On Monday 9th December, we were delighted to host our 7th annual Border Shield at Sixways Stadium, Worcester.
Prior to kick-off, we hosted a late lunch with guest speakers James Hook (former Wales and British and Irish Lions International) and Nigel Gillingham (Past President of the RFU)
They were both excellent speakers and we had over 140 guests in attendance including parents, Old Malvernians and members of the rugby community. From the raffle and auction proceeds a donated some of the money raised to the Wooden Spoon Charity.
The match versus Haberdasher’s Monmouth was highly anticipated, especially due to change in venue, and resulted in a large turnout of nearly 1600 people attending.
Each team ran onto the pitch, through the guard of honour created by the u10 and u11 prep school players and u10 and u11 rugby teams from both Ledbury and Malvern Rugby clubs, who took part in a rugby festival curtain raiser prior to the Border Shield match. There was great unbiased support from both crowds, which really added to the atmosphere.
The game was a great spectacle of school boy rugby both teams intent on attacking from everywhere. Malvern had their noses in front at halftime however Monmouth came back strongly with the game finishing 20-33 in favour of Monmouth. It was the last game of the season for both teams and what a way to finish, making lots of lasting memories with your team mates ultimately is what it is all about.
We would like to thank all who attended, congratulations to Haberdasher’s Monmouth on their win, however I feel that rugby was the real winner. A special thanks must go to all the team at Sixways for hosting us. We can wait for next year’s Border Shield.
Nick Tisdale – Master i/c of Rugby
Thanks to Antoine (H5) & Cassia (H6) for their photography.