St. Ambrose Le Premier Cru.

Match day began in chilly Chile with a visit to the vineyard of the largest wine exporter in the country. Unfortunately for the staff no tasting was available. We then moved onto an apple preparation and packing plant.

After lunch with their hosts the boys were transported to the Orchard School stadium in the foothills of the Andes. We were serenaded en route to the stunning location by the St. Ambrose choir with renditions of songs about previous conquests, the prowess and attributes of team members.

The grandstand quickly filled with opposition supporters anticipating this plum tie. The female members of the school had their loyalties seriously tested as they had taken a real shine to the Ambrose boys.

Our teams felt Orchard school were ripe for the picking as they had lost heavily earlier in the week.

Winning the toss Tom Gomulko chose to kick off towards the hills. It was a peach of an afternoon. Little wind blue sky all round with just a little cloud cover over the pitch.

The opposition fumbled from the kick off and Jake Morris took advantage pushing forward quickly. St. Ambrose were penalised twice in quick succession for offside and a high tackle. Orchard school passed the ball quickly along the line and made some ground. St. Ambrose were awarded a free kick when the ball was not released quickly. Unfortunately advantage was lost when a knock on occurred. Scrum down.
Orchard school were awarded a free kick that missed touch and play that followed resulted in a nice interchange between Ben Quilligotti and Adrian Bevan. The ball was passed out to Andrew Arnall on the wing but unfortunately he was unable to collect the pass cleanly.

A good dummy from Rory Moylan set up an attack but a penalty was awarded for holding on.

Bernard Lennon won an impressive line out ball and James Carr and Ben Quiligotti set up Andrew Arnall for a good run down the wing.

Two penalties fro St. Ambrose in quick succession allowed us to push forward. A brilliant move in which James Carr turned inside for Tom Gomulko to run onto the ball and score our first try. The conversion by Adrian Bevan gave us a seven point lead.

St. Ambrose were a little slow from the restart allowing Orchard School to collect the ball. We managed to win the ball back but a scrum was given which we won against the head.

Adrian Bevan kicked and chased but was tackled on the 22. A scrum resulted from, which Ben Quiligotti broke away. He managed to release Andrew Aranall who was tackled into touch. However the referee had seen several opposing players offside. From a tap kick the ball travelled from one touch line to the other and Alex Hartley went over for the second try. A juicy bit of play. The conversion was missed 12-0 to St. Ambrose after 25 minutes.

St. Ambrose tried some clever moves from the kick off but the ball was lost. A good kick from Ben Quiligotti and strong running from Alex Roache pushed us closer to the opposition line. St. Ambrose lost the ball but Alex Hartley put in a good tackle and stole back the ball. A huge overlap was created but we did not exploit it as we pushed for the line instead of passing. St. Ambrose were in command when the half time whistle blew.

From the restart Alex Hartley made 15 yards. A high tackle on Tom Gomulko resulted in a penalty. Adrian Bevan found touch. Once again Bernard Lennon reached a great height in the line out (did he use a cherry picker?)and won the ball. . Tom Gomulko and Adrian Bevan showed great understanding and Adrian completed the move with a cross field kick that just landed out of play. From the line out Orchard made some progress but Tom Edwards stole the ball and made a storming run n gaining 15 yards.

Good handling from the backs following a scrum allowed Adam Gray in for try number 3. The conversion was just outside the post. 17-0 15 minutes into the second half.

From the kick off we made good play. Tim Edwards gaining 20 yards in one drive. Great open rugby and fast passing followed. From a scrum Michael Killen (Birthday Boy) picked up a difficult ball under pressure and passed to Matthew Gray. Matthew made a strong run for the line. Matthew featured a few minutes later when having collected a behind head pass, jumping to catch it he side stepped one player came inside side stepped again took out their player and made a fantastic offload (details of move as confirmed by Matthew Gray in after match interview.)

Orchard were finally shaken to the core when Patrick Clear broke inside passed to Michael Killeen who was stopped short of the line. Laurence Hutchence collected the ball and went over. Adrian Bevan converted 24-0.

Man of the match was Tom Gomulko who directed his team well and controlled the game but there was not one rotten apple in the bunch.

After match quotes.
Mrs. Davies. I would rather be a spectator than a reporter.
Dan Gwizdek Too many greedy players not prepared to pass.