Repton Win The Black Cup For The First Time

02/12/25: For the second time in two years the Richard Black Cup in association with Advanta Wealth has a new name on the trophy after Repton emerged on top at the end of a terrific day of Fives at Eton on Sunday.

This year's competition saw six teams fighting it out in a round robin league system; sadly last year's winners the Old Salopians were unable to defend their title due to player unavailability, with the Salopian challenge this year led by a talented Shrewsbury School team. They were joined by former champions and perennial challengers North Oxford, a Team Westway side who suffered from multiple pre-tournament withdrawals leaving them with only two pairs, an inexperienced Cambridge University team, a combined Ipswch/Oxford University team and the Repton side, a mixture of current pupils, recent leavers and their coach, multiple national champion Karen Hird. 

The Ipswich/Oxford combo only stretched to five players, which meant they had to borrow a spare player from Shrewsbury for each round. This meant that both they and Westway were conceding one pair each time they played and while both sides were very competitive and had some excellent matches and some notable wins, it was always going to be difficult for them to sustain a title challenge. Repton had suffered a late setback of their own, with Abi Butcher having to be drafted in as a late replacement for the ill former Repton Club player Zoe Wheale, making their pre-tournament favourites tag a little more shaky.

Once the dust had settled and the final line-ups were fixed, the action on court got underway. There were some fascinating match-ups across the board, with the top four players in the women's game spread around four different teams - Karen with Repton, Emily Scoones for North Oxford, Charlotta Cooley for Ipswich/Oxford and Ashley Lumbard for Westway. All of them had good support with the likes of Harry Asquith (North Oxford), Lizzie Ware & Kristiana Smilovska (Westway), Lorenza Valensise (Ipswich/Oxford) and a rotating cast of young Reptonians - the strength in depth of their squad a portent of things to come - all performing well at the top of the order and with the very promising Shrewsbury first pair of Sienna Earles & Millie Parry also in the mix, the first pair matches produced some fantastic Fives throughout the day. There were plenty of tight battles further down the order, too, with both Oxford & Cambridge bringing complete novices to get their first experience of competitive Fives, the Shrewsbury girls showing that the Shropshire talent production line is working as well as ever and plenty of others giving their best for their teams.

Team competitions are generally won by a combination of top order firepower and strength in depth and it quickly became apparent that Repton, North Oxford and Shrewsbury would be the teams battling it out for the overall win. A couple of dropped pairs against other teams meant that a 2-1 win for Shrewsbury against North Oxford wasn't quite enough to keep them in contention going into the last round, which saw North Oxford and Repton taking each other on in what was effectively therefore a winner takes all clash. Emily & Harry struck first for North Oxford, defeating Karen & Abi to make it five wins out of five for them at first pair, but Repton's youngsters have been building and improving year on year since first playing in this competition back in 2022 and this was their chance to shine. The current school pair of Bri Hansen-Hoare & Meghna Rajan took charge at second pair, playing a dynamic and precise game that was too much for Olivia Prankerd Smith & Mandie Barnes. A third school player in BeBe Stannard was playing with OR Claudia Tate at third pair and their game against ex-Oxford students Grace Day & Sophie Clifford-King started quite cagily, with the score taking a while to reach 3-3 and neither pair really able to impose themselves. The game then switched gear suddenly, though, as a couple of good hands of cut returns set the Repton pair on their way and as their confidence grew, they quickly began to dominate, racing away to the win that confirmed their victory.

This was a well-deserved triumph for the Repton team, who played with great quality and determination all day, while also playing the game the way it should be played, with enjoyment and good sportsmanship, all of which is a great credit to their coaching team of Karen Hird & David Exley. Could this be the start of a period of dominance in the competition similar to the ones seen in the past from Highgate and North Oxford (under the captaincy of a certain K.Hird...)? Or will the Salopians or North Oxford be able to regather their forces next year? Or the talented crop of players at Ipswich come through and "do a Repton"? Or maybe Shrewsbury School will finally get their hands on the cup? Or Westway will manage to get all of their best players in the country, uninjured and on court at the same time? Only time will tell, but the Richard Black Cup continues to cement its position as one of the best, most open and most fun competitions of the season and we look forward to seeing what next year's edition will bring.

Our thanks go to Eton for hosting the competition, to Advanta Wealth for their sponsorship, to Richard Black for providing and Krystyna Vargas for presenting the trophies and prizes and to Andy Barnard, Karen Hird, David Exley, Natalie Lilienthal, Anna Fitzpatrick, Charlotta Cooley, Rachel McCormack and others for their efforts in getting people to play and putting teams together.

1. Repton 13 points

2. North Oxford 11 points

3. Shrewsbury 10 points

=4. Ipswich/Oxford Uni 4 points

=4. Team Westway 4 points

6. Cambridge University 2 points

Round One

North Oxford beat Ipswich/Oxford Uni 3-0 (15-2, 15-4, 15-3*); Shrewsbury beat Cambridge University 3-0 (15-0, 15-1, 15-0); Repton beat Team Westway 3-0 (15-10, 15-0, w/o)

Round Two

Repton beat Cambridge University 3-0 (15-5, 15-0, 15-1); North Oxford beat Team Westway 3-0 (15-3, 15-0, w/o); Shrewsbury beat Ipswich/Oxford Uni 2-1 (14-15, 15-13, 15-0*)

Round Three

North Oxford beat Cambridge University 3-0 (15-6, 15-4, 15-2); Repton beat Shrewsbury 2-1 (15-4, 15-4, 8-15); Ipswich/Oxford Uni drew with Team Westway 1-1 (15-9, 10-15, not played)

Round Four

Team Westway beat Cambridge University 2-1 (15-0, 15-8, w/o); Repton beat Ipswich/Oxford Uni 3-0 (15-7, 15-11, 15-7*); Shrewsbury beat North Oxford 2-1 (3-15, 15-13, 15-10)

Round Five

Ipswich/Oxford Uni beat Cambridge University 2-1 (15-7, 15-1, 15-2*); Repton beat North Oxford 2-1 (4-15, 15-6, 15-3); Shrewsbury beat Team Westway 2-1 (5-15, 15-0, w/o)

*ineligible player