OW5s Club Report

r to l, OWs Jonathan Higgins, Sarath Prakash, Alex Armstrong, Nick Woolfenden

A relatively youthful OW5s team played the current Whitgift schoolboys in March. In a great evening of 5s, the school proved formidable opposition, coming out victorious. It was hugely encouraging to see the schoolboys playing some excellent 5s and thoroughly enjoying themselves; and also great to have recent OWs Sarath Prakash and Alex Armstrong playing their first OWs match, alongside not-so-recent leavers Jonathan Higgins and Nick Woolfenden!

In other news, we’re pleased to report good OW performances on the national 5s scene. Tony Hamilton and partner Spencer Beal (from Eastbourne College) won the national Rugby Fives Association (RFA) Masters tournament in April, and Robert Dalman and fellow club member Chris Blakeley were national RFA Vintage Plate finalists in March. Recent OW Sarath Prakash partnered current Whitgift school no.1 Cameron Low in April’s all-age RFA nationals, putting in very strong performances and attracting much positive comment against the top players in the country. This came hot on the heels of Cameron’s excellent performance in the National Schools tournament, reaching single and doubles finals (with partner Sean Kendrick).

At the time of writing, the OWs are preparing for a later-than-usual South West Tour on the weekend of 27-29 April. A full report will follow for the next newsletter!

We play social 5s regularly on Thursday evenings at the school courts, and players of all standards are very welcome. If you’d like more information, please contact Nick Woolfenden (nickw5s@hotmail.com).