| Youth Reports - 14/3/10 |
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| Written by Andrew Baron | |
| Sunday, 14 March 2010 | |
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(Youth/mini reports will appear here as they are sent in) Under 14’s Shelford 39 Cambridge 29 Shelford tries: Ben Bishop (3), Rory Hutchinson (2), Sam Jones, Toby Hackett Conversions: Rory Hutchinson (2) Shelford edged ahead of rivals Cambridge in a breathless local derby. Both sides were decimated by injury, illness and County call-ups so the game was reduced to 12-a-side. The reduced numbers, firm pitch and positive attitude shown by both teams led to a feast of running and passing. In the first half, Cambridge played all the rugby. They moved onto the ball quickly and played with pace. Shelford gave the big Cambridge No8 far too much space and time and let him run the game. Far too many first up tackles were missed and simple passes dropped. As a result Shelford were hanging on desperately at half time, having conceded 4 tries. Two scrambled tries by No 8 Ben Bishop kept Shelford in touch with the visitors, but a half time score of 22-10 to Cambridge had the spectators fearing a humiliation on home turf by the men in red and yellow. However, not for the first time this season, there was a remarkable second half turnaround. The change in attitude was epitomised by a barrelling run by hooker Nick Cox. Catching a restart Nick powered along the touchline with no tacklers able to get close to him. He was eventually bundled into touch inside the 22 but Nick's determination seemed to galvanise the whole team. In particular the pack upped their game, with loosehead Craig Stalker disrupting the opponents set piece and Josh Butterworth and Liam Calvey prominent in the loose. A close range Sam Jones try, converted by Rory Hutchinson, brought Shelford back to five points behind. Cambridge responded quickly to restore their 12 point advantage. The force was now with Shelford though and a hatrick try for Bishop plus a score in the corner by fullback Hutchinson made the score 29-27 to Cambridge. Could Shelford complete the comeback? To complete delirium on the touchline, Shelford engineered an opening for fly half Toby Hackett with a marvellous flowing passing move. Shelford had their noses in front. Cambridge were spent now and another fluent passing move created a second try for Hutchinson. He converted his own try to make the final score 39-29 to Shelford.It was an excellent game played in great spirit - full credit to Cambridge for travelling with a weakened squad so that the boys could have a game and for trying to play a running game which contributed so much to the spectacle.
Under 11’s Cambridge 10 – 40 Shelford Try Scorers: Tom Whitehead 2, Finn Karsten 2, Ben Frisk 2, Stan Clark & Tom Cropper On a wonderful sunny morning Shelford played their first game in many weeks, we got off to our normal slow start and were soon behind by 2 tries. Shelford eventually managed to apply some pressure and were rewarded when Stan Clark went over in the corner. The second half proved more fruitful with 7 tries, our first of the second half came from Ben Frisk who went over in the corner, followed by Finn Karsten through the centre, next try came from Tom Cropper, and Finn got his second try. Shelford were now dominate and went onto to score 3 more tries, the next came from a forward push when Bradley Goss was stopped just short of the line, the ball came out to Tom Whitehead who drove over the line to score his first of the morning. Tom quickly followed up with his second through the centre. Our last came from Ben Frisk, after a great exchange of passes between Ben and Finn, finished with Ben going over in the corner. Cambridge 10 – 15 Shelford Try Scorers: Tom Whitehead Erik Bell & Tom Cropper Shelford started the second game in the same way as the first by going behind by 2 tries, who said we didn’t like a challenge; we soon fought back with our first coming from Tom Whitehead after a determined run through the centre of the Cambridge defence. Our second came from Erik Bell after a period of pressure with a dive into the corner and last from Tom Cropper who weaved his way to score with the last play of game and secure the win.
Under 10’s Today's play by our boys reminds me of the film (and poem) called Invictus ( where the outsiders South Africa defeated one of the strongest new Zealand teams ever assembled in 1995 World Cup ). The attitude of all our boys is captured within one verse of the poem - " In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeoning of chance, my head is bloody, but unbowed". Every one of our squad wanted to win today and win they did - congratulations to them all after such an extended break from competitive rugby. The game was divided into 4 quarters of 15 minutes. Having had so many matches cancelled since Christmas, everyone had great anticipation at playing this local derby, and we managed to turn out 2 full teams. For the first time there were even some whispered concerns from some of the boys, perhaps we had not sprung from the mighty loins of Zeus on Mount Olympus and may actually have a defeat in the offing. We did not expect an easy match and the Cambridge reputation continues to grow, but my, how our boys were up for the challenge! 1st & 2nd quarters: Cambridge 5 - Shelford 15 The first two quarters saw the dominance of Shelford established through some awesome work from the Fantastic Four…. Breeze, Budenberg, Butler and Thompson began to inflict the sort of grinding forward play that leaves the opposition praying for the breaks to come. On the back of this, Shelford’s trusty “wall of steel “that is the back line were able to stop all but one attack dead in its tracks. Crunching tackles from Tom “Boom Boom” French and the rock solid Sam Hurd allowed the rest of the line to flourish with some great ball to hand coming from the base of the scrum from both Jamie Coates and Angus Thomson. Once again the team was whipped forward by today’s captain Harry Simpson, leading by example and being a constant thorn in the side of the Cambridge team. We were also treated to many great ground making runs from both Jamie Johnson and Will Stepney. Eventually Tom French’s tenacity was rewarded with him going over for our first try which opened the gates to the forwards, with Henry Breeze and Joe Thompson bursting over for much deserved tries. The end of the first two quarters saw the team comfortable and controlling the play, rarely leaving the Cambridge half. If the referee had not been so “exacting” we could possibly been going in at half time many more tries on the board having grounded the ball many times but been denied. 3rd & 4th quarters: Cambridge 5 Shelford 20 Wonderfully, as we had dominated so convincingly after the first half, the coaching team were delighted to be asked by Cambridge to play again 10 minutes after the end of the first match. The boys scented a comfortable victory and soon settled in for some text book play. Once again the forwards played brilliantly, pushing Cambridge back and playing powerfully in any breakdown. Henry Breeze added to his tally with another try and was unlucky that the referee disallowed 2 tries. The boys once again started to stretch their legs with the forwards and backs keeping the Cambridge team pinned back in their own half. Angus Thomson grew into his position at scrum half after Jamie Coates sustained an unfortunate injury that kept him out of the last two quarters. Under the gentle and caring encouragement of the coaching staff Angus was able to bustle over for two well deserved tries. Shelford’s tally was completed by the ubiquitous Harry Simpson after another hard working performance. All the boys should be highly pleased with themselves, after such a long lay-off it is a testament to each of them that they didn’t just come out and win but improved as a unit and played some very grown up rugby. There are still areas to improve on but they supported each other really well and this was at the core of their victory today. A handful of extra apples in their nosebags tonight I feel parents, as thanks for their hard work today.......... Stuart Hall is 204 ! Developing players: 1st & 2nd quarters: Cambridge 0 Shelford 20; 3rd & 4th quarter Cambridge 5 Shelford 15. Scanning the opposition it was easy to think that we would be in for a tough morning. From the start our boys were up for it with Aidan Thomas holding the captaincy for the first time this season and leading from the front in both games. The first 2 quarters were characterised by excellent driving runs with the ball in hand most notably by Daniel Hoole and Harvey Redfern - it was from close quarter driving play that both boys scored excellent tries. Alistair Graham, Joshua Alexander, Max Murphy and Max Benton all fairly new to the game played with considerable spirit - Disrupting and intercepting Cambridge lose ball and putting in some useful defensive work. Findlay Thompson started to show his considerable pace in this half often outstripping Cambridge through the centre. Aiden Thomas continues to fine tune his skills at scrum half - opening up space and finding gaps to continually turn their defence. Aiden’s efforts were justly rewarded with an excellent try, running through most of the opposition. Julian Renwick and Joshua Whitmore showed their maturity through marshalling the line and finding many gaps to dart through - Joshua Whitmore was unlucky to be denied try scoring opportunities within inches of the line. Julian Renwick capitalised on his eventful morning with a great solo try and some splendid cover tackling that saved us on a number of occasions. In the second game all the boys felt upbeat after a healthy first game victory. This did not stop Cambridge from coming back at us hard and eventually driving out wide for a well deserved try. This forced our boys to focus and the defence improved with Daniel Hoole, Alistair and Harvey driving many players off the ball in the ruck. Julian did an excellent job in helping our boys align in the game, this helped Max Benton, Findlay Thompson both Joshua’s and Max Benton defend our position. The evasive running skills of both Aidan and Findlay eventually led to both boys breaching Cambridge defence and scoring great tries; two for Findlay and one for Aidan. I was especially pleased with young players such as Max Murphy and Joshua Alexander putting in some great tackles against some sizable boys. All credit to the boys from Cambridge RFC as they played all games in great spirit, despite being down in all games. Their behaviour was a credit to their club as was the attitude and approach to today from our boys a credit to Shelford and our parents.
Under 7’s Shelford A 30 Cambridge A 35 Shelford A 35 Cambridge A 30 Shelford B 15 Cambridge B 30 Shelford B 25 Cambridge B 20 Aggregate score: Shelford 105 Cambridge 115 The U7s played their last match, also against Cambridge, on 13th February so it has been more than a month since they had a competitive game. So it was all the more pleasing that both U7 teams played so well in this four-match series, both winning one and losing one of their games. The Shelford ‘A’ team competed well in their first game but were a little slow to get started and only really put in their best in the second half. The first game ended in a 35-30 win to Cambridge ‘A’ with the Shelford tries coming from Toby Owers, Joshua Speechley (2), William Barnett, Charlie Hurd and Harry Punshon. The second ‘A’ team game was another very close encounter with both sides putting together a series of strong runs and it was pleasing to see how close support was available so often after the tag. This time it was Shelford’s turn to come out on top with a 35-30 win. The try scorers were Harry Punshon, Ben Knight (2), Joshua Speechley (3) and Charlie Hurd. Like the ‘A’ team, the ‘B’ team was a little slow to get started and only really got going in their second match. The first game resulted in a 30-15 win to Cambridge, with the Shelford tries coming from Stuart White (2) and Ben Hancock. Shelford played much better in the second match, scoring a last gasp try to win 25-20. The try scorers were Ben Hancock (3) and Toby Owers (2). With so many outstanding performances it was difficult to pick the players of the day. Joshua Speechley and Ben Hancock both scored hatricks and Ben Knight put in a couple dazzling runs, but for their overall performances the players of the day were Charlie Hurd and Stuart White.
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