Prep School
A quieter week for the Prep School, finishing off a short but busy half-term. The Year 5 and 6 girls had a great afternoon of House Netball on Wednesday. With some amazing teamwork and excellent sportsmanship on display, these matches are always fiercely fought but equally a great way of bringing all the girls together with a lot of improved performances due to the girls being more confident with their peers. Well done to Quantocks for winning this part of House Netball but the Years 3 and 4 are yet to come!
The boys played some great home fixtures against West Buckland to end their half-term. Henry scored his first goal for the A team with a very even match.
The u10’s were a little under par but they endeavoured to pass out wide and worked better as a team in the second half of the game.
Senior School
Hockey
1st XI
This performance was a show of desire to win for the 1st XI boys. Queen’s started slow, conceding an early goal. But then continued to respond well with Caspar going straight down into Well’s D to hammer a shot against the post. In a very even first half Wells had the upper hand leading into the break at 3-2. Queen’s defending deep and found Wells on the counterattack twice to send them 4-3 up. In the final few moments, Joel made a vital save against a high drag flick to keep the score at 4-3. Alfie getting his first 2 goals of the season was a highlight, and top performance all around. After the break, we are back again with the University of Bath visiting.
U15 Boys
Queen’s U15s hosted Wells this weekend looking to bounce back from last weekend’s narrow loss. Tempo and intensity set the tone for an early strike on goal following neat midfield play. Queen’s opened the scoring with a well-worked team goal switching the play early and recognising the gap in defence for a sweeping strike under the visiting goalkeeper. With an end-to-end battle requiring both teams’ defence to move the ball quickly, mistakes were looming. Wells kept the pressure on and attacked with Oli making a fine low save before a quick Wells follow-up rattled the posts.
Theo and Tom were instrumental in driving the team forward with Jonny and Luke solid figures at the back quickly moving the ball out of danger. Queen’s made it two-nil just before the break but Wells had the lion’s share of possession and scored with seconds on the clock before halftime (2-1 Queen’s). The second half needed a tactical change and with aerial threats stretching the field of play for Queen’s, a much-needed goal calmed the nerves. Jake played his best game to date moving the ball well into the path of an impressive Oli L and Zac—a brilliant and disciplined performance from Queen’s.
U14A
The boys were quite nervous to play against Wells again after a tough match on Tuesday, but they were up for the challenge. They started the first half very well, taking most of the possession and playing mostly in Wells’ half. We struggled to convert our opportunities in the match, and ended in another draw. Everyone was proud of the fight that we put up, as the boys continued to grow as a group and individuals.
U13 and U12s
This group of players made the journey to Wells on Saturday in what turned out to be a fierce contest. The A team showed glimpses of potential but struggled in the final third, while the U13B team drew 3-3, with a thunderous hat trick from Munesu. The U12B squad put in an exhilarating performance, with Ollie linking the team together and working hard from the centre-mid role. Unfortunately Well’s just pipped them to the post, winning 2-1 with seconds to play. Overall this age has some great potential and will fulfil it if they keep on pushing!
Netball
Vs West Buckland
A resilient performance from the 1st VII, who worked tirelessly throughout the match. Izzy and Emily made countless turnovers in the D but we struggled to maintain possession in the midcourt. Focusing on shorter passes in the second half led to better possession and more goals. A narrow 3rd quarter of 6-8 saw the best netball of the match; closely fought and nice play down the court. Final result 15-39.
A well-contested 2nd VII match against a strong side; with lots of fantastic through-court play. They worked hard and played together right to the final whistle. Final result 19-28
Our 3rd VII were met with challenging conditions at West Buckland where the court as well as the ball proved slippery. It was a physical encounter of stop-start rhythm and required us to be measured in our speed of play and footwork. Queen”s dominated for much of the game, and pursued a bigger lead, but West Buckland countered with turnovers that left us disappointed with our 12-12 draw.
U15
A keenly contested first quarter brought our team together in the battle that was poised at 3-2. The game progressed with West Buckland finding more space and increasing their scoring rate to get away from us. We showed healthy determination to claim loose balls and match their physicality. We had some great passages of play leading to some excellent work in the circle by Charlotte. Evie was particularly busy in our attacking thirds helping us be really competitive and earned her the attacking player of the match. Rebecca picked up defender of the match and was always there for the team in and out of possession. The score finished 19-6 to West Buckland having shared out chances to play in different positions.
U14
The U14As had a difficult match in cold and windy conditions against an aggressive opposition. Good centre-court play from Evvie and some good interceptions in defence. Slippy courts resulted in a few injuries. Final result 5-22
Following on from the A’s, the B’s took the court and showed some pleasing periods of play in very challenging conditions. The rain made the courts quite slippy and the ball hard to handle. Some great interceptions from Lara as GK. Sasha worked well in the centre court. A few too many loose passes. Final result 4-12.
U13
21-6 win by the U13A’s on Saturday. They worked consistently hard throughout the match against a physical opposition. Their ability to put pressure on the opposition allowed them to create turnover opportunities which they worked down the court and took to goal. They focused on slowing down their pace of play, reducing their errors and therefore creating more goal-scoring opportunities. A great match of netball – well done!
The U13B Team were missing some of our defenders meant some of the team had to step up and play out of position but even so they were able to make some excellent interceptions and turnover opportunities. I look forward to continuing to work with the team in training. Hopefully, they will grow in confidence, work on reading the game to know which pass is safe and which is more likely to be intercepted. Final result 2-12
U12
The U12A’s demonstrated some good play through the centre court against a strong side. Good defence from Willow Sherwin and feisty and quick play from Ella Taylor. Final result 02-17Lost 23-0 for the U12B’s against a very strong side ( including some of West Buckland A team). Pixie Payne and Imogen Parker defended intelligently. 0-23
Vs The Castle School
A top-class performance from the U13A Team this week with a strong win against local school The Castle. The girls gave it their all and worked tirelessly for every quarter. Some good passing sequences down the court finished off with excellent shooting from Teniore, India and Mya. The team worked well at not overcrowding the midcourt and made some good decisions to re-set play when necessary. Ella and India led the team well during team talks and were exemplary on the court. Well done on a fantastic 31-11 win.
The U13B and U13C Team took on The Castle school in a triangular tournament on Wednesday afternoon. Both teams enjoyed a light training session first where they focused on their body position when defending, they then had a friendly match against each other to practice their match-play and centre pass sequences.
The Bs played first and secured 3 brilliant goals in the first half. They worked well as a team and made some lovely passing sequences through the court. The 2nd half saw Castle make a slight come-back and the game finished 4-2 to Queen’s. Well done girls!
The Cs took to the court for the first time this term. They learnt a lot and showed excellent improvement throughout the game. Leading 1-nill at half time the girls made some changes and set themselves some targets for the second half. They improved their drives away from opponents and this led to better possession of the ball. The match finished as a 3-3 draw. Well played girls!
U12A
Our U12B came up against a strong club-playing netball population at Castle. We opted to rotate our positions around whilst players continued to find what suited them and with a willingness to share the chance to shoot. Despite many progressions down the court and opportunities under the post, we could not match the converted chances of Castle. The girls enjoyed stemming their flow of goals from 8-0 at half time to 12-0 full time.
The U12C team went from strength to strength during their match against The Castle School on Wednesday. After a wobbly start in the first quarter, the girls then kick-started what was a much improved performance. Their passing and movement off the ball was exciting to watch and this resulted in many well-executed points being scored. Elaine proved to be a formidable force at WA and Isabelle was relentless in her GD position. Well done to the whole team!
Cricket
This term Queen’s hosted the first round of Lady Taverners Indoor Cricket Competition for the U15 and U13 Girls. The event was very competitive and enjoyed by all.
Our U13 Team won the toss and bowled first. Taunton hit 62 in their six overs which is probably just below par since you score 1 for a side wall and 2 for running between the wickets. We took regular wickets to remove 4 batters through two runouts, one bowled and one catch. We also only bowled 3 wides so had started the competition very positively. Eliza led our reply retiring on 16. Charlotte came following a hatrick of wickets to hit two consecutive boundaries, which epitomised the ebs and flow of the 2nd innings. We needed 13 to win off the last over and sadly dot balls won Taunton the game by 5 runs.
We then played King’s Hall in this triangular which was a straight knockout game to see who would go through to the next round. King’s hit 47 in four overs only to get more than double off the final two overs. Chasing 98 after a big finish is hard going, but getting 21 off the first over got us looking hopeful. We finished on 66/2 with four batters making valuable contributions, but it was a chase that could not afford 14 dot balls and sadly our indoor cricket journey in this competition has to end there. Nonetheless, plenty of lessons to take into the season and the 2025 edition to look forward to.
Our U15 team started in the field against Taunton and probably underestimated how effective we were in restricting Taunton to 74/4 with Maz taking a decoy run out, Rebecca keeping the wicket well and our bowlers only conceding 4 wides. Our reply stuttered with 2 early wickets and too many dot balls throughout causing us to fall 30 short.
We also played King’s in this triangular with a chance to go through to the next round. Those hopes were quickly distanced with 3 Kings batters reaching retirement score and our extras count contributing 33 more meant we had to chase 99 to win. Evvie hit 11 at the top of the order and Maz reached retirement score with her 17*, but still dot balls and not running more when we hit the wall stifled our tally that finished 52/5.
Overall Lady Taverners is a great format to put cricketers into match scenarios during the winter. These experiences will hopefully help our appreciation of what it takes to win games with a commitment to the basics where bowling straight, getting the bat on the ball, backing up for positive running and smart fielding all become second nature.
