Match Report
16s win again!
For the second week running, the U16,s overcame mud and tough opposition to record a victory.
20
17
OLD PATS COLTS TRIES 3
OLD PATS COLTS CONVERSIONS 3
OLD PATS COLTS PENALTIES 1
CHOSEN HILL TRIES 3
CHOSEN HILL CONVERSIONS 1
CHOSEN HILL PENALTIES 0
Having lost their opening fixture to today’s opposition, the 16s knew that they were in for a tough day but also that we should and could have come away with the victory last time out.
Winning the toss, Captain Will chose to play uphill first half on a heavy pitch. They were a sizeable bunch too and a big shift was required. With the stentorian encouragement of coaches DP & Geth ringing in their ears we started fast putting pressure on the opposition who were making mistakes.
It was a cold and wet day with freezing fingers and a greasy ball so, understandably, handling errors from both sides were frequent. From one such turnover, Chosen Hill attacked with their strong – carrying game. Initially, our defence was lacking its usual robustness and we fell off a couple of tackles allowing them to score. A good kick and we trailed 0-7.
We are made of stern stuff though and came back strongly, camping in the 22 and forcing a series of penalties. From a tap and go, Will, having been rebuffed by the defence once shipped it wider and James crashed over for a try on debut.
We welcomed new recruit James into the front row but were missing one or two of our other props which meant that, for most of the game, scrums were uncontested. The rest of the game was very contested though with it one try each at the half. Turning downhill though, it very much felt like we could win this as long as the intensity was maintained.
They scored first with another forward-lead attack but we came back once more and Max crashed over from short range allowing Monty to kick the extras. All square at 12-12.
As fatigue set in, more mistakes were inevitable and some frustration crept into the opposition who were being thwarted by our resolute defence and their own mistakes. However, they were still coming hard but our defence held with good tackling from lots of the lads.
It was still a very even contest but Chosen’s indiscipline kept us in the hunt with frequent penalties against them, mostly for high tackling or offside.
We went behind again but some lovely hands and great vision to see the space out wide allowed Monty room to stretch his legs and he crossed for the equalising score. He was unable to convert though.
Time was ticking down and, with only a few minutes left, another penalty, this time right in front of the posts, gave us the option to kick ourselves into the lead. Monty did the honours with a lovely nudge. Could we hold on?
The Intensity of both attack and defence rose towards the final whistle but the boys refused to back down. Will lead from the front putting in multiple hits and the rest of the team followed his example. Finally it was time and still we didn’t buckle. A hotly contested game but we didn’t buckle.
