The 1st XV completed a successful season with the Pembrokeshire Schools Cup Final on Tuesday, April 1, at Narberth RFC. They faced a strong Sir Thomas Picton school, with extra spice added to the fixture with life-long friendships having made during last year's joint school tour to Canada. Also the last game of the season is always an emotional one, due to it being the last school game for the Year 13 students who leave school this summer.

As expected, the game was a cracker with both teams determined to win from the off. The Greenhill pack dominated early on with some strong carrying, powerful tackling and several turnovers, although the STP backline looked dangerous whenever they had the ball in hand.

STP winger Matthew Davies opened the scoring with a solo score in the corner in the first few minutes.

The Greenhill response was immediate with a powerful onslaught on the STP 22m. Greenhill dominated the first half and got on the scoreboard when outside-half Ryan Hill converted a penalty from in front of the posts.

Similar to the first score, STP scored a second try against the run of play, with outside-half Liam Mainwaring crossing to make the score 10-3 after 25 minutes.

Greenhill continued to pressurise the STP defence, with Year 11 players Ryan Jeremias and Tom Lewis comfortably competing with players two years older.

The pressure finally resulted in a try when bulldozing centre Oliver Taylor-Bowen unlocked the STP defence to cross the whitewash and allowed Ryan Hill to convert from under the posts.

The first half ended 10-10, with Greenhill possibly feeling they should have been ahead, having dominated the proceedings, particularly with captain Marcus Read and centre Elliot Williams continuing their impressive seasons.

The STP half-time team talk certainly worked, as the second half was an even affair, with both teams creating try-scoring opportunities.

The impressive crowd were certainly witnessing a great advert for school rugby in Pembrokeshire, with both sides putting on a show of exciting running rugby.

With both sides tiring and both sides defending heroically, the game was still tied coming into the final quarter of the match and it was becoming clear that a single score would determine the cup winner.

That score would go to STP winger Matthew Davies, who crossed in the dying minutes to give STP a 15-10 lead.

The Greenhill response, as expected, was immense, with them bombarding the STP defence with attack after attack. This was unfortunately to no avail and the game ended with STP taking the cup back to Haverfordwest.

The Greenhill performance and effort had been consistent with their season, having had an extremely successful league campaign and a number of 7s outings.

A mentioned must be made of the departing Year 13 players, Tom Prestwich, Peter Lewis, Marcus Read, Ryan Hill, Niall Williams, Oliver Taylor-Bowen, Elliot Williams, Jordan Asparassa, Theo Hughes and Nathan Wilson. The school would like to personally thank them for their seven years of commitment to rugby at Greenhill, with the highlight being their U16 Pembrokeshire Cup win in 2012.

Olympian's visit

Pembrokeshire's first ever Winter Olympian returned to Greenhill School last week. Bruce Tasker, was brake man in the Team GB four-man bobsleigh team that finished fifth in Sochi 2014.

Bruce spent four hours talking to pupils from Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12, also signing autographs and posing for photos with very excited pupils and staff.

The first picture shown by Bruce was his Year 7 school photo; this captured the pupils straightaway. Bruce spoke about his time in Greenhill School, playing football and athletics, progressing through his time at Bath University and how he got involved in bobsleigh.

When talking about his bobsleigh experiences, he talked of the highlights of gaining funding as a result of a top six performance at a world event. He also talked about the less glamorous parts of his day. Taking part in weight sessions outside in -20c conditions as nowhere else to train, and also being the mechanic as they look after their own sled. One of the highlights for the pupils was the video of his crash in Lake Louise.

Greenhill pupils enjoyed seeing photos and videos of his experiences. However, something that came across to all pupils and staff was that Bruce is a humble and grounded gentleman. He gave up his time to return to his former school, and it proved to be truly inspirational. Not only that sporting excellence can be achieved, but that it can be achieved by a nice, polite, hard-working and determined personality. Good luck to Bruce next season, Greenhill School pupils will be supporting him all the way.