Sports

Rugby

Once again it was the time of the year where the formidably slick seven descended onto the hallowed turf of Gilfillan to dominate the inter-house rugby competition. Our third place overall is not, however, a fair reflection of our results as we were one of two unbeaten teams in the competition, only losing out on points difference to Falcon. This is easily explained as the Falcon lads were fighting for their first trophy of the year whereas we were more relaxed, already having six in the bag.  The games were played in good spirit and we can be thankful for having “the spin twins” (Guy Alexander and Emil Schwarz) bulking up the Ellis front row. With Bryce on the wing and Craig playing prop, it was no wonder that the Ellis team never annihilated all opposition in its path, but as someone so justly put it, “we’ve got to give other houses a chance somewhere.”  So from the matrics of the Great Ellis, gook luck next year boys, bring home the trophy.

Jonothan Gilbert

Water Polo

The Ellis house boys participated in the Inter-House competition but alas, we only achieved 6^th position and that is because our boys had given their all the night before and we’d won the Inter-House relay gala. The Water Polo season had been a success, with regards to Michaelhouse only winning one game on weekend of the 8^th, so well done to the Ellis house boys who played.

 - Gregory Lowndes

Cricket

After winning the Inter-House Cricket last year and just losing in a bowl off the year before, our goal was to take the trophy again this year. Our talented team consisted of: Stuart Rayner, Jonathan Gilbert, Simon Ellis, Garth Harding, Nick Platt, James Groom, Guy Alexander, Shane Fainsinger, Mike Alexander, Adam Scott and the captain, Nick Rowlinson.

Our first round as a bye, being that we were the top seed, as a team.

On what was a fantastic day, everything went according to plan. We beat Falcon House which propelled us into the final against Newnham House. Thanks here go to the magnificent batting of Shane Fainsinger and tight bowling from everyone involved.

The final was an exciting, big-hitting game, with another great innings from Shane Fainsinger, and some huge hitting from Guy Alexander, James Groom and Adam Scott. Thanks to that, we managed to post a very reasonable total of 153 off 16 overs: a rate of 9.56 runs/over.

Our bowling, once again, proved to be our strong point, and although there were some excellent efforts from the Newnham team, they could not reach our total, as they needed 48 runs in the final over.

Well done to everyone who played in the matches, and to all the cheers we got from the proud Ellis supporters.

 - Nick Rowlinson

Swimming

Compared to former years, and in any case at all, Ellis had an absolutely monumental swimming season in 2008. We managed to pip favourites Mckenzie by, what seems to my min, a considerable amount of points! They usually win because they actually put their good swimmers in... But we pulled finger this year and we went out to win, and win we did.

We also managed a very respectable 2nd place in the Championship gala, even though winners Lucas managed to wangle getting a new swimming god in the form of Rubin Cloete. In the opens and u17 divisions Ellis dominated, winning the open 100m freestyle, the open 100 backstroke and 2nd in the open 100 breastroke. We could have had a 1-2 finish in the backstroke, but unfortunately I was disqualified, rightly so though, and so Bryce took the top spot. He also managed to net the Senior Victor Lodorum cup as well.

All in all, I think the house came together to swim well, and although the relay gala was nearing nightmare-level as a result of some last-minute strict enforcement of rules, we managed to adhere to the rules and win. "How's that for a slice of fried gold?" - Shaun of the Dead.

Granted we could not have done it without the full backing from the house, and I do believe that we led the way in starting the war-cries on the night, which were... slightly disputed by the teachers. Congrats boys, you've got heart.

 - Adrian Hinds

Summary

Ellis house is proud to house some of the schools finest sportsmen but now the tennis, swimming, basket ball and cricket seasons have come to a close. We reflect on some of the achievements of the boys. We are proud to have the captain of the Hilton tennis team with Tim Stewart and Shaun Parkes also part of the first team, the team has had a great season and with the help of the Ellis players managed to beat Kearsney for the first time in 14 years, they finished the season undefeated. Greg Morris was also selected for the u15 midlands team. Cricket: many of the boys play cricket we house a number of A team players, Nick Rowlinson captaining the first XI. We have three other players in the team they are Stuart Rayner, Jonathan Gilbert and Nathan Roberts. The first team had a great season beating sides like Maritzburg College in which Nathan took an impressive seven wickets. Swimming: Bryce Perrett captained the schools team with Frankie Maritz Stephan Maritz and Adrian Hinds making the midlands team.