Under 16’s

Ely 3 Shelford 55

As befits the last game of the season – everything Shelford have strived for this season came together as one against an Ely side in impressive form of late. The line outs were solid – clean ball off the top a certainty, the scrummaging was remarkable – 4 against the head, the backs looked like they would score whenever they had the ball- joint men of the match, Dom Rowley and Jack Lines had probably their best game for Shelford all season, as did many others. Shelford made countless line breaks, the first from 2^nd row Chris Love who offloaded superbly to the backs who set up Jonno Swain to go for the corner – caught but staying on his feet, the support arrived soon – over they went for Swain to come up with the ball. Ely replied with a penalty on 10mins, but after that it was all Shelford. A great break from Cameron Fay, again offloading well to Josh Pateman who made hard yards for Ian Morrison to break down the blind and release Will Morrish who again, offloaded well back to the supporting Morrison to score, Ben Wierny converted well. A scrum on the Ely 5m line released a number 8 pick up for George Newnham to set up Tom Preston who crashed through. Jack Lines made it 22-3 at half time with a great burst from 22m out. The second half led to many changes but with real strength in depth now a hallmark of the squad, Shelford scored 33 unanswered points. Josh Pateman typified the dominance with a great catch and return, slicing through Ely from all of 45m out. Not to be outdone in his last game for Shelford before moving onto Northampton Saints, Lines out sprinted everyone from 50m to finish off under the posts, Wierny converted. A solid lineout ball led to Shelford’s next score which saw a sparkling running line from Cameron Fay to out pace the defence. Wierny converted once more, as he did the next after Lines earned his hatrick going blind towards the end. Newnham rounded things off crabbing left into the corner after his trademark pick up and go from a dominant scrum.

Under 15’s

Shelford 17 Ely 14

A ragged end of season performance by Shelford saw them scrape to victory against Ely. Shelford had an extremely poor first half. The Ely team had a larger pack with some pace with their backs. Shelford players were missing tackles, misdirecting their passes and allowing the visitors an enormous amount of space. Ely were soon able to take full control of the game opening the scoring after 10 minutes. The Ely full back put over the conversion virtually from the touchline. A further ten minutes later the Shelford backs were once again exposed with a second score which was also successfully converted. It was only then the Shelford players showed any aggression with Luke Whale urging his team to battle hard. The second half saw a complete change in the game. Right from the off Shelford led the charge into the Ely half. Although Shelford were seeing more of the ball and rucking well – time and time again the passing was going awry with knocks on and dropped balls common.  A number of penalty decisions were given close to the Ely line but time and time again the Shelford forwards were thwarted in their attempts to go for the line. Sam Norcross eventually scored after forcing a breach through the Ely defence. Lewis Cooper saw his excellent conversion sail over the posts to make the score 7-14. Shelford continued to pile on the pressure pushing Ely back into their own half. Errors were still being made although the home side’s passing was improving. Fergus Snell scored his first try of the season from the scrum half position with a well run dive for the line in the corner. Lewis Cooper was not able to convert from an extremely difficult angle. The home supporters were urging the home side on and with the referee consulting his watch Sam Till scored the decisive try 2 minutes from time, winning the game 17-14.

Under 13’s

Shelford 39 Ely 5

Ely opened the game strongly using their big pack to make it difficult for Shelford to get any sort of rhythm. However, Shelford started to dominate as their speed in attack and teamwork started to find the holes in the Ely defence. Will Jones scored the first as he combined pace with power to break through three tackles to touch down. Another scintillating try from Freddie Eggleton and a dynamic charge from Calum Miller stretched the Shelford lead further. Just before the end of the first period Hector Finch could not believe his luck as he took a tap penalty from 15 metres out and headed straight for the Ely pack which seemed to part and let him go over the try line without being tackled. A conversion each from George Knowles and James Gibson gave Shelford a24-0 lead. Both teams made wholesale changes and it was Shelford that struck first as Rhys Roberts, playing his first match at scrum half, broke down the left and fed a low pass out to Frank Omandlewis, who took the ball off his toes and raced over to score. Ely hit back with a try of the their own and started to create chances but Shelfords' defence held firm to make it 29-5. The final third looked like being a no scoring affair until the electrifying Mr Eggleton took to the pitch and rounded of his season with two more mesmerising runs to notch up his second and third tries of the match and give Shelford a 39-5 victory.