Merton Rugby Report 2025
'After a gutting loss in the Iffley bowl final last year, the combined might of Merton, Mansfield, Corpus Christi, Somerville, St. Catherine’s, Regents’ Park, and Linacre stormed to spectacular victory over Keble this Trinity term. Merton College, represented by Eddie Bolland and Ben Hayes, put in splendid shots and carries for the full eighty to take home the plate against Keble.
It was a long road to the sunny May 10 celebration under the posts. Still sore from the double casualties of last year’s defeat and the graduation of star scrum-half Myles Kelly the year before, the boys nevertheless marched to an unexpected victory in the first match of Michaelmas, a friendly against future plate rival Keble. Joined for the first time by the gamechanging talents of Leeds native Bolland, a seasoned veteran of University Rugby League, the squad took home a win after an early two-try setback. This early boost was followed by bloody glory over St Peter’s in the rain and mud of the Merton sports ground to conclude a solid first term.
Hilary would prove more difficult. CCSMM was knocked out of contention for the cup by a girthy squad of Teddy Hall’s finest, nonwithstanding the growing Rugby League skills of Hayes and Bolland both, the proud American having honed his craft alongside the seasoned second-row with University victories against Brunel, Brighton, and the Tabs. Licking their wounds, the boys nevertheless continued the push towards the Iffley plate under the direction of Merton neighbor and Corpus captain Freddie Spence, who through unprecedented recruitment efforts signed on a squad twenty strong to meet the challenges of Trinity.
Bolstered by these developments, the boys braved the scorching English sun to put up a crushing six tries against Balliol-Hertford in the dusty semifinal at University Parks. Not a week later, the crowds gathered at Iffley to watch what loyal fans of Merton rugby know was certain to be a brutal rematch: the plate final against Keble. The pitch was a battlefield from the start—spectacular broken noses, savage scrums, and fury increased to repeated yellow-card heights. CCSMM inched forward with a series of hard-won tries, but it was not until Mansfield prop Victor Angelov’s historic breakaway try that the stubborn Keble squad, watching the man of the match bound across the pitch unhindered, were finally broken in spirit. Victory at Iffley had been won.
Triumph secured, the team paused to capture it for posterity in full view of the Bannister track. It was an apt sight for a victory so resounding it might well be compared to that record-breaking run which Roger’s fellow Mertonians of today serendipitously followed seventy-one years and four days later.
As Bolland and Hayes enter their third year, Merton rugby continues in studly glory. 2026 could be, for the first time in the college’s storied history, the year of the cup.
Proudly,
Ben Hayes (2023)
Merton Rugby Captain 2024-2025'
