Old Elizabethans v Cheltenham North
28th February 2026

After last week’s excellent result for the 1st XV away at Tewkesbury RFC, this week both the 1st XV and the Es Thundercats were back in action - The 1st XV were at home to face Cheltenham North RFC in a league match whilst the Es Thundercats were at Bristol Saracens to play their 2nd XV.

1st XV SQUAD: Greg Foord, Fergus Blyth, Conor McGrath, Ben Charlton, Callum McCarthy, Stefan Perunovic, Herbie Gale, Jakob Harding, Sam Hygate, Monty Nash, Alex CS, Pat Dore, Freddie Williams, Kit Douel, Arthur Mills, Wilf Fitzgibbon, Matt Bailey, Marcus Boxall

MATCH REPORT:
A dry spring day for a change with the sun shining saw Cheltenham North RFC welcomed to Fortress Hallen. Es kicked off facing into the sun. Cheltenham North (hereafter referred to as ‘CN’) got into their stride very early, threatening Es’ defence, but the defence held firm in these early exchanges and a good boot from Monty Nash cleared their lines together with a good break from a lineout by Fergus Blyth and Conor McGrath.

Es then moved into the CN 22 and a good charge down put CN on the back foot, the ball was well recycled by Es and this saw winger Kit Douel pierce the CN defence almost making the try line but was quick thinking enough to pop the ball up, as he was tackled, to his support in the form of Conor McGrath who then had an easy touch down, not converted (5-0).

CN were again quick out of the blocks and had it not been for a good try saving tackle by Arthur Mills would have scored. Jakob Harding then opened up the Es attack and as the ball sped along the threequarters it was left to Alex CS to cross the line for Es the try, converted by Sam Hygate (12-0).

From the restart CN were quickly up to the Es 5m line but a great break by Es, led by Arthur Mills, gave them some short term relief however CN were playing well with some very direct attacking rugby and the pressure soon told with a long pass out to the left wing running in a good try with the conversion kick hitting the post (12-5).

Cheltenham then scored a second within minutes following a good kick through turning Es defence and a good touch down and conversion followed (12-12).

At this stage of the game CN were probably playing the better rugby and they were very nearly in again soon after but Es front row led by Greg Foord were holding their own in the scrums and a good move by Es from their own half, huge territory being made by Kit Douel before the ball landed up in the hands of Alex CS who ran through to score with Sam Hygate adding the extras

Half Time score (Old Elizabethans 19 – 12 Cheltenham North).

Wilf Fitzgibbon on. Despite a good break by Jakob Harding and good ground being made by Arthur Mills Es were not performing to their usual high standards with a number of missed first up tackles and poor passes and they paid the price as CN broke through the middle to score a well deserved try and conversion (19-19)

With CN having their tails up for a moment Es supporters momentarily feared the worst. Indeed, at this point CN continued to be the better team and Es needed to do something to stop them. On came Matt Bailey who vocally then mustered a good response from the forwards whilst personally securing good possession via the Es’ lineouts.

Es needed to play in the CN half and led by Fergus Blyth and Wilf Fitzgibbon Es marched forwards and a good kick from Sam Hygate gave Es the territory. An Es scrum, with the ball won, saw play quickly move to the right wing where Kit Douel skinned his opposite number to go in under the posts for a good Es try and another Sam Hygate conversion (26-19).

On came Marcus Boxall to add further pressure on a well drilled CN defence. Es should then have scored on the left wing but a poor final pass saw the ball float into touch! A kick through from Monty Nash led to a goal line drop out by CN but Es kept up the pressure with Fly Half Monty Nash then threading a good little grubber kick through the CN defence and on rushing Freddie Williams scooped up the ball for an excellent Es try with the 2 extra points secured by Sam Hygate (33-19).

Cheltenham North tried to apply pressure from the restart but a good box kick from Sam Hygate moved Es from 22 to 22 and Es were on the attack again, a good reverse inside pass from Skipper Pat Dore to Marcus Boxall gave him an easy run through for another Es’ try and conversion by Sam Hygate (40-19).

Sam Hygate’s kicking was a good feature of the afternoon and from the restart he produced a good 50/22 again putting Es on the front foot. Once again Matt Bailey leapt like a salmon in the Es lineout before this pressure once again produced points with a well deserved try by Monty Nash and a great conversion kick from Sam Hygate with the final score (47-19) a hard fought but nevertheless good win for Es that put them back into 5th spot in the league.

Travelling support next week to watch the match away vs Bream RFC is very welcome.

FINAL SCORE: Old Elizabethans 47 – 19 Cheltenham North

SCORERS:
Tries: Conor McGrath, Alex CS (2), Kit Douel, Freddie Williams, Marcus Boxall, Monty Nash
Conversions: Sam Hygate (6)

Man of the Match: Kit Douel a continuing threat to the Cheltenham North defence

Bristol Saracens II v OE Thundercats
28th February 2026

THUNDERCATS SQUAD: Andy Adams, Reuben Cookhorn, Tom Brewer, Andrew Barnett, Dan Leach, Archie Walker, Rob Munro, Kiran Shite, Tom Scott-Dempster, Dom Swann, Rob Pereira, Jacob Rawlinson, Jake Perry, Lewis Coates-Johns, Dhruv Bhavsar, Barney Hodge, Ben Barnett, Ben Simmons, Cuan Arnold, James Almond, Wil Paterson, Oli Clapp, Huw Paterson, Ned Sweeney, Luke Jagger, Harry Wiseman

MATCH REPORT:
Unfortunately, I don’t have much detail about this game other than to say it was a cracker by all accounts with a huge squad including many Es’ legends including James Almond, Luke Jagger, Ben Barnett, Ned Sweeney, Ben Simmons and Dom Swann to name but a few - (see the squad photo above), all contributing to a fast running game. Alas Saracens just pipped Es in the end to a final score of (41-33).

Full League Table and Fixture List below

Reports by: Paul ‘Blakey’ Barrington

CLICK for the Old Elizabethans RFC website