with forwards Seb Johnson, David Cossy and Ben Clarke shining – established a 13-0 lead at half-time.

Henley hit back in the second half, with tries from winger Dominic Keeble and fly half Rob Bryson, but their Banbury opponents held on.

Chipping Norton beat Cherwell (Oxford) 12-8 in the Oxfordshire Under 15 Vase final.

No 8 James Grosvenor’s drop goal gave Cherwell the lead.

But Chipping Norton replied when Pete Myatt threw the ball in over a line-out for fly half Jamie Morton to collect it and race over from ten metres.

Centre Lewis Brain landed the conversion to make it 7-3 at the break.

Brain’s centre partner, Sam John, burst through two Cherwell defenders for Chipping Norton’s second try after the interval.

Winger Jack Smith pulled a try back for Cherwell, but it wasn’t enough.

Matthew Arnold (Cumnor) battled to a 10-7 win over Wood Green (Witney) in the Oxfordshire Under 14 Vase final with all the points coming in the first half.

Hooker David Bell went over in the corner to give Matthew Arnold the lead.

But Wood Green hit back and tight-head prop Ross Steeples scored a pushover try, which fly half Luke Bolley converted.

However, No 8 Alex Williams scored what proved to be the winning try for Matthew Arnold before half-time.

Bolley had a kick to level the scores in the second half, but pushed it to the right of the posts.

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