2nd XI 7th Feb. Ashville College Sat., Sat., 14th Feb. Bridlington School Wed., 25th Feb. Bootham School Wed., 4th Mar. Worksop College Sat., 7th Mar. Trent College
... 1st XI ... ... ...
Away Away Home Home Away
O.P. Hockey XI Will any O.P. who wishes to p'ay in the O.P. Hockey match on Saturday, 28th February, please write to P. M. B. Steele, Esq., 25 Westminster Road, Clifton, York, stating position played.
RUGBY FOOTBALL, 1952 RETROSPECT News of Wyatt-Gunning's return for a further term of captaincy of the School XV not only came as a most agreeable surprise but raised our hopes considerably for the season ahead. On paper the material amongst the forwards looked thin, but Gunning's leadership was likely to offset much of this weakness, and, indeed, such was the case. An unusually large crop of injuries, the price paid for inexperience and lack of fitness, did nothing to ease the difficulties of team-building, and so bad was the situation by the third week of term that it was deemed inadvisable to submit a team of young raw recruits to be "Wooded" against the brawn of the local York side, and the fixture was cancelled. This breather gave us an opportunity to lick our wounds before taking the field against Bradford. As against Durham, large slices of good fortune made us victors in this match as well, and the 1st XV emerged from their teething troubles with considerable success. All this while, in spite of being on the injured list himself, Gunning was putting life and spirit into a lightish pack (average weight—barely 11 stone) and teaching them above all the art of quick heeling in the loose. Six of the back division were automatic selections for one position or another, and as soon as it became evident that Pullan had found his niche at full-back, the three-quarter line took shape. The team proved notoriously bad starters, almost conveying to their opponents a false sense of security, before settling down to the real job of dominating the run of play. Dare we say that the Ampleforth, Leeds, and even Denstone matches were lost by such tactics? The tale was invariably the same. However, we must give credit where credit is due and recognise the fact that Denstone made us look like a lot of beginners in the first half when gaining a 17 point lead, but we can derive considerable consolation from the fact that the three tries scored 54
