Click here for pictures from both matches
The annual Gower Club fixture provided two entertaining games, both of which tested the School sides despite them ending in defeat.
The 1st XV game has become increasingly one-sided in recent years with the last OC win coming as far back as 2003. But this year there was a greater determination in the Gower XV, all the more so as several of the side were playing regularly and the usual chronic fitness problems were not nearly as apparent. The School, primarily made up of UVIth formers and on the back of a heavy defeat at Hurst two days earlier, pushed hard and took an early lead before the OCs cut the deficit with a penalty. A second School try was cancelled out by a well-worked OC try on the brink of the break which came with the score 15-10. The second half was a bruising affair where the School’s fitness only came to the fore in the final minutes when the OCs conceded three late tries to give the 36-19 scoreline a rather flattering appearance.
The 5th XV game, which started in torrential rain which gave way to brilliant sunshine, was dominated by the OCs who camped inside the School half for the first 20 minutes without scoring. It took some creative refereeing to finally get them into the OC half and, warming to his task, the referee then advanced the grateful School XV up to and over the try line with a string of charitable penalties. Thereafter, he allowed the game to carry on and a thoroughly jolly end-to-end battle resulted which the School edged 22-10.
