LGS Rugby Match – Friday 4 November

It was fitting that one of the greatest nights in the esteemed rugby history of Loughborough Grammar School was curtailed by one of its greatest winning moments. Supporters, alumni and relatives of LGS’s 1XV braved the November chill to see a historic rivalry – against Nottingham High School – reignited, but none could possibly have imagined the dramatic heroics of the match’s denouement upon arrival at Loughborough University’s floodlit pitch.

LGS, after trailing 17-3 at half-time to a Nottingham side whose first-half ascendancy meant that they were fully deserving of their 14-point lead, fought so bravely and scrapped so fiendishly in the second half to reduce the deficit but, when the visitors scored from a cute cross-field kick, any sensible bookmaker would have stopped taking bets on the match’s victor. Nottingham led by seven points with time dying out and LGS, despite their valiance, were toast. Except, they had one thunderous smash-and-grab left in their locker: first a close-range pick-and-go try from Callum P; then an astounding 51-metre winning penalty – off the crossbar, no less – from fly-half Joe W in the match’s final play sent the flare-wielding crowd into scenes of unbridled euphoria.

Rugby is as much a team sport as any but, that night, a moment of electric individual brilliance from their fly-half saved them. What was most stupefying, however, was that he had never kicked a goal from that distance before in his life.

“I just thought, ‘I have to get this over’, with all my mates here,” Joe W said after the victory. “I tried to nail it and it just flew off my boot.

“I’ve never kicked a goal from 50 metres before. It hit the crossbar, I can’t remember anything else, then I was under 20 people – it almost broke my neck!”

Whatever post-match reward was bestowed upon the fly-half and his team would not be enough. Give him the keys to the quad or Quorn for their second-half gumption in the face of the most testing adversity. LGS could have capitulated at half-time; they had been decimated at the set-piece in the opening 40 minutes and struggled to contain Nottingham’s impressive fly-half, Tom T.

Indeed, it was Nottingham’s No 10 who opened their account, kicking an early penalty for holding-on amid the partisan home airhorns. Sloppiness in the Loughborough midfield led to Nottingham extending their lead with the first try of the game and, suddenly, the visitors were storming along at a point per minute. Thankfully, Joe W managed to stem the tide with a penalty of his own, but that did not stop his adversary, Tom T, scoring and converting a silky solo try of his own to leave LGS 14 points off the pace.

It is amazing what a half-time orange can do, however. Henry C had a fine match up front for Loughborough and it was his efforts that led to Rocco O bagging the first try of the second half – again, from close-range – to set the LGS comeback on the right path. With both teams handicapped by a player in the sin-bin, LGS would soon strike again, this time from a motoring line-out catch-and-drive. That try cut the deficit to just two points.

When Nottingham executed their late cross-kick with aplomb, Loughborough’s fans feared the worst. Thankfully, the team did not; Callum P kept LGS alive and all that remained was for Joe W to step up and do something that he had never done before. Never in doubt.

– Charles Richardson (LGS 2011)

It was such an exciting game with an amazing atmosphere, which really helped us get into the spirit to celebrate 100 years of rugby heritage at LGS in the new year.

Thank you also to Exigent who generously support the Player Pathway Programme and also supported the event on 4 November.