| Youth Reports - 2/3/08 |
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| Written by Andrew Baron | |
| Sunday, 02 March 2008 | |
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Under 17’s National U17 Plate Competition Shelford 22 Westcliff 5 Shelford progressed to the last 16 of the National U17 Plate to face either Saracens or Old Albanians at home on 16th march. Shelford started this match in emphatic fashion scoring two tries in the first ten minutes firstly from Tarren Runham who showed great strength in contact to force his way over the line and then through George Perry who scored from a well worked short line out routine. Tom Ward added the conversion to Perry’s try. With the good start Shelford’s decision to use the strong breeze was vindicated and although Westcliff scored an unconverted try before the break, the key moment of the match came with the sin binning of a Westcliff player just before half time for dissent. Shelford came out for the second half much more aggressive than Westcliff and effectively sealed the game scoring two unconverted tries through Tristan Tegg and Joshua Sutton-Ziaian whilst their opponents were short handed. Shelford were able to close the game out through aggressive defence, never allowing Westcliff time to settle on the ball and launch any sustained attacks. Under 16's Peterborough 14 Shelford 10 Playing with a stiff cross wind, both sides seemed to use the first half to explore the fringes of the breakdown, neither consistently using their backs, as the wind caused knock on after knock on, bringing promising moves to a halt. Shelford edged territory and possession though, with Ryan Kenny and Man of the Match Tom Preston making good breaks. 0-0 at half time. It was the hosts who came out of the blocks at speed, scoring twice in 5 minutes, both converted with the wind now at the Borough backs. Shelford did well to get back to within one score with tries from Dan Reilly, barging over from close in and a solo effort from Alasdair Paterson, shimmying through from 10 metres. The half was disjointed however, with injuries to Shelford's Rory Stone and Ben Cooper and with some feisty disagreements between the packs, Borough had it all to do, defending wave after wave of attacks, but it was not to be for Shelford who went down 14-10. Under 15’s Romford 44 v Shelford 8 This game was won by the team with the most desire. Romford had just been dumped out of the Essex cup by Colchester and wanted to prove to themselves that they were still a good team. Well they proved it to Shelford. Romford flew out the blocks, took it direct to Shelford and exposed our unfamiliar back line. After we were two tries down, we did pull together and got a penalty. This just annoyed Romford so they scored again. We then strung a few phases together and with the luck of the bounce Harry Norman scored. Half-time 22 - 8. Romford increased their work rate after the break, and went forward at every phase of play, even when they didn't have the ball. This gave their more than capable back line plenty of space and they used it to full effect.If we are to get anything from this game it must be about the importance of getting the right mental attitude and using our defence as a form of attack. Like Romford we need to constantly press and make our tackles, and make them beyond the gain line. Under 13's Shelford 38 Harlow 19 Shelford B started the match against the visitors Harlow. Despite Harlow having the bigger pack Shelford started strongly and dominated possession, winning a few scrums against the head. The new half back pairing of Will Glydon and William Laing combined well and kept Harlow on the back foot. James Took and Daniel Elbro made telling runs as Shelford pressed for the first score. Although Harlow started to win their fair share of the ball some strong tackling kept them pinned back in their own half. Despite the pressure Shelford were unable to score in the first period. Shelford then brought on the A team, with a few new debutants, and within a few minutes William Jones had sizzled his way up the wing form just outside his own 22 to score. Shortly after Shelford were awarded a penalty on the 10 metre line and the boys put into practice a new penalty move which Calum Miller executed with his usual style of sweeping everything in his path out of the way. The next try was a contender for try of the season as the ball started near the half way line on the right wing, before it was spread through the hands and recycled quickly out of the tackle. George Knowles then took a great pass on the left wing and made a deep incision into the opposing 22 before being tackled. Michael Dunnett took the ball from the ruck and unselfishly passed out to Tolly Rose who had the easiest of canters over the line. This was quickly followed by a move which saw James Gibson take a flat pass on the half way line and burst through the middle of the defence before being tackled 2 metres short of the line. Support was on hand and Jaime Huffer notched up the try. Calum Miller added his second try and this with 3 conversions from Gibson and 2 from George Knowles made it 33-0. Shelford B took the field for the last period of the game and Harlow lifted their game and came back strongly rattling up 3 quick tries. The Shelford team were not going to lie down though and after a relentless period of time camped on the Harlow line, James Harrison found the crucial gap and forced his way over to wrap up a 38-19 win. Under 12’s Ely 0 Shelford 54 On Sunday we made the short journey north to Ely to face our hosts and Biggleswade. Glorious sunny weather and a firm pitch made excellent conditions for running rugby. Then the weird psychology of the game came into play. The Ely match was no preparation for a tough game against Biggleswade. We were simply too relaxed going into the game. There were some big learning points on Sunday. Firstly easy wins teach you nothing - worse they make you think you can succeed without hard work. Secondly the boys need to impose their game on the opposition and play to their strengths. Still, the unbeaten run continues (just) and we look forward to the visit of Ipswich next week. Under 10's Ely 5 Shelford 20 Harriet Walker 2, Joe Akak, 1, George Franklin 1 Harriet Walker played extremely well for Shelford, scoring two tries in the match against Ely. Biggleswade 35 - 0 Shelford Shelford lost this match to a strong Biggleswade team. Oakley Ray Marnoch played very well in this match andHenry Moore made some good strong tackles against a good Biggleswade team. Under 9’s Game 1: Ely 0 – 40 Shelford Peacocks Tries: Tom Whitehead 3, Ben Frisk 2, Kieran Hatter 2, Garret Shannon 1Ben Frisk kicked off this morning’s tries following Shelford pressure. Better passing was the order of the day which led to Kieran Hatter’s to get our second. Tom Whitehead’s first try came again after a lot of pressure as the ball came out of the back of a rook. Kieran’s second came after receiving a good pass from Ben. Garret Shannon got the 2nd half off to a good start with a try. Ben got his second of the morning after finding a gap in the Ely defence and Tom Whitehead got his 2nd and 3rd tries with good runs into the corners. Game 2: Shelford Tigers 0 – 20 Biggleswade Tough game for the Tigers against Biggleswade. Shelford woke up in the 2nd half with a much better performance Game 3: Ely 0 – 15 Shelford Peacocks Tries: Whitehead 2 & James King 1Shelford were not as not as fluid in this game against Ely but still managed to win with out conceding a try. Our tries came from Tom Whitehead 2 and James King who scored after a powerful run. James played well in all games. Game 4: Ely 10 – 25 Shelford Tigers Tries: Shannon 2, Stan Clarke 1, Erik Bell 1 & Jake Dodds 1Shelford Tigers woke up in this game after a stirring half time team talk from Bill King after going behind by 2 tries to 1. Brian Ashton could learn a thing or two from Bill’s half time talks. Stan Clark scored in the first half. The second half started with a lot of Shelford pressure which paid off for Garret Shannon to push the ball over the line. The third came from Erik Bell who scored with an impressive run, followed by Jake Dodds who again broke through the Ely defence with an excellent run. Both boys thoroughly enjoyed the morning. Shelford’s last try came again after a period of concerted effort which allowed Garret Shannon to grab his second try. Game 5: Shelford Peacocks 15 – 5 Biggleswade Tries: Whitehead 2& Clarke 1Shelford’s first try came from the ever impressive Tom Whitehead who scored as the ball broke from the maul to allow Tom to sprint over the try line. Shelford second came from Stan Clark who scored after a lot of pressure. Our last try came from Tom Whitehead, who ripped through the Biggleswade defence to score an excellent last try of the morning. Overall this was a much better morning for Shelford to play team rugby. The man of the match award went to Stan Clark for his contribution in all games but particularly in the 4th Game where he helped inspire and drive the Shelford Tigers to win in the second half. Under 8’s Game 1: Biggleswade 15 Shelford 15 Although the size of their players looked daunting our boys put up a spirited performance. With solid tagging & some great runs we were unlucky to end up with a draw. If I remember correctly we had two tries down the right hand touchline turned over due to foot infringements !The try scoring in this game was led by Harry Simpson 2 & Hayden McKenzie 1.The defence was led by Harry Simpson with 7 tags, and Daniel Arbide with 6. It was also great to see the defence work of some of the younger players Tom French & Will Stepney with 3 tags each. Game 2: Ely 15 Shelford 10 This was a game that went to the wire especially given that Ely had just thumped Biggleswade by 7 tries to 2, so they were on a role. They had not expected such solid tagging from Shelford as well as quality running from all over the pitch. In this game everyone who playing in both halves got at least one tag so well done to the boys. The try scoring in this game was led by Luke Burnham 1 (5) and Harry Simpson 1 (5). We were very, very unlucky to have potential tries fall short of the line due to spilled ball or other minor infringements. The tag count was led by Luke Burnham with 7 and Daniel Arbide with 6 and a number of boys - Jamie Coates, Tom French and Josh Whitmore each taking 4 tags. This game should have been ours with all the pressure in the 2nd half being on Ely - next time !Game 3: Biggleswade 10 Shelford 30 In a strange way the boys came into their own when they were left to organise themselves. Fluid running with the ball and unselfish passing seemed to be the order of this game. It also appeared to me that the boys wanted to win for each other which was excellent. Tries scored were led by Daniel Arbide 2; with Angus Thomson, Harry Simpson, Luke Burnham and Henry Breeze all scoring 1 try each. The tag count was led by Daniel Arbide with 7 and Henry Breeze with 5; Luke Burnham 4 & Josh Butler 3.The player of the day was Harry Simpson with 4 tries and some solid defence.
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