A TRIO of Cricklade Manor fencers scooped two bronze medals at the British Schools Team Championship in Rickmansworth across three formats.

Schools travelled from as far as Newcastle, Manchester, Cardiff and Norwich for the event, which boasted some of the most talented young fencers the country has to offer.

Cricklade Manor were first tasked with facing Brentford, who were always in command in the early stages.

Trailing by nine hits as Brentford closed in on the win, the Manor pupils pulled off a remarkable comeback to win 45-42 – scoring 14 hits to two in a dramatic three minutes of fencing.

The team went on to beat Wetherby (45-30) and Sussex House B (45-41) before drawing Sussex House A in their quarter final.

Sussex House had little answer to Cricklade’s superior striking as the Wiltshire school made comfortable progress to the semi-final, where they faced Billericay.

While never giving up, Billericay proved too much to handle for Cricklade Manor – eventually falling to defeat.

A seventh placed finish in the foil format followed before the school earned another bronze medal in the sabre competition after only being denied by King Edwards A in their semi-final.

Headmaster Guy Barrett said "Our fencing coach Neil Bromley, works closely with our sports department to help children realise their potential.

“Last weekend's medals are the result of a lot of hard work by the boys and I am thrilled with their success.”

Bromley added: “The boys have done incredibly well at this competition and should be very proud of what they achieved.

“They gelled well as a team and never stopped encouraging each other and offering suggestions of what blade strokes worked against different opponents - teamwork in action in what is usually an individual sporting discipline.”