This year marked the return of the St Andrew’s Day Wall Game match after a two-year, COVID-enforced hiatus.
The build-up to the fixture was marked by the traditional verbal jousting between both sides, with the Oppidan team declaring that they had perfected ‘total Wall Game,’ prompting College to affirm their readiness for the contest.
Certainly, the atmosphere at the game itself demonstrated the anticipation of the school for this clash, with hundreds of Oppidans raucously cheering on their team, whilst the 70 King’s Scholars performed their time-honoured chants from the sidelines.
The game itself was more fluid than in recent years, although calx was not properly breached until the final minutes of the game. Indeed, neither team was really dominant in the game, with several College offensives repelled by effective clearances from the Oppi Long (Baz H). At the end of the second half, the Oppidans did successfully break away and ran past both the College Fly and Long. By doing so, they were able to bring the ball into calx, raising the spectre of an ‘Oppi’ victory. However, a successful stamp by the College Second Wall (Nick C) and subsequent clearance from the Fly (Louis R) ensured that the game ended with the scoreline of 0-0.
