IN near perfect conditions, the Mount House First XV and Second XII started the rugby season with two wins over their opponents from Shebbear College.

Mount House dominated the First XV match from the start, with early tries from William Partington, Ralph Lopes and skipper Wilf Hadow. As the boys grew in confidence, the forwards took control in the loose releasing excellent ball for the backs. The half time score of 39-0 was just rewards for their efforts.

After the break, Shebbear competed far more successfully for scrum and lineout ball, but were unable to turn this improvement into points. Mount House continued to show a high level of skill, running in 12 tries in total through Partington (4), Hadow (3), Lopes, Will Stone, Oscar Norris, Jeremy Newman and Max Hayward, for a winning score of 72-0, and a promising start to the season.

In the Second XII clash, Mount House started the match strongly and took advantage of greater possession and territory by scoring 3 early tries — through George Stubbs, Ed Fitzgerald and Henry Ridgers. The home team's defence was very strong, holding their line and closing the opposition down as a team, so that Shebbear only broke through once to score in the first half. Further tries from Brodie Summerfield and Harry Guy gave Mount House a lead of 27 – 7 at the break. Shebbear started strongly in the second half and as the discipline and organisation that Mount House had shown earlier in the game began to waver, they found more gaps and scored two converted tries, to narrow the score to 27-21.

However, Mount House regained their focus and with some strong rucking and mauling from the forwards and set up a late try for Ridgers to secure a 32-21 win.