Kelly College 1st XV 47

Shebbear College 1st XV 12

St Boniface College 1st XV 24

Kelly College 1st XV 34

THE last Saturday of the rugby term is unique at Kelly, for the college fields two 1st XV sides on the same afternoon.

The Upper Sixth make up the side that meets Shebbear and the Lower Sixth and U16 XV play together for the first time as next season's prospective 1st XV against St Boniface.

The Shebbear match will be best remembered for the camaraderie between players and coaches from the two schools. This resulted in a thrilling, end to end game on cut, thrust and counter thrust and although Kelly always had the edge, Shebbear contributed wholeheartedly to the occasion.

Two tries apiece were scored by Paul Lidster and Alistair Brown, with Florian Geistdorfer, Edward Drake, James Congdon also getting their names on the scoresheet, Richard Wood added six conversions.

The prospective 1st XV took longer to gel against a combative St Boniface. Despite tries from Philip Jeffery, Nicholas Lambert and William Grainger, in addition to two conversions and a penalty from Oliver Pitts, the Kelly XV were trailing 22-24 with ten minutes remaining.

However, the forwards proceeded to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and with almost total domination of possession enabled Mark Bloxham and Pitts to cross the Boniface line to give Kelly a deserved victory.

With eight of the 12 current Devon players returning next September and several talented boys set to join the college, the signs are promising for yet another successful series of results next season.