It’s tight at the top as festive break nears
With both senior Team Bath Buccaneers sides on their Christmas break, the men’s attentions turn to the Super 6s Championship which will be held in Manchester between January 7-29.
During the near month-long tournament, Buccs will face the likes of Ashmoor, Brooklands, Canterbury, Ipswich, Loughborough, Oxted and West Herts before the Men’s Hockey League returns in earnest on February 4.
Meanwhile, in the West Area competitions, Buccs’ men’s second side played out a 2-2 draw at home to Clifton Robinsons 2nd in the Premier Division. Despite dropping two points, Buccs actually close to within two points of leaders Cheltenham who suffered defeat at Whitchurch.
In Division One North, Buccs 3rd were 5-2 winners at Leominster to also close to within points of leaders University of Bristol 2nd following their draw. City of Bath are four points further behind in fifth following their 4-1 victory at Cheltenham 2nd.
Buccs 4th edged past hosts Cirencester in a seven-goal thriller in Division Two East to narrowly maintain their unbeaten start to the season and stay top of the division by a point.
The derby in Saxon Division One saw Buccs 7th beat bottom side City of Bath 3rd 2-0. They remain three places and seven points behind the fifth side who dispatched Chippenham 3rd 4-1. Leaders Corsham made it nine wins from nine with a 6-3 success at North Wilts to extend their advantage to five points. City of Bath 2nd edged a five-goal thriller at Royal Wootton Bassett 2nd.
Keynsham enjoyed a 13-0 thrashing of Bristol Firebrands 3rd to maintain their two point lead at the top of Concorde Division One. Buccs 6th are nine points back in fourth, beating visitors Mendip 2nd 5-0. Buccs 8th were beaten 3-1 at home to Marlborough in Saxon Division Two, enabling Marlborough to stay a point ahead of fourth-place Keynsham 2nd who were 7-0 winners at Swindon 4th. Corsham 2nd drew 1-1 at home to second-place West Wilts 2nd.
In the Women’s Leagues, Buccs 2nd were 3-1 winners at University of Bristol to stay four points behind unbeaten leaders Clifton Robinsons 2nd ahead of their final fixture of 2022 this weekend. The third team won 3-0 at home to Yate in Division One North and move up to fourth.
Corsham are now four points behind Division Two East leaders Clifton Robinsons 4th after they were held to a 2-2 draw by Marlborough. Keynsham stay a point behind after they too played out a 1-1 draw with bottom side Mendip.
In Whitehorse Division One, Corsham 2nd suffered a 3-0 defeat at West Wilts. Unbeaten leaders Buccs 4th were 6-0 winners at Swindon 2nd, while the fifth side edged past visitors Chippenham 2nd 2-1. City of Bath remain four points off the leaders after their 6-1 win at home to Royal Wootton Bassett 2nd.
Keynsham 2nd were edged out in a five-goal thriller by visitors Nailsea in Brunel Division One. Whitehorse Division Two leaders Buccs 6th’s perfect start to the season came to end as they were held to a goalless draw at North Wilts 3rd. They remain unbeaten and actually stay nine points clear after Corsham 3rd drew 1-1 at Devizes 2nd. City of Bath 2nd were beaten 2-1 at Marlborough 2nd.
In Berkeley Division Three, Keynsham 3rd were thrashed 9-0 at home to Wootton-under-edge 3rd.
ROYAL High School Bath student Ruby Butterfield was among the 53 players named for the under16 England boys’ and girls’ hockey squads for the 2022/23 season.
A total of 26 boys and 27 girls have been selected after being named in observation squads in September and/or having attended a series of camps and assessment dates over the last few months.
Year 11 student Ruby will not only be in with the best possible chance to play again for her country, she will also be participating regularly in a high performance environment through training days or training camps throughout the season. Ruby, who is first choice goalkeeper for her school, also plays for the Team Bath Buccaneers second side.
She said: ““It was amazing to see my name among the list of players selected. I really couldn’t be happier. It feels great to be selected for a second year and I can’t wait to see where this season will take me.”
Director of sport Miss Baber added: “We are all so proud and delighted for Ruby. It is a massive honour to be chosen to represent your country and she thoroughly deserves this opportunity. We know how incredibly hard she has worked on and off the pitch to be the best she can be – her diligence to completing her programme around all her other commitments is impressive.
“She has used her experience of performance hockey to be a leader, guiding and helping the team to be as successful as it can be. We could not be more pleased for her and hope she and her family feel rightly proud of her success.”