Teamwork, Tenacity and Fencing Success
RGS Worcester recently hosted a Fencing match against King’s School Worcester in Cobham Hall, with pupils competing across three pistes in an afternoon of impressive Fencing and excellent sportsmanship. King’s School brought a team of five fencers, which was just short of three full teams. One RGS pupil kindly offered to be part of a joint team with one of the King’s fencers, leaving their remaining four fencers to fence in two teams of two.
On piste one, the match between the joint team and the RGS team ended in victory for the joint team, with a showcase of excellent moves throughout. Although Rananjay Pathania and Michael Clarke (both Year Seven) were fencing older opponents, they showed great tenacity, with the joint team taking the match 20-7.
On piste two, the team of Emily de Bono, Sam Booth (both Year Nine) and Noah Morgan (Year Eight) had a closer match, with the lead going back and forth across the six bouts. Emily, a GB Under 17 international fencer who is used to turning around a deficit in the final bout, found herself starting with a lead and closed out the match comfortably, securing the win 30-25. Issy Pottinger, also experienced on the Under 17 and Under 20 international circuit, refereed and had a professional presence on piste.
The match on piste three experienced a number of technical challenges. Thankfully, the referee was Henry de Bono, who drew on his experience on the international Under 23 and Under 17 circuit to solve issues ranging from incorrect sword and wire matching, to The King’s School team accidentally almost using an oversized Épée. King’s went ahead in the first bout, but Harold Nash (Year Seven) then fought back in the next two bouts to give RGS the lead, before Alfie Diment (Year Eight) closed out the match with the team winning 20-14.
Overall, RGS won both of the competitive matches, while a pair containing an RGS pupil also won the joint ceremonial match, completing a very successful afternoon for the School.
The best part was seeing other members of the RGS Fencing community, who were not in the teams, acting as ambassadors for the School, looking after visitors and kindly sampling the excellent food provided by the Catering Department, which may well have been the highlight for some!
As always, the match was fought in an excellent spirit and greatly enjoyed by all of the Fencers.
Dr P Ehlers, Senior Teacher and Fencing Coach, with contributions from Henry de Bono and Issy Pottinger
