Eastern Counties Cup

Under 17’s

Shelford 22 Diss 10

Shelford produced another committed performance in atrocious rugby conditions on Sunday. Shelford won the crucial toss and elected to take the elements of  a strong wind and driving rain. using the elements to their advantage they mixed up their game nicely to eventually engineer a try for George Perry. Diss were however proving to be  worthy opponents in these difficult muddy conditions with their forward orientated game testing Shelford’s fringe defence. this was holding firm and when Shelford got the ball wide to their wingers, Tarren Runham was able to run in two further tries. with half time approaching Diss scored a well earned try that their efforts deserved and this set up the second half nicely. Shelford new they had a monumental defensive task at hand in the second half which was not helped with the loss of abrasive hooker josh musk, however, up stepped under 16 player Josh Pateman, who slotted in seamlessly. The crucial score was to come from George Perry who scythed through the Diss defence, throwing two outrageous dummies to score at the posts. Will Barnes added the conversion to make the game safe despite a late Diss score. 

Under 15’s

Cambridge 24 Shelford 34

Cambridge A 0 Shelford  A 19

On a wet and windy day the opening skirmishes were all about both sides coming to terms with the conditions. Cambridge, with the wind slightly more in their favour did have a good early spell in the Shelford 22 but could not capitalize on this as Shelford’s defence stayed firm. It was then Shelford’s turn to put pressure on the Cambridge line, Cambridge defended well and the score remained 0-0 at half time. Shelford continued where they left off in the first half and mounted continuous breaks through the Cambridge defence and driving relentlessly forward. Shelford started causing mayhem in the Cambridge ranks and it was inevitable that a score would come. A penalty try was awarded as Alex Poirier was taken out and Lewis kicked the conversion. For the rest of the second half Shelford remained in the Cambridge half and scored two more tries from the ever present and alert Sam Till, one of which was converted by Lewis. It was a great team performance with all 21 players involved giving full commitment in defence and attack, non more so than Fergus Snell who had his best game yet. Lewis although relatively new to the role was very composed in a pressure game, in extreme conditions. Shelford should be proud of their performance as they showed great commitment,  they were quick to adapt to the conditions and played with fluency and character.

Cambridge B 24 Shelford B 15

This was always going to be a tough fixture as we have not had two teams for some time and with a number of the team having played half a game already. Cambridge got off to a great start and pegged Shelford back for a lot of the first half scoring  tries though their backs and forwards and gaining an early 17 point lead. Shelford regained their composure and some good continuity got the ball to Max Taylor on the wing, who showed great strength and attacking desire, beating several Cambridge tacklers to score. Cambridge with the wind now fully behind them scored again early in the second half, and it would have been easy for Shelford to drop their heads. Not this team, Attack Attack, once more unto the breach. Shelford created chances but it wasn't the day for silky hands from 60m. Cambridge defence held strong but Shelford gradually got territorial advantage against the wind and after a spell in the 22 Alex Porridge slipped through for a try. Light at the end of the tunnel. More pressure from Shelford, Cambridge began to sweat. From a 5m scrum Shelford front five held firm and Felix did as he had all morning and smashed into the opposition, this time skittling them, before touching down. Unfortunately time was up. Final score 24-15. A great display of team spirit and determination. A comment from one of the Cambridge parents, "Shelford look and play, like a team who are enjoying themselves."

Under 14’s

Shelford 0 Cambridge 12

An extremely competitive & combative performance by Shelford under 14’s made Cambridge scrap for every minute of this game, in conditions that were not conducive to running rugby. The Shelford forwards dealt with Cambridge ’s constant ‘pick & drive’ threat very well with ‘double-up’ tackles at every opportunity. Shelford were also a constant nuisance at the breakdown, making life very difficult for the powerful Cambridge pack. When Cambridge did go wide with the ball, the Shelford backs were also up sharply to close down their counterparts with efficiency. Cambridge probably had the territorial advantage in the first half with some through kicks, but most of their attacking threat was dealt with by a ‘pumped-up’ Shelford XV. The only score of the first half came from Cambridge , as they found a gap around the outside of our defence to take a 5-0 half-time lead. A number of half-time substitutions were made by Shelford, and Cambridge now had a slight advantage with the elements in their favour with a diagonal wind at their backs. Thankfully the rain eased off and made the prospect of running rugby a little easier. The game did open up a little, and Shelford’s competitive edge was still there, particularly up front where the Shelford forwards were winning their fair share of ball to attack with as well. However, an attack down the left-hand side resulted in a second Cambridge try, which was converted to give them a 12-0 lead. Shelford then had their best period of the game, with a series of good drives by the forwards. Joe Sherrington-Scales put in some fine kicks to keep Cambridge pinned back in their half, and from a Cambridge knock-on Connor Denton picked up and looked on his way to score a certain try. Unfortunately the referee didn’t see it with the advantage still in our favour, and called us back for a scrum to Shelford. A try at that stage would have made the last five minutes very interesting. With a little bit more sharpness from the forwards in recycling our own ruck ball, and more depth from the backs in attack, things may have ended up a little differently. Further stout Shelford defending held-up a last Cambridge attack over the line for the final score line to remain at 12-0.This was an excellent performance by all the Shelford squad against a very strong Cambridge team. This was definitely a performance the boys can be mightily proud of, giving the County Champions a good run for their money. A huge step in the right direction, and proof in itself that strong defensive qualities can sometimes turn games in your favour.

Under 13’s

Cambridge 14 Shelford 29

The atrocious weather conditions failed to dampen the enthusiasm in this eagerly awaited contest. Shelford were keen to avenge the county cup defeat and took the game to Cambridge from the kick off. Shelford should have taken the lead inside the first few minutes as Freddy Eggleton did all the hard work beating at least three defenders but the wet ball slipped from his grasp as he went to touch it down under the posts. After 5 minutes, centre George Knowles fainted right and then cut back left on a sweeping arc before racing down the left wing to score. Cambridge mounted there first attack and from a line out their centre broke through the midfield and went under the posts to score a converted try. Shelford then pinned Cambridge back in their own half as they searched for another try. Nick Russell provided the goods as he was the fastest to react to a loose ball just short of the line and was able to ground it on the try line. Eggleton made no mistake a few minutes later as he went clean through the heart of the defence to score under the posts. Kit Goodfellow added the conversion to make it 17-7 at the break. The second half started in the same manner with Shelford looking for the killer score. After a series of driving mauls on the Cambridge line it looked as though the home teams stout defence would hold out the Shelford efforts. However, eventually Shelford did ground the ball and from the bottom of the pile emerged a jubilant Will Glydon with the ball. Goodfellow added the conversion. Cambridge were not going to give up without a fight and came back to score with another converted try within a minute. This temporary blip in concentration was quickly eradicated and Shelford resumed camp in the Cambridge half. The pressure produced a penalty for Shelford on the Cambridge 22 after Cambridge had hands in the ruck. A short penalty was fed to Calum Miller who fended of tacklers before diving over in the corner for the final score and a 29-14 win for Shelford. 

Under 12’s

The team missed the departed Noah Brown on Sunday. This was nothing to do with any particular talent on Noah's behalf - it's just that his name would have been appropriate to the conditions.
A biblical downpour greeted the team on arrival in the depths of rural Suffolk. In team selection terms this played into our hands as we were able to pick normal second row Sam at fly half on the grounds that a) he once caught the ball in the lineout during a slight drizzle and b) he can kick the ball the length of the pitch. This was no place for elfin ball player Charlie, the normal stand off. He's injured anyway, like just about everyone else. We were also able to give debuts to Daniel and Joe . Both tackled bravely and supported well. Next week we may even pick some centres who might give them the ball and this will allow them to experience a further dimension of the beautiful game (i.e. one that doesn't involve standing on the wing in the pouring rain freezing their n*ts off)
Chelmsford 0 Shelford 42
First up were Chelmsford. Our wet weather tactics and team selection worked brilliantly and we were dominant in every area. In particular Liam Calvey was brilliant in the loose ripping the ball off the startled Chelmsford forwards and charging through to gain yards of ground. Chelmsford had no answer to the direct running of centre Stephen Douglas who scored three tries. Harry Hitchcock pounced on a loose ball to bring the tally to four. We even managed a handling movement to put Jack (a prop playing on the wing) over in the corner. Fly half Sam achieved a personal tally of 17 points with a try and 6 conversions. The opposing coach compared him to Jonny Wilkinson - the converted second row admitted to feeling uncomfortable about this. He believes, deep down, that fly half is a position for floppy haired dilettantes, with their reverse scissors moves and sidesteps and cheeky little grubber kicks. And, at the end of the day, who can disagree with that.....

Sudbury 21 Shelford 0
Sadly, against a strong Sudbury team,  our discipline let us down. We went behind to a try that came from a marginal offside decision against us. The backchat from this got us on the wrong side of the referee and thereafter we lost his sympathy. Unforgivably we then let a restart kick bounce near our goal line and Sudbury recovered to score. There was no way back from this, and Sudbury scored a third try after another lecture for our boys from the referee. We finished up on the wrong end of a 21-0 score line. 

Under 11’s

Match 1:- Shelford 0 – Chelmsford 15

The team played well in a close fought match, they held a much bigger and more physical side for most of the game. It is fair to say that but for a couple of unlucky breaks the game could have gone either way. The real positive was the manner in which the team kept at the task and put in a creditable performance.

Match 2:- Shelford 10 – Sudbury 15

This was the proverbial match of two halves. The first half saw the home team of Sudbury race to a lead of 15 – 0; the second half saw the Shelford team raise their game, and run in a couple of tries. The try scorers for Shelford were Conor Sullivan and Max Burgess-Clerke.

Match 3:- Shelford 15 – Chelmsford 5

The teams second match against Chelmsford saw a reverse in fortunes, Shelford put in some ferocious tackles to make the opposition aware that they were up for the game. In pretty atrocious conditions Shelford came away with a much deserved win. Tries were scored by Peter Gordon, Rory McMeekin and Connor Hein-Jones.A big well done and thank-you to all the team on a wet and miserable day, in addition a note of personal thanks from the coaches to all those brave parents who braved the conditions.

Under 10’s

Game 1   Lost - Chelmsford 20 -5 Shelford

A very hard game for Shelford in very wet and cold conditions. Shelford lost the matchwith Ollie Barnes scoring Shelford’s only try.

Game 2   Drew - Sudbury 20 - 20 Shelford

Another hard game against Sudbury at their home ground, with Shelford tries fromReuben Patrick (2 tries), Ollie Barnes (1 try) and a debut try from Troy Twitchett.Troy played exceptionally well in the matches and was easily nominated as'Man of the Match' for Shelford. 

Under 9’s

Game 1: Sudbury A 5 – 15 Shelford Peacocks

Shelford try scorers: Tom Whitehead 2 & Tom Cropper 1Tom Whitehead with another good performance scored 2 tries and Tom Cropper getting 1 to secure the victory.

Game 2: Sudbury B 0 – 30 Shelford Peacocks

Shelford try scorers: Tom Parkes 2, Ryan Lees, Stan Clarke, Tom Cropper and Tom Whitehead with a try eachShelford had another good team performance with tries coming from 5 players. Tom Parkes had one his best performances of the season with 2 very good tries. Tom’s second was very impressive with a good run through many tackles to make it over the try line. This performance earned him Man of the Match.  Our other tries came from Ryan who scored first, followed by Tom Parkes 2 tries, with Stan Clarke getting the 4^th try in the corner. Tom Cropper got the 5^th with a snaking run through the Sudbury defence and our last came from Tom Whitehead with a drive over the line.

Game 3: Chelmsford 10 – 35 Shelford Peacocks

Under 8’s

Shelford Seniors 50 Sudbury 10

Despite teaming rain the boys gave this game their all with excellent running from deep and linkage between the boys. The tries were much harder fought for than in previous weeks, so well done to the team for focusing so well. The try count went as follows Luke Burnham 3; Hayden McKenzie 3; Daniel Arbide 2; Harry Simpson 1; Jamie Coates 1.Tags were difficult to secure in the conditions but on the day the defensive push was great. The tag count was led by Harry Simpson 9 tags - an excellent work rate and Luke Burnham with 6 tags.A great team effort.

Shelford Seniors 25 Chelmsford 30

This was a tough game with players and parents getting frustrated in equal measure. The rain continued to churn up the ground and even the tags gave up with a few try scoring opportunities lost. This week I felt the team had the ability to beat Chelmsford. The first half looked promising with excellent defence and aggressive lines of running by Daniel and Harry. The try count at half time was 3:2 and looked promising for the game. It was unfortunate that some 'very close calls' left the team adrift by the close of play by 1 try. It would have been fitting for the game to have been drawn. The try count was led by Daniel Arbide 2; Josh Butler 1; Harry Simpson 1; Will Stepney 1.Tags were harder to come by in the conditions with Daniel collecting 3 and Jamie Coates 2.

Shelford Developing Players 25 Sudbury 35

From what I can understand this game ran to the wire with both sides contesting for the win in difficult conditions. Henry Breeze stepped up his game both defensively and in attack closely followed by Angus. Equally Josh, Tom, Sam and Harvey had some solid runs with the ball. The final try count was led by Henry Breeze with 2; Aidan Thomas with 2 and Angus Thomson 1.

Shelford Developing Players 20 Chelmsford 20

The boys took some time to get into this game with a number of excellent runs falling short of the line with dropped tags or ball infringements. So the boys were unfortunate to go down 3 tries to 1 at half time. This did not put them off and the team surged back in the second half to pull the game back to a four all draw a great result. Tries were scored by Aidan Thomas with 3 tries & Angus Thomson with 1.Tag count was led by Henry Breeze 5 and Josh Whitmore with 4 tags.Well done to one and all and if wondering who the player of the day was, it goes to Aidan Thomas not only for his willingness to listen during practice but also showing great perception in both of his games as well as in strong support play. 

Under 7’s 

Shelford Dinosaurs 35 Sudbury 30

Shelford Sharks 35 Chelmsford 30

I can only describe this as a stupendous performance played out in extremely difficult conditions. Both Shelford teams, (of equal strength) look on Sudbury, Chelmsford and one red faced chap who had forgotten that it’s about having fun. Ignoring the atrocious weather the Shelford faithful journeyed to Sudbury where their host’s put on an excellent morning’s rugby.  Friendly, welcoming and organised best describes their youth section. The Dinosaurs look on two Sudbury teams both consisting of quick and determined players. The first match was a very close affair as Sudbury took the lead 3 times only for Shelford to claw their way back for a 15 all draw. The 2^nd match saw Shelford fly off the blocks and take a 15 nil lead before Sudbury began to fight back. Things looked very close but a 4^th try sealed the win 20 points to 15.The Sharks also played two Chelmsford sides and in the 1^st match stayed positive in spite of some unnecessarily strict and impatient refereeing. This lead to Shelford’s 1^st and only defeat of the day 10 -15. In the 2^nd match the Sharks rallied and put in one of the best performances of the season to win 20 – 15 and bring the under 7’s overall score to 70 points.Well done to everyone who played and also a big thank you to all the parents who braved the journey & to Sudbury RFC for a very enjoyable day.