Colts

Shelford 5 - 30 Colchester

Shelford Colts got a lesson in committed rugby this Sunday morning with Colchester on a high and Shelford not turning up till it was too late. Straight from the first kick off Shelford did not deal with the ball and from that moment on found themselves on the back foot for the rest of the game. With Shelford struggling, it only took 5 mins for Colchester to score, with some poor attempts at tackling from Shelford, they scored in the corner. Even with Shelford being their own worst enemies it took 20mins for Colchester to score again. Thanks to some of the Shelford boys working hard in defence, 5 minutes later Shelford got into the Colchester 22 for the first time and a well worked line out from the forwards saw Harry Robbins score in the corner which Tom McGinty was unlucky not to convert. Just when you thought Shelford had woken up, Colchester scored again just before the break thanks to some very porous defence from Shelford. Unfortunately, the second half was the same as the first with Colchester being allowed to play well and enjoying their mornings work and Shelford forgetting the basics of the game of passing to hand and tackling. So Colchester managed to score two quick tries in the first ten minutes. At this point Shelford woke up and started to play rugby and started to put some pressure on Colchester. But they got no reward for their efforts but at least spent the last 15 minutes encamped in Colchester’s 22. And with Shelford trying too hard it was only fitting that Colchester got the last score of the day and broke out to score just before the final whistle. 

Under 17’s

Eastern Counties Cup Semi-final

Shelford 18 Wymondham 3

Shelford produced a thoroughly commanding performance in testing conditions to earn a final berth at home against north Walsham on Sunday Feb. 3rd (2 o’clock ko). With all the recent rain, the match was played on a sodden pitch and with a strong wind made for an interesting game of two halves. Shelford lost the toss and were made to play against the elements; however with a good game plan and effective mauling, rucking and ball retention, Wymondham only had scraps of possession to live on. Shelford recorded the first score with a Will Barnes penalty which was cancelled out by a Wymondham penalty following a rare foray into Shelford territory. The defining moments of the match were made immediately before and after half time when firstly Max Johnson scythed through the Wymondham midfield to score under the posts, bizarrely Barnes conversion was spooned wide (half time 8-3) and James Summerscales scored from a well rehearsed short line out. With the game now heavily stacked in Shelford’s favour Wymondham’s numerous indiscretions were penalised with a sin binning of their prop for killing the ball within the five metre area and this effectively ended their challenge, leaving Shelford to round off their well deserved victory with an Adam Hodgkisson try. 

Under 16’s

Cheshunt 0 Shelford 16

Shelford’s 18 travelling players found themselves up against four opponents – Cheshunt, the mud, a strong wind and a 20 degree slope – the last of which was considerably the biggest problem! Shelford’s backs led the way with the two opening tries – Rory Stone and Tom McFadzean finishing well after the depleted pack had made huge inroads into the hosts defence. Despite 7 forwards missing, it was a game that demanded the makeshift pack make every effort to control possession – Thomas Pattison and Dom Rowley played at times as if possessed, leading the Trojan defense to prevent Cheshunt scoring when they played down the slope; however, joint men of the match Ben Cooper and Josh Pateman made great strides forward into the Cheshunt defence, notably up the hill! Rowley had one try disallowed after sliding over like a buffalo descending into it’s favourite mud hole – the ref couldn’t see through all the shifting mud to see if there was a clear grounding – it was Cooper though who scored the final try – no stopping him from a 5m tap and go. 

Under 14’s

Shelford 10 Stamford 33

This was a whole-hearted performance by Shelford against a quality Stamford side which went unbeaten last season, and became Nott’s, Lincs & Derby’s County Champions in the process. Shelford played with the benefit of the wind at their backs in the first half, and Lewis Cracknell’s probing kicks and good chasing put Stamford under a lot of pressure. Alex Flynn then went on a charging run down the right but was well tackled just short of the line, but good support play won the ensuing ruck for Connor Denton to score for a 5-0 lead. Another deep kick from Cracknell saw Toby Poirier quickest to react to the loose ball and burnt off the Stamford defence and gave Shelford a 10-0 lead. Stamford replied with a good try through their dangerous backs just before half-time to reduce the arrears to 10-7. The quick and slick Stamford backs gave the hosts the lead for the first time at 14-10, and despite solid tackling, they scored twice more to make it 26-10. Stamford scored their final try with about 5 minutes of play left to make it 33-10, but in those final minutes Shelford pushed hard for a final try that their efforts deserved. Good off-loads by Sam Porter, Nathan Taylor & Connor Denton kept the ball alive really well for Poirier to nearly sneak a final try, but play was held-up over the Stamford line at the end of the game. Shelford’s efforts today were epitomised by a superb try-saving tackle by Dan Burling late on in the game.

Under 13’s

Shelford A 17 – 0 Woodford A

Having not played Woodford before the visitors wasted no time in letting Shelford know this was not going to be an easy match. Woodford took the game to Shelford stringing together some good phases of rugby as a result of some excellent rucking to recycle the ball. Shelford weathered the early storm started to put together some meaningful attacks of their own. From an infringement on the Woodford 22 it was a route one ball to Callum Miller on the charge that lead to the opening try as he barged over. Almost from the restart Freddie Eggleton took the ball and with an electric turn of pace seemed to glide through the opposition and race under the posts to put some daylight between the teams. Kit Goodfellow added the conversion. It was now Shelford in control of the game as they dominated territory. Ollie Jones was making a real nuisance of himself frequently wining ball at the breakdown. From a scrum inside the Woodford half George Knowles went down the blindside and fed the ball to William Jones who beat his opposite number for pace and touched down in the corner. The second half was a very tight affair and although both teams had their chances there was no further score and Shelford were victorious 17-0, with a huge credit going to the visitors for their contribution to an excellent game of rugby.

Shelford B 5 – 5 Woodford B

Although the teams were different it would be easy to have mistaken this for the previous game, such was the high skill and intensity level. Woodford made the early running with some of their big forwards making the hard yards up the middle before the ball was spun out wide. Shelford were able to thwart the danger and Will Glydon took a quick penalty and fed an emerging front row star, Jack Owen who interchanged passes with debutant James Tooke, before being stopped just short of the line. Woodford opened the scoring when their second row crashed over mid way through the first half. Shelford kept attacking with Calum Huntington and Frank Omandlewis testing the defence. Shelford’s reward came in the second half when the ball was fed down the line to Peter Rees on the right wing, who cut back inside and went over form 15 metres out. The game finished 5-5 which was affair reflection with no team deserving to loose this tight contest.