SHIPLAKE COLLEGE ran out comfortable winners in their first ever fixture away to Latymer Upper School.

From the first whistle Shiplake’s basics were in place. The scrum was solid and the line out immaculate with Nick Arbuckle reacting and leaping to grab opposition ball.

Early superiority was reflected on the scoreboard with Piers Chen, Alex Collis and Tom Howe all scoring within the first 20 minutes.

Whenever Laytmer threatened, Shiplake’s well-organised defence performed well ensuring that the visitors kept a clean sheet.

As soon as the ball was regained the Shiplake backs were running great support lines and creating havoc. Riley managed the game well from fly-half and Tom Howe, recently selected for the England U18 squad, was the main beneficiary as he crossed the line on four occasions.


The pick of Howe’s four tries came from a dummy switch pop which gave him the space for a 50 metres sprint to the line. Nick Arbuckle rounded off Shiplake’s scoring with a 40 metre sprint for the line which set Riley up for his seventh conversion of the day.

Published 29/10/12