Posted by Bishop Burton College Sports Department 8th March 2010

Ben Dorrington

College rugby scholar Ben Dorrington scored 2 tries as Yorkshire Under 20s overcame their Cumbrian counterparts by 93-3 in the National Under 20 County Championships at Wharfedale RFC. Ben, who played the full match at open-side flanker, is a first year student on the Sport, Coaching, Development & Fitness degree course. Fellow Bishop Burton students Laurence Pearce and Mark Blenkinsop, were unfortunately ruled out of the game through injury.

The Yorkshire Under 20s complete their league programme against Durham at Malton & Norton RFC on Sunday 14th March at 2.15pm. A victory will see them progress to the knockout stages of the competition.

(l-r Nick Gandy, Director of Sport with Ann Marshall, Regional Development Officer and Peter Hart, Chief Executive, Pentathlon GB)

Bishop Burton College has been named as a Regional Training Centre for Modern Pentathlon and the two organisations – Bishop Burton College and Pentathlon GB, have announced that the College will host a Modern Pentathlon Training Camp at the beginning of August.

The Olympic sport of Modern Pentathlon was first introduced at the 5th Olympiad in Stockholm in 1912 and comprises the contemporary sports of pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding and running.

Peter Hart, the chief executive of Pentathlon GB paid a visit to the College to discuss the plans for creating a regional training centre for modern pentathlon including a training camp this summer.

Mr Hart said: “The College is a fantastic venue for pentathlon training with world-class facilities and we are delighted to work in partnership with Bishop Burton College, the students and community of Yorkshire in focussing our activities at the College.

“We are delighted to use the support we are receiving from Sport England to help us achieve this.”

Ann Marshall the regional development officer for Yorkshire continued: “By organising regular regional training at Bishop Burton College we can bring in world-class coaches for weekend or mid-week sessions and the athletes can train together as pentathletes rather than single-discipline athletes, which will benefit them enormously.  

“The training camp which is planned for the summer will give regular athletes a concentrated opportunity to train in all five sports and will also be open to athletes from other parts of the country.”

Bishop Burton College’s director of sport Nick Gandy said “We have been working together for some time already and it was clear that a partnership would be of great mutual benefit and we are looking forward to working closely with Pentathlon GB and contributing towards Modern Pentathlon’s continued success at future Olympic Games.

 “By establishing these links the athletes will benefit from the College’s fantastic resources and the learners will benefit by seeing the hard work and dedication of these sportsmen and women and perhaps by trying the sport themselves.”

Bishop Burton entertained Reasheath in a Northern Counties match in a reverse of the fixture the previous month. With a few absentees, Luke Duerden, Ben Asquith, Chris Young, Olly Burns and Nick Robinson were called up from the HE team. Bishop Burton started brightly with the front two of Olly Burns and James Webb causing problems at every opportunity possible. It was Webb who opened the scoring after a great through ball by Tom Chippendale. Bishop Burton dominated the opening stages and the back four of Luke Duerden, Ben Asquith, Nathan Bell and Louis Cooper were hardly tested. Dominance started to pay with 3 more goals in the next 20 minutes with strikes from Chippendale, Burns and Webb. Bishop were playing some really good football, a lot of it one and two touches, and the mixture of FE and HE players was really paying dividends. Reaseheath launched their first meaningful attack after half an hour but a good save from Alex Gill kept the score at 4-0. Reaseheath where beginning to argue amongst themselves and Bishop Burton took full advantage of this with 2 more goals in the next five minutes. The first was from the penalty spot, after some good work from Brad Delves down the left was halted by a foul from the Reaseheath full back. James Webb took the resulting penalty to complete his hat trick. The sixth goal was scored by substitute Nick Robinson with his first touch of the ball. He finished a flowing move down the right between Nathan Bell and Jamie Williamson.

The half-time whistle went with Bishop Burton winning 6-0, a score which they truly deserved after a great attacking performance. Although 6-0 up, Manager Mark Frampton challenged his team to play using only one and two touches each and attempting to keep the ball below head height. This allowed the game to stay at a high tempo and stopped players just running with the ball. A few subs were made to freshen up the game and they all put in great performances, especially right back Shaun Robson. The scoring continued with goals from Tom Chippendale, Jamie Williamson, James Webb and two from Olly Burns which made the score 11-0. Reaseheath created their best chance of the game when a mistake from defender Luke Duerden allowed the Reasheath striker to go through one on one with Alex Gill but Gill produced a great save to keep a clean sheet. The remaining 20 minutes produced another 3 goals, the pick of the bunch being from Nathan Bell, who hit a shot on the turn from 20 yards into the bottom corner, his first goal for the college. The final whistle blew with the score at 14-0, a bit of a one-sided game but a confidence boost for the lads. All credit must go to Reaseheath though who never gave in and fought right to the end; their attitude was a credit to their College.    

Bishop Burton College’s rugby academy – the first of its kind in the region – has begun, allowing young sporting talent from across Yorkshire and the Humber to flourish.

The academy, which was the brainchild of College principal Jeanette Dawson and director of sport Nick Gandy, will enable talented young rugby union players to play and train at a high level, while studying for a degree.

Nick Gandy believes the academy addresses a need in the region to retain those young players with the potential to succeed.

He said: “The idea behind the academy is to give gifted young rugby players from the area the chance to grow and develop their game, while progressing academically.

“Traditionally young people with sporting talent have had to leave the area to train and study elsewhere and we feel Bishop Burton College is ideally placed to address this need and stem this flow of talent out of the East Riding.

“With the opening of the College’s new Centre for Sport & Fitness the scholars have access to some of the region’s best sporting and fitness facilities and they are able to study one of our fantastic Higher Education sports courses.

“There are already plans to offer academies in other sporting disciplines such as football and equine because we know Bishop Burton College offers the whole package for any talented young sportsman or woman who wants to achieve.”

The College worked closely with Hull Rugby Union Football Club (RUFC) to perfect the formula for the Academy and the Club will also provide coaching and sports development advice to the Academy scholars.

The club’s Director of Rugby, former Tongan international Tevita Vaikona and head coach and Hull FC captain Lee Radford work closely with all of the scholars during regular training sessions to make sure they consistently meet the high standards set by the College and the club.