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Under 15's Shelford 34 Cambridge 12 
Shelford under 15s maintained their 100% record this season with a good win against Cambridge.
As always, this was a keenly anticipated encounter with local honour at stake, and was a closely fought game.
Shelford started brightly, pressing the Cambridge try line. Cambridge responded in kind and the home team put in a good stint of defending before returning the ball to the attacking half of the field. The deadlock was broken by David Pugh at No.8 who picked up from the base of a scrum and charged through to get the first points. The game continued to be fairly even, with Connor Hein-Jones adding to the points close to half-time with a darting run through on the left wing to make the score 10-0.
The home team raised their game in the second half. The defence continued to be very strong, the forwards worked effectively and there were some very good passing moves from the backs. Conor Sullivan took the first points of the second half, twisting through to touch down in the right hand corner, and converted his own try. Charlie Knott, making his debut for Shelford, added to the score from the wing, followed by a try from Ben Thomas. With 10 minutes to go, Shelford were ahead by 27-0. Cambridge then had a late revival with two quick tries and one conversion. The Shelford boys responded well with direct running, strong passing and good support play to get the final points of the game with a second try for Connor Hein-Jones and a conversion kicked by Peter Gordon.
This was a good performance by the team, with all players putting in a lot of effort and keeping a good structure. There are still aspects of the game to work on, including discipline, decision-making and greater precision in passing and offloading. But it was a good day at the Davey Field for the under 15s. Under 14's Shelford 55 Huntingdon 5
Try scorers for Shelford: Aiden Slack 3, Ben Jonhson 3, George Franklin 1, Ben Harper 1, Ollie Barnes 1 Conversions: Ben Johnson 4, Michael Pepper 1 For much of the first half, Shelford were very sloppy and disorganised. The second half showed a big improvement, playing a much better passing game and showing more effort. The man of the match was Aiden Slack for Shelford. Under 13's Shelford 34 Huntingdon 29 Pitch was dry, weather unusually warm, Huntingdon had some very large and fast players. Game was fast and both backlines, produced some good runs. Shelford had great confidence and commitment, which grew as game progressed. Some phenomenal commitment, by the team backs and forwards, which overcame many hurdles, mainly big and fast opposition. Special mention:- Tom Whitehead (3) , Lui Neal (1) , Miles Brown (2) who scored tries , conversions Tom Whitehead (2) Excellent defensive kicking by Ryan Lui’s try from Shelford’s 22 Miles Brown, a scoring dive in the corner
Under 12's Shelford 28 Huntingdon 0 Another superb effort by the boys to beat County Cup finalist Huntingdon 28 – 0. New player Oscar Jones ran strongly all morning and made a nuisance of himself all over the pitch. Our other new player Harry Alderson made a try saving tackle on one of the few occasions that Huntingdon threatened to score. Again strong running from Sam Hurd resulted in the first try, Sam also adding the conversion. The breakdown started to go Shelford’s way, with good work from Ben Williams, Joe Thompson and Daniel Hoole. A break from Jamie Coates lead to the second try, this time from Archie Davison. The conversion added by Jamie Coates. A real understanding seems to be developing in the backs, with excellent interplay between Angus Thomson, Sam Hurd, Tom French and Will Stepney. It was Tom and Sam that broke through, and a very unselfish pass to Will for the next score.  Tom French  Nick Bundenburg Under 11's Aggregate Score:- Shelford 45 Huntingdon 29 Shelford U11 selected two evenly matched teams called Shelford A and Shelford B due to lack of imagination J Shelford A 19 Huntingdon 17 In a very close fought match both sides played well, with flowing running rugby. Offensively Shelford play was excellent with good passing, solid team work and well deserved tries from Will and Pym. Alex converted two out of the three tries with accurate kicking. Defensively however, Shelford was weaker, letting strong Huntingdon players run right through them due to missed tackles. After the match, the boys agreed this was an area to work on and indeed they did just that for the next match. Shelford B 5 Huntingdon 0 Shelford B’s match was very different in nature, though again the rugby was excellent and both sides were well matched. Defensively both teams put in a really strong performance, with some wonderful tackling from a number of Shelford players. Despite excellent defence from Huntingdon, eventually Shelford broke through and Josh Hurd, a new player who we welcomed this week, earned a well deserved try. A really great game to watch. Shelford A 21 Huntingdon 0 In this second match for Shelford A, the team continued its excellent offensive play but this time backed it up with some really good defensive play too. Much better tackling, real team work and tries by Will, Pym and Conrad (all converted by Alex) produced a really good result. What was noticeable here was unselfish play with players passing rather than trying to run through by themselves and as a result Huntingdon really struggled to respond. Shelford B 0 Huntingdon 12 In this final match Huntingdon came out fighting and put in an extremely good performance, particularly given how tired their boys must have been (with just one team). Shelford B let too many players run through them, missing the tackles at a few critical points. The offensive play was not as organised and as a result Huntingdon managed to hang on to their lead. All in all a good day’s play from all, with real commitment and much better concentration from all the players and as we found last year, Shelford teams do seem to do much better with longer matches rather than the quick tournament ones. Under 10's Match 1: Shelford 30 Hunts 20 Match 2 : Shelford 25 Hunts 10 Match 3 : Shelford 10 Hunts 5 Match 4 : Shelford 15 Hunts 0 Well played everyone who attended on Sunday. All the kids put in lots of effort to come away with a well-deserved clean sweep. Hunts had some very good players in their team and caused plenty of problems early on in each match. Although we took a while to get going we finished each game strongly and our intensity increased as the games went on. Everyone played their part but I must make a mention to all the forwards who scrimmaged with real determination and by the last two matches won nearly 100% of all scrums, great effort boys! Scoring tries is the icing on the cake but we cannot score unless we have the ball in good positions, so winning your opposition’s scrum is a huge advantaged Another mention must go to the great defensive efforts of the squad and a number of outstanding individual try saving tackles. Defence wins matches and our boys can all be very pleased with their progress so far Tacklers of the day: Toby Smart, George Whisken and Sammy Seymour Players of the Day: Ben Cross and Tommy Simms Under 9's Shelford Vikings 5 (Try: Ben Barker) Huntingdon 15 Shelford Dragons 25 (Tries: William Gelling, Joshua Speechley (2), Charlie Hurd, Seb Clatworthy) Huntingdon 5 Shelford ‘B’ 15 (Tries: Arthur Waddington, Conor Caughtry, Tom Hogarth) Huntingdon ‘B’ 15 Shelford ‘A’ 30 (Tries: Joe Davies (2), Ethan Karpuk (2), Charlie Hurd (2)) Huntingdon ‘A’ 0 Aggregate score: Shelford 75 Huntingdon 35 In their first home fixture of the season Shelford U9s entertained Huntingdon at the Davey Field in perfect rugby playing conditions. In the first of four matches Shelford Vikings struggled against a Huntingdon side that ran straighter lines and was more aggressive at the breakdown. Huntingdon ran in three tries before Ben Barker crossed for a consolation score for Shelford. Huntingdon deserved their 15 – 5 victory. In the second game Shelford Dragons put in a much stronger performance and this time it was the home team that was more direct and repeatedly put pressure on the Huntingdon line. William Gelling opened the scoring for Shelford with an opportunistic touch down before Joshua Speechley scored twice. Charlie Hurd and Seb Clatworthy scored one more each in a 25 – 5 victory for Shelford. In the third game the Shelford and Huntingdon ‘B’ teams met in a close encounter. Shelford had a stronger first half and took the lead but Huntingdon came back stronger in the second half. The final score was a 15 – 15 draw with the Shelford tries coming from Arthur Waddington, Conor Caughtry and Tom Hogarth. The fourth game of the day brought together the Shelford and Huntingdon ‘A’ teams. Shelford put in their strongest performance of the day which ended in a convincing 30 – 0 victory, with Joe Davies, Ethan Karpuk and Charlie Hurd running in two tries each. With 2 wins, 1 draw and a loss in their four games Shelford had an aggregate victory of 75 – 35 over their visitors from Huntingdon. Ethan Karpuk, for his strong running and committed tackling, and William Gelling, for his aggression and ball-stealing at the ruck and maul, were awarded the player of the day awards. Under 8's Match 1 - Shelford 45 Huntingdon 30 Match 2 - Shelford 25 Huntingdon 20 Match 3 - Shelford 25 Huntingdon 25 Normally the team take a while to get into gear but in a fast paced first match Shelford came out of the blocks quickly scoring five first half tries – with scores from Tom Mcfarlane, Ruaidhri Carey (two), Rian Wells and Joshua Barrett – to three scores from Huntingdon. There was solid tagging and some excellent support play in attack which allowed everyone in the team to play a key part in the game. Their momentum was maintained in the 2nd half with four Shelford tries – with two tries each from Harry Milne and Brian O’Shea – to another three scores from Huntingdon. The second game proved to be a closer affair with some much tighter defence from both teams, especially Huntingdon. This restricted Shelford to two unanswered tries in the first half, both scored by George Shannon. Huntingdon came back strongly in the second half, helped by several missed tags by Shelford allowing Huntingdon to score four tries. However, some excellent play under pressure enabled George Shannon and Thadeus Glass (with two tries) to seal a tight win for Shelford. The final game saw a Barbarians style match with all 16 Shelford players playing some part in the match. The referee allowed a very open game which Shelford shaded in the first half, three scores to two, with tries of Brian O’Shea (two) and Joshua Barrett. In the second half Shelford went slightly off the boil early on, with the touchline causing its normal challenges, allowing Huntingdon back into the game with three scores – but a score apiece from Thaddeus Glass and Vinnie Allan meant it ended up with honours even. Player of the day – for some excellent effort in training and support play in the matches – is Tom Mcfarlane. Under 7's
Shelford Reds 20 – 30 Huntingdon Shelford Blues 20 – 30 Huntingdon Shelford Reds 15 – 25 Huntingdon Shelford Blues 10 – 25 Huntingdon Shelford Reds 20 – 20 Huntingdon Shelford Blues 5 – 30 Huntingdon Shelford played against a strong Huntingdon side today but used the opportunity to play three extra games to offer a chance for the whole squad to get some match time. The first games each for the Reds and the Blues were very closely fought matches but in each game Shelford lost out four tries to six. For the Reds Alex Cross ran in all four tries and for the Blues Billy White ran in two with Ben Carey and Lewys Hines also running in a try each. Matches three and four continued to be tight matches; the Reds in particular were unlucky to go down five tries to three. The try scorers here were Joel Butler-Bird, who was unlucky not to be rewarded with a second after running from his own try line, Henry Sperring and Alex Cross scored the other tries to complete the scoring. The Blues lost out five tries to two with Billy White scoring one try and a first Shelford try for Jake Borrett. In the penultimate game of the morning the Reds played in a thrilling 20-20 draw, a fine team performance with the tries being shared between Henry Sperring, Alex Cross, and first Shelford tries for Barnie Elliott and Matthew Monie. In the final match of the morning an inexperienced Blues team came up against a strong Huntingdon team and lost by six tries to one, Billy White adding the consolation try for Shelford.
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