Final Score – Plymouth College 30, King’s College Taunton 13
It was branded as the biggest game of the season and the performance delivered justified that claim. King’s Taunton came down looking for a repeat of last year’s result, but Plymouth College showed their intentions from the start and made it clear that would not be the case.
Plymouth College took control of the game from the off and managed to score an early penalty. However, the pressure was maintained and Harry Stephenson scored a try to go 10 – 0 up. King’s then applied some pressure, but only managed to get 3 points to show for it. Plymouth answered back by scoring another try through Jawad Miklazewicz to make the score 15 – 3. King’s then managed to get their only try of the game after a period of sustained pressure. However, Plymouth replied perfectly with a superb try with the ball going right through the hands to the winger, Tom Burrell, who finished the move off. The half-time score was 20 – 10.
In the second half, despite the King’s coach shouting to his players that now the first half was over they should have got the bus journey out of their system, Plymouth continued to put pressure on their opponents. Despite King’s putting 3 points on the board and their 2nd team providing vocal support from the sideline, James Steven went over the line after a sharp break by Harry Stephenson to make the score 25 – 13 with about 10 minutes to go. Then, in the last play of the game, Alex Parford sold a dummy to get the final try. Everyone put in very solid and encouraging performances, but the man of the match was Harry Stephenson who attacked well, kept his forwards working hard and led from the front in defence. The victory felt all the better with the added bonus of revenge after last year.
