Under 16’s

Shelford 28 Bury St. Edmunds 5

Shelford won a bad tempered affair against Bury St. Edmunds. A yellow card for each team came as temperatures started to boil over, but on the stroke of half-time a melee ensued and a Bury player saw red for some serious foul play. Shelford started slowly and were counter rucked off the first three breakdowns to concede possession. Bury’s direct ‘pick & drive’ game was their main threat and gained them good field position early on, but good Shelford defence kept our line intact. Shelford responded well to take the ball up field through hands, and Bury conceded a penalty for off-side which Lewis Cracknell slotted for a 3-0 lead. Shelford then started to impose their running style on their opponents and a good passage of play saw Toby Poirier finish off at pace in the corner for an 8-0 lead. A neat kick through by Cracknell for a Bury lineout saw us steal the ball in the ensuing maul, as Sam Porter broke clear for a 13-0 lead at half-time. The second half saw Bury start brightly with a lot of territory for the visitors. They still favoured the ‘pick & drive’ route from the base of the ruck and this eventually became effective as they crossed the line for their one and only score, 13-5. Shelford then upped the tempo of the game with quick ball being secured at the breakdown area with cleaner ball being won by the forwards. Bury encroached a number of times offside as they tried to stem our progress up field, but quick thinking at a tap penalty saw George Teeboon cross the line and restore our 13 point advantage at 18-5. Further Shelford possession saw us give chase from a kick ahead and good pressure from the chase-up on the Bury full back saw us gain a turnover from which the ball was quickly shipped through a number of hands to see Alex Flynn on hand to take the final pass and carve his way over the Bury line for a superb team try, 23-5. We also squandered a couple of clear cut chances to extend our lead further, but a final try by Sam Porter from close range finished the scoring to a feisty affair at 28-5.

Under 15’s

Bury St Edmunds 21 Shelford 45

A rather rusty Shelford U15 squad finally got a game under their belts with a well-contested match played in four twenty minute quarters against Bury St. Edmunds. Shelford started strongest and a sustained period of pressure was rewarded by a try from Hector Finch converted by James Gibson opening the scoring at 0-7. Bury were allowed straight back in to the game, however, as a fumbled restart and poor tackling from Shelford gifted a soft equalising try, and with no further scores, the first period finished level at 7-7.Both sides shuffled their squads for a tight second quarter, but Shelford broke the deadlock after Alistair Kingdon robbed the ball at the back of the Bury lineout and found a stampeding Callum Miller in support, who charged through the Bury defence for a try converted by Gibson to retake the lead at 7-14. Bury had the better of the third quarter scoring two further tries, while Shelford managed to cross the line just once as Frank Omandlewis finished a good handling move with a try in the corner. The third period ended with Bury narrowly leading 21-19. The final quarter saw Shelford break loose as they took advantage of tiring legs in the Bury squad and tries came more freely. Hector Finch and Callum Miller combined well for Miller to score his second try converted by Gibson taking the score to 21-26. Fly-half George Knowles produced a perfectly weighted cross-field kick for winger James Gibson, who beat his opposite man to the touch-down extending the lead to 21-31. Knowles then scored a try of his own as he ghosted through the Bury mid-field to score untouched under the posts. Gibson converted moving the score to 21-38. Hector Finch rounded his morning off the way he had started, driving over the line for Shelford's final try of the day, again converted by Gibson, and the match finished 21-45 in Shelford's favour.

Under 14’s

Shelford 41 Bury 7

The first game since December 12 but the boys showed no signs of rustiness as, an excellent display of pacey running rugby was too much for Bury at Davey Field on Sunday. Conditions were heavy after all of the poor weather but this did not stop Shelford from sticking to the philosophy that rugby is a game of passing and movement to be played at high pace. A couple of stuttering performances before Christmas led to a few tweaks to the normal line up. Sam Jones was moved into the pack on the grounds that he is unfeasibly big to be playing fly half, where he was replaced by Angus Finlayson, who is a more sensible size for a dilettante ball player. The side was bolstered by the return of Stephen Douglas at inside centre. After his lengthy layoff Stephen's centre of gravity is now practically subterranean, making him virtually impossible to tackle. Stephen’s ability to straighten the line was a big factor in the first try. Stephen gave the scoring pass to Sam Jones who, demonstrating a total lack of positional awareness for a second row, appeared on the right wing to slither over the line. Shelford had earlier weathered a storming start by the Bury pack who were aggressive in the loose and well-organised. However the Shelford pack soon got on top in the set piece and good quality ball started to flow. In particular the front row of Callum Pratt, Ryan Brown and Nick Cox had their opposing numbers in trouble at the scrum and won good ball against the head. Excellent handling led to further first half tries for full back James Knoop and winger Rory Hutchinson. All three tries were converted from the right touchline by Knoop, giving Shelford a 21-0 half time lead. The second half saw a devastating display of pacey finishing by right wing Matt McCann. Bury continued to battle well in the forward exchanges but when Shelford won the ball they were able to create overlaps for McCann who outsprinted the cover three times to score in the corner. A further try from replacement fly half Toby Hackett gave Shelford a 41-0 lead as gaps appeared in the tired Bury defence. However our opponents never gave up and finally scored the try they deserved from a quick tap close to the Shelford goal line. The successful conversion was the last kick of the game and it ended 41-7 to Shelford.

Under 12’s

Shelford 80 - 35 Newmarket

Tries: Ollie Barnes 1, Edward Doust 2, Reuben Patricks 3, George Franklin 6  Conversions: Michael Pepper 3, Edward Manning 7  Shelford played well against Newmarket, there were lots of boys at the match so the teams were mixed in each 'quarter' to allow for each boy to have a share of the play & play in different positions, so the score was a good reflection of the boys enthusiasm.

Under 11’s

Shelford 30 – 15 Newmarket

It took Shelford a while to blow away the cobwebs after the prolonged break, they finally woke up and scored 4 tries in quick succession in the first half. The first came from Finn Karsten who made it over in the corner, followed by 2 tries from Tom Cropper after periods of passing play. The next try came from Stan Clark who dived through space to score a try in the corner. A change of players for Newmarket brought them back into the game and they scored 3 tries. Half time. Shelford regained control in the second half to score two more tries. Ryan Deamer got his try after a period of Shelford pressure and Tom Whitehead got our last after a powerful run through the centre.

Shelford 35 – 5 Newmarket

Stronger performance as the team started playing together with the forwards playing as a cohesive unit linking with the backs. The first couple of tries came from the forwards when Garret Shannon made a strong run to score in the centre, followed quickly by a try from Louis Neal. The backs started to get into the game with Tom Parkes leading the way. Tom scored 3 tries on the bounce showing great skill and speed to break through the Newmarket defence again, again and again.  From the restart Lou caught the ball in his own half, ran at speed and powered over the line to score in the corner. Our last try came from Erik Bell who snatched the ball from Newmarket and drove over the line. Tom Parkes tackling, on field position and trio of tries earned him Man of the Match for Shelford this morning.

Under 10’s

Shelford Tigers  20 Newmarket 10

Tries : Tom French 2; Angus Thomson 1; Joe Thompson 1

Highlights were the driving by our forwards, Nicholas in particular, Josh, Joe and Henry was superb, to put Newmarket on the back foot. Combined with some great wrapping up of their forwards by ours stopped any fluidity to their game. Some superb tackling including a very brave dive on a loose ball by Josh Butler to stop their forward rampaging to the line, is what we need from the complete team.   A further two tries, one from Joe Thompson being driven over the line by the forward unit and Angus scoring from a ball that moved for once right down the line. 

Shelford Sharks 10 Newmarket  25

Tries :  Joshua Whitmore 1; Jamie Johnson 1

A special mention for Jamie Johnson; he straightened the line better than anyone today and was rewarded by an excellent solo try. Josh Whitmore showed his pace and experience to also score a great try. A brave  effort by our boys.

Mixed team game Shelford 5 Newmarket 20

Tries :  Angus Thomson 1

Shelford 35 Newmarket 40, Shelford 15 Newmarket 30, Shelford 30 Newmarket 45

After six weeks without rugby it was good to get back on the pitch and both teams played well without too many signs of rustiness.  Although Newmarket won all three matches, Shelford played very well and were undone by some elusive running by the Newmarket speedsters.The first game was a close encounter with Newmarket coming out on top by 40 points to 35.  The Shelford tries came from Joe Davies, George Shannon, Harry Punshon, Charlie Hurd, Joshua Speechley (2) and Ollie French. In the second game a less experienced Shelford team struggled to get their hands on the ball or keep it and finally lost 15-30.  The try scorers for Shelford were William Barnett and Billy Manners (2). The third game was more even encounter but again Newmarket were able to score when the chances came.  Shelford lost 30-45 with tries from Charlie Hurd, Harry Punshon, Joshua Barrett, Nicholas Quinton, William Barnett and Billy Manners. With so many strong performances it was difficult to choose a player of the day but the coaches finally decided to reward Charlie Smale for his overall performance and captaincy in one the matches.