Senior School sporting summary, including England call up

England Under 18 call up

We are delighted to share the news that George (Lower Sixth, Mancroft) took part in a recent England Rugby U18 training camp. George, who is already part of the Leicester Tigers U18 Academy, was selected in a 45-man squad that met in two camps during half term shortly before the national lockdown commenced.

Naturally, the national programme has been limited due to COVID, but as George – who plays centre, and who also started at Langley Prep before journeying to the Senior School – only turned 16 during the summer he was one of the youngest members of the squad and he is hoping for further opportunities in the coming two years.

George said, ‘It was a fantastic opportunity to train and play with some of the best schoolboy players from across the country, and an honour to be included.’

House matches

In the absence of external school fixtures due to Covid-19 restrictions, Langley pupils have played in some highly competitive House fixtures this term. House Football included a league system during a three-week period and then held a finals week. Beauchamp took the Sixth Form title in a dramatic penalty shootout against Crome. With each House winning at least one age group each, the competition was tight but Crome took the overall House Football Cup.

House Netball was equally well contested in a highly competitive league system. St Giles beat Mancroft to top the Year 10 league. Despite Crome’s wins in Year 9 and 6 & 7 groups, the St Giles Girls showed consistency across all age groups. A win for them in the Year 8 competition and a second place in the Year 9 age group saw them secure this year’s House Netball Cup.

In House Touch Rugby it was Mancroft who dominated the junior age groups winning both the Year 6 & 7 and the Year 8 competition. However, Crome’s performances in the Year 9 and 10 age groups, and their result in the Year 11 event, was enough to secure the House Rugby Cup.

House Hockey took on a different format with Mr Field running skills challenges for the girls on the Astroturf. Strong performances from Mia and Emily helped Crome to victory in the senior competition. St Giles won the Year 10 tournament and put in a very dominant display in the Year 9 skills challenge too, with Cara, Lily-Ella and Zoe winning many of the challenges. Aisha and Daisy helped to propel Beauchamp to victory in the Year 8 challenges.

Mixed House intersport challenges

Following the conclusion of the House competitions a number of ‘World Cup’ style formats were played for mixed ability teams in their Year group bubbles, and these stimulated some healthy competition outside of the House system. However, in the lead up to Christmas we have returned the pupils to House teams for our Mixed Intersport House Challenges.

These have consisted of boys and girls in each bubble forming House teams to play a form of Flag-Football on the Astroturf and two different forms of Benchball on the grass pitches and the netball courts. This has allowed us to integrate the House teams more broadly and play some interesting variations of the usual team sports that we offer!