Under 16's

Rochford Hundred 29 Shelford 22

Try scorers: Sam Jones (2), Harry Hitchcock, Ivan Karsten; Conversion: Ivan Karsten

Shelford slipped to their first defeat of the season against Essex champions Rochford on a misty November morning this Sunday.

A bare 15 made the lengthy trip down to the Essex coast, including a half fit Hitchcock, so there were some strange looking combinations - a tight five that had never played together before, and usual second row Jones playing at out side centre. However this does not excuse a passionless and error strewn first half performance which left the boys 22-0 down at the break.

Rochford were fired up and determined to avenge last season's heavy defeat while Shelford had become complacent after seven successive wins. Decision making was also poor - two tries resulted from kicks which were not chased with any conviction. The other two resulted from missed takles. The makeshift pack were unable to build any platform at the set piece. Shelford were lucky to be only four tries down at the break.

The transformation at the break was remarkable. Shelford came out fired up and started to win some decent ball. Critically they also started to put the ball through the hands and stretch the Rochford defence. The first try came from a slick handling move to put centre Sam Jones over. A similar move put winger Harry Hitchcock, bravely playing through illness, over in the opposite corner.

When fly half Ivan Karsten went over for a try which he converted Shelford were within 5 points at 22-17. Then came the critical moment of the match - Rochford moved down the right wing and their winger arrowed toward the touchline. He was scythed down by a perfect tackle from winger George Smith. As George released the tackled player and jumped back to his feet to win the ball, the Rochford player did not release the ball as required by the rules but got back to his feet and carried on playing. This was a clear penalty to Shelford -but from the resulting ruck Rochford were awarded a penalty. They took it quickly and drove over to score. The conversion was successful and there was daylight between the teams as Rochford took a 29-17 lead.

Shelford continued to press - two lightning breaks by scrum half Rew George were hauled down just short of the Rochford line. Eventually recycled ball was spun wide for Sam Jones to score his second try and take Shelford to within one score at 29-22.

Shelford desperately sought the score which could tie the game up and Rochford defended stubbornly. Eventually Shelford won a scrum on the Rochford 5 meter line - however Rochford put in a mighty effort to disrupt the Shelford ball. From the ensuing ruck Shelford were penalised for coming off their feet. The Rochford fly half lashed the ball into touch and the game was over.

It had been a magnificent second half comeback when the boys had been staring at humiliation at half time. However the boys now know that they must start at full intensity and that every team member must give 100 per cent all of the time if they are to be competitive with the strongest teams.

Under 15's

Shelford 24 Hitchin 15

Under 12's

Cambridge 19 Shelford 21

A tough day with Shelford on the back foot for much of the match, at times the booming boot of Henry Breeze was the only way of moving forward. Having fallen behind to an early Cambridge try and conversion, the boys dug deep and were rewarded with a close range score from Henry. Angus Thomson adding the conversion. Despite heroic defence led by Tom French and Julian Renwick Cambridge again took the lead with a second seven pointer. Shelford’s scrum started to dominate the restarts with Archie Davison taking several balls against the head. Oscar Jones, Joe Thompson and Nick Budenberg making ground. But it took the vision and pace of Will Stepney

Will Stepney

Joe Thompson supported by Ben Williams

Under 10's

Shelford  3 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss

Aggregate score – Shelford 60 Cambridge 40

Overall Sunday’s matches saw Shelford under 10’s come out on top. Our defence was again the best part plus some really good rucking. We still need to develop a stronger passing game but I am sure this will develop with time. Having met Cambridge in the final of the county cup we knew that they would a very good side so this is an excellent result based on a lot on hard work and commitment.

Again three mixed teams produced some very strong scrums winning the majority of put ins, so good technique and application. When we are able to create some space for our strong runners we always seem to win but when the game becomes a wrestling match the odds are stacked against us. A quick rucking and passing game is our aim.

Tacklers of the Day – Leon and Taylor (for stand-out try saving tackles)

Player of the day – Daniel (4 try hero, on a day when it was very hard for anyone to score, an outstanding achievement!)

Under 9's

Vikings

Shelford  20 – 0  Cambridge Tries:  Charlie Hurd, Ollie French, Freddie Stevenson, William Gelling

Shelford  25 – 15  Cambridge Tries: Gelling, Arthur Waddington, Ethan Karpuk (2)

Shelford  5 – 10  Cambridge Try: Hurd

Shelford  10 – 10  Cambridge Tries: Stevenson (2)

Aggregate score:  Shelford Vikings  60 – 35  Cambridge

Dragons

Shelford  20 – 5  Cambridge Tries: Edgar Watson, Seb Clatworthy, Alek Milijic, Charlie Boyle

Shelford  0 – 5  Cambridge

Shelford  35 – 0  Cambridge Tries: Boyle, Joshua Speechley (4), Milijic, Clatworthy

Shelford  15 – 20  Cambridge Tries: Ben Colman, Harry Punshon (2)

Aggregate score:  Shelford Dragons  70 – 30  Cambridge

Fixtures against Cambridge are always going to be amongst the toughest games of the season so it was pleasing to see the Shelford U9 Vikings and Dragons both putting in strong performances in picking up comfortable aggregate wins over our close neighbours.

The Vikings won 2, drew 1 and lost 1 of their 4 games while the Dragons won 2 and lost 2 of their 4 games.  Each of the 3 games that Shelford teams lost was by a single try but both the Shelford Vikings and the Dragons had convincing wins on the day, with Shelford Vikings winning their first game 20-0 and Shelford Dragons winning their third game 35-0, with a notable 4 tries from Joshua Speechley.

One of the biggest differences between the Shelford and Cambridge sides on the day was that Shelford were frequently more affective at rucks and mauls, securing their own ball and repeatedly turning over Cambridge ball. 

It was particularly hard to pick players of the day when so many players were putting in fine performances.  The Vikings player of the day was William Gelling for his efforts at rucks and mauls and his straight hard running.  The Dragons player of the day was Alek Milijic who put in some good tackles but also scored two tries after some strong running.

Every player could be pleased with their efforts and the future certainly looks bright for the U9s at Shelford.

Under 8's - Aggregate score: Shelford 70 Cambridge 140

Shelford Sharks 5 Cambridge 1 15        

Shelford Destroyers 10 Cambridge 2 15

Shelford Sharks 5 Cambridge 3 30

Shelford Destroyers 15 Cambridge 1 25

Shelford Sharks 5 Cambridge 2  25        

Shelford Destroyers 30 Cambridge 3 30

Report:

In today’s local derby, the Shelford U8s winning streak, hit the wall that was the Cambridge U8s defensive line.

The Sharks had three tough games and despite some excellent tagging and turnovers left enough space for the Cambridge attack to get through the Shelford defence. In each game Shelford came away with a single try scored by Freddie Sales, Theo Hays and Rory Morgan.

The Destroyers worked hard to tag the Cambridge attack and won several turnovers in each game. Harvey Taylor scored 2 tries in the first game to result in a 10-15 win to Cambridge. In the second game tries from Vinnie Allan, Brian O’Shea and Toby Owers were answered by 5 tries from Cambridge to result in a 25-15 in to Cambridge. The final game was a fast paced high scoring affair with both sides determined to break through to the try line at every opportunity. The Shelford squad scored two tries directly from the centre pass showing they could find and use the space in the oppositions defence and with tries from Thaddeus Glass, Toby Owers, and 2 each from Vinnie Allan and Tom MacFarlane the final score was a well deserved 30-30 tie.

Player of the Day was Harvey Taylor for his performance both in attack and defence.

Under 7’s

Aggregate Score: Cambridge 135 Shelford 165

On yet another brisk but bright morning Shelford U7s played away to Cambridge.  Shelford fielded 3 squads and played a total of 6 games with the club recording 3 wins, 2 draws and one defeat.  Aside from the individuals who scored, the coaching staff were most impressed by all of the squads increased hunger and aggression in defense, impressive support work and speed of recycling which ultimately were the factors which gave the squad the solid platform to score tries.

Shelford Sharks managed to fit in 3 games and recorded 3 narrow but solid wins.

The first game ended 35-20 with first half tries from Billy White (2), Keane Runham-Wyman and Hilary Hawthorne.  The second half saw White touch down his hatrick with further scores from Jake Borrett and Barney Elliott.

The first half of the second game saw 3 Shelford ties to Cambridge’s 1 with Runham-Wyman, Hawthorne and Henry Sperring scoring for Shelford.  The second was closer fought and saw Hawthorne going over the line for her second of the game and Borrett going in for a late score giving a final result of 25-10.

Their last game was the toughest with improved defensive work from both teams preventing too many scores.  The first half saw the teams level with one try each Shelford’s coming from Ben Carey.  The second half saw Shelford run in 2 tries to Cambridge’s 1 giving a final score of 15-10.  Shelford’s second half tries coming from White and Sperring.

The Shelford Tigers played 2 games and faced very tough competition from Cambridge.

The first game saw a high scoring draw with both teams running in 6 tries a piece.  Shelford started slowly and were down 3 scores to 2 by half time.  Shelfords 2 tries coming from Alex Illingworth and Marcus Moscuzza.  The second half saw them draw back impressively with 4 tries to Cambridge’s 3 forcing the 30-30 draw.  The second half saw an impressive further 3 tries for Illingworth and one for Joel Butler-Burd.

Their second game was again high scoring, with the Tigers finishing the first half 3-2 down.  The first half tries coming from Lewys Hines and Butler-Burd.  The second half was nail bitingly close with 4 break throughs a piece leaving a final score line of 35-30 to Cambridge.  Shelfords second half tries came from Moscuzza (2), Wilf Clark and Fergal.

Shelford Bulls had their first game of the season and put in a great performance to earn a draw against tough opposition. Tom Birkby scored 4 tries and Alex Crawford and Charlie Walters bagged one each. The boys have shown a drastic improvement since the start of the season and demonstrated some great supporting lines, confident tagging and had a huge amount of fun.

Players of the day went to Sperring for apparently putting his touch line demons to bed and to Moscuzza who is developing into a much valued member of the squad – well done to both!