After a year’s hiatus, the annual rugby fixture between King William’s College and Castle Rushen High School returned recently and the players served up a classic.

The awful conditions meant free-flowing rugby was mostly out of the question, but both teams showed huge amounts of toughness and skill to put on a show for the large crowd who braved the wind and rain.

CRHS started with the strong wind behind them but were slow to get into the game, making a number of handling errors in possession. KWC started brightly and were able to string phases together and get into good attacking positions.

Sustained pressure at scrum and maul paid dividends for KWC as they went 5-0 up, but an excellent try in the corner from Jack Wallis after good work from Tom Collister squared things up at 5-5.

The KWC forwards continued to make good ground and win penalties, their pressure resulting in another unconverted try to go in at half-time 10-5 up and leaving CRHS with a mammoth task trying to get ahead playing into the wind after the interval.

The second half produced some excellent back-and-forth rugby which is a real credit to the players who were braving foul conditions.

KWC’s tight game was still bearing fruit and they scored another try to go 15-5 up and leave a long road back for CRHS.

Instead of ending the game as a contest, the score spurred the sky blues on who started to open up a little more. They began making inroads through the tireless carrying of Tom Collister and an injection of energy from half-time substitutes Fin Corrin and Scott Mason.

A period of pressure resulted in fly-half Julian Wilson getting over the line from close range and closing the gap to five points at 15-10.

Castle Rushen came straight back from the kick-off and were looking the fresher of the two sides, gaining more momentum and control as the game wore on.

More strong carrying and quick ball got CRHS back into the KWC 22 and, despite some excellent defensive work, Wilson got over the try line again and managed to stay on his feet long enough to make it a couple of metres closer to the posts.

These extra metres were absolutely vital as his own conversion attempt crept over the crossbar and made it 15-17 to Castle Rushen with less than 10 minutes to go.

Both teams emptied their tanks in this period but CRHS were able to control the ball and manage the last period well, taking the victory for the second consecutive time and writing another new chapter in the history of this great game.

Thanks go to all players involved, the referee, the staff who put the work in behind the scenes and the spectators who make it such an incredible occasion. Julian Wilson was named the Castle Rushen man of the match.