Under 16's

Shelford 48 Sudbury 42
 
Yet another serious injury to a Shelford player blighted this game when Shelford were in a dominant position. To see Sam Perry knocked senseless after making a tackle and being completely ‘out of it’ for a good five minutes was not nice to see for any of the coaches, parents and players from either team. Thankfully Sam is slowly recovering from his concussion and we all wish him well. Sam had been playing ‘out of his skin’ up until that point with his usual talismanic approach, but his absence and injury affected Shelford’s performance after that greatly.
 
A dominant first half performance by Shelford saw them stamp their authority on the game from the off and played controlled rugby through the forwards and set the ball through a number of phases before the ball was put wide on the left wing for Toby Poirier to out run the covering defence. A superb touchline conversion by Lewis Cracknell from his ‘wrong side’ saw Shelford open the scoring at 7-0. Sudbury responded well as they gave notice of how dangerous their backs could be with any possession as their outside centre carved through our defence to score under the posts and converted for a 7-7 score line.
 
Shelford re-established their authority very quickly as strong running by James Clare and some astute kicking by Lewis Cracknell pinned Sudbury back in their half. James Clare’s strong run took him over the try-line for a 12-7 lead, which was quickly followed by neat play by Louis Boulter from the back of an attacking scrum as he drew the final defender to put Toby Poirier in again, 17-7. James Clare’s pace and power was a constant concern to the opposition as he again went over the whitewash, converted by Cracknell for a 24-7 lead. Toby Poirier completed a fine first half hat-trick again converted by Cracknell, 31-7 before another great run by Clare saw him stopped well by the Sudbury full back before off-loading to Bob Thomas-Mathieson who in turn off-loaded to Sam Perry to score a fine team try, again converted by Cracknell for an emphatic half-time lead of 38-7.
 
Soon after the break Perry’s injury seemed to really affect Shelford mentally as they became hesitant at the breakdown giving Sudbury the opportunity to get on the front foot with a host of possession. Sudbury’s confidence grew with ‘ball-in-hand’ as they started to run hard from all areas of the pitch, but Shelford were not helping themselves as a number of wild off-loads out of the tackle coughed up some perfect opportunities for Sudbury to run against a disorganised defence. A couple of Sudbury scores quickly followed to bring the score back to 38-21 and we had a game on our hands.
 
Good pressure on Sudbury possession deep in their half saw James Clare’s tackle on his opposite number saw him spill the ball and Josh Till reacted quickest to pick up and dive over from only a couple of metres out, converted by Cracknell 45-21. A kick ahead by Sudbury was dealt poorly by the Shelford defence with nobody taking control of the loose ball. The ball was gratefully picked up by Sudbury for a clear run-in under the posts for a 45-28 score line.
 
Shelford responded and went up field and won a penalty for a Sudbury player being off-side. Although this penalty was between the half-way line and the 10 metre line, Lewis Cracknell coolly slotted it to calm some Shelford nerves at 48-28. A further run from deep by Sudbury saw some hapless Shelford defending for a converted score and yet more poor ball retention by Shelford gifted more turnover ball for Sudbury and against a disorganised defence ran through with great pace to set up a nail-biting conclusion at 48-42.
 
Shelford’s nerve did hold out as they finished the game close to the Sudbury line, with Cracknell unfortunate to see a drop-goal effort rebound off the upright. Without Perry’s game-turning injury it would have been interesting to see if Shelford would have ‘kicked-on’ from their first half performance, but very well played to Sudbury especially their backs and their ‘never say die’ attitude. Not good for the heart though!

Under 15's

Shelford 27 Sudbury 7

Sudbury U15s arrived at Shelford on Sunday determined to put on a better show than when these two sides last met and they were soundly beaten 54-5. Their focus and commitment was justifiably rewarded when they took full advantage of a kick-through as a Shelford move broke down in mid-field and scored a well taken try under the posts that was converted to take a 0-7 lead. Shelford continued to have the majority of possession and territory, but time and again were frustrated as the ball was dropped in try scoring positions. The Sudbury defence held firm until a strong drive by Hector Finch set up a try for Callum Millar and the first half finished 5-7 with the visitors enjoying a deserved lead.
Shelford upped their game for the second half and the pace of Will Jones proved too much for Sudbury as he scored two quick tries in succession, unfortunately sustaining an injury scoring the second that ended his morning. With Shelford now leading 17-7, Sudbury were given little opportunity to get back into the game and Shelford stretched their lead with a try by Danny Pedlar taking the score to 22-7. Slick handling in the backs then created room for Charlie Kelly to score an excellent try and the game ended Shelford 27, Sudbury 7.

Under 14's

Sudbury 14 Shelford 48

Try scorers: James Knoop (3), George Smith, Rory Hutchinson, Rew George, Ollie Walker, Toby Hackett

Conversions: Rory Hutchinson (3), James Knoop

A beautiful sunny day and a firm pitch made for wonderful conditions for running rugby. Both teams were below full strength - Sudbury still recovering from a bruising encounter with land of the giants Colchester and Shelford down to 16 fit players.

After having slogged their way through a cold wet winter Shelford played as if they were delighted to have the sun on their backs. When the conversion of the 4th try went over there were only 16 minutes gone. The score was already 26-0. Sudbury then came back into the game and the teams swapped converted tries in the remainder of the half to leave the half time score 33-7.

The perfect conditions brought out the best in centre James Knoop whose pace and strength brought him 2 tries. Wingers George Smith and Rew George scored tries after flowing passing moves. Finally centre Rory Hutchinson burst through to add the last Shelford try of the half. Hutchinson kicked three conversions and Knoop one.

Sudbury had been shellshocked by the pace and handling shown by Shelford in the first half. However they came out with renewed vigour in the second half and a burst down the touchline by their powerful flanker was only halted by an astonishing Hutchinson tackle.

It was inevitable that Shelford would not be able to keep up the intensity after the brilliance of the first half. However further tries were scored by Knoop, after an interception, fly half Toby Hackett from a skillful offload by second row Sam Jones and flanker Ollie Walker, again after a handling movement involving backs and forwards.

Sudbury kept going bravely and gained reward for their hardwork with the final try of the match. When the conversion went over they had salvaged respectability. The final score was 48-14 to Shelford.

It was a great performance by a Shelford side missing its usual skipper and two Eastern Counties players, plus a host of other regulars. The Sudbury supporters were heard urging greater intensity in contact from their players - but they seemed to be missing the point. The ball spent minimal time in contact situations.. The game at its best is about width, movement, pace, handling and intelligent exploitation of space. It was brilliant to see the Shelford team demonstrating these attributes so wonderfully well.

Under 12's

Shelford 35 - 28 Peterborough
 
Shelford scorers:  Henry Moore, George Franklin, Ollie Perry, Ollie Barnes, Charlie Moss
 
All conversions by Michael Pepper
 
The match against Peterborough was a very close, tight game and Shelford played well as a Team.
Some very good tackling by Henry Moore and Charlie Moss and Simon Tyte had a good debut as a hooker for the team.

Under 10's

Tigers 25 Peterborough 0
 
After an excellent warm up with Nick; Steve and Jamie the boys were up for playing a team that has recorded no defeats outside of competitions. Both sets of forwards gave little ground with Josh; Henry; Nicholas and Joe playing some excellent driving rugby in the first half, to clear the way for Jamie Coates and the backs to open up their defence. This was a game where the forwards had no choice but to face up to some very rough and tough encounters - this they all did to their credit. Intelligent play by Joe Thompson resulted in a well deserved try ,through opening up the blind side following an excellent drive by the forward unit.
 
The willingness of our back line to both defend and open up opposition was superb. So much ball was recycled from both ruck play and in contact - possibly one of the teams best performances, by way of back play linkage. Some of the tackling was shuddering in its impact and there were memorable moments of , Harry Simpson; Sam Hurd; Tom French; Angus Thomson and Will Stepney all stepping up to the plate and dropping players well before the try line. Our willingness to try moves is also paying off with Jamie Coates looking on a number of occasions to open up space between scrum half and fly half to make some excellent ground. It was on the back of a strong team effort and support that Angus Thomson; Harry Simpson; Tom French and Sam Hurd all ran in tries in the first half.
 
The second half turned into a game of attrition, Peterborough seemed to come out fired up and wanting to score. Its fair to say that no other team has pegged us back for so long in a half, as this one. Both sets of forwards spent considerable time wresting for the ball - rather than driving through and over the player with the ball ( an area we need to work on ). Inevitably fatigue was setting in and all credit to our forwards for giving everything in the scrum and winning most of the set piece work. Our defence that we so often take for granted, was outstanding with all the backs doing some excellent work with Jamie Johnson putting in some excellent driving runs in this half which almost got us through their final line of defence.
 
At the whistle both sides were exhausted, having given it all.

 
Sharks 5 Peterborough 10 
 
 
With only 4 developing players Peterborough largely fielded many of their senior players in support. This was to prove yet another broosing encounter with some exceptional tackling and defencive play by Shelford. The close quarter work was dominated by Peterborough yet when Harvey Redfern and Daniel Hoole set their minds to retrieving the ball from a maul, they inevitably came back with the ball to feed Aiden and our back line. Alistair Graham threw the ball in with precision and more often than not we won the duel in the air. One area we still need to focus on is the driving support of any player ( back or forward ) with the ball. At times players were isolated and dully jumped on by a rampant Peterborough team.
 
It was through one of these driving moves  with players in support that Harvey scored a well worked try - from a pick up and drive situation. Aidan Thomas continues to develop those snipping runs in and around the scrum offloading well to Julian Renwick and Findlay Thompson, whose was always alert to Peterborough breaks and pulled them down with exocet precision on at least two try scoring occasions. Both Max Benton and Max Murphy both had tough jobs defending against a strong Peterborough back line but importantly they got stuck in. A nice back line move saw the ball bring Oscar into play, with a nice run down the side line. Towards the end of the game Josh Butler and Harry Simpson joined the fray and their sturdy and combative style of play, helped keep a  hard working Peterborough unit at bay.All credit to every boy in the Sharks team - you contained through brave tackling and some sound attacks a very capable Peterborough unit.