| Youth Reports - 14/10/07 |
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| Written by Andrew Baron | |
| Sunday, 14 October 2007 | |
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Under 16's Shelford 12 Bury St Edmunds 3 After a nervous start that provided many talking points for spectators. players and coaches, Bury earned a penalty deep in Shelford's 22 which the big number 10 knocked over with ease. Shelford's pack began to assert themselves, especially in the scrummage which earned them a free kick 15m out which went out to Will Dickerson on the wing who rounded the defence to score, Ben Wierny kicked a difficult conversion from wide out, 7-3 at half time. After a number of substitutions and position changes, Shelford showed real character to keep out an increasingly desperate Bury. Man of the match Ian Morrison showed imperious class at the line out - restored to his customary number 8 after an extended holiday at outside centre - it was Morrison who earned solid possession at the line out which set up a maul 15m out - Dom Rowley thought he'd made it over, but alas he was too short(!), birthday boy and vice captain Rob Morris tidied up by diving on the loose ball to close out the game 12-3. Under 14’s Shelford 7 Bury St. Edmunds 36 Shelford put in a largely lethargic performance today against Bury St. Edmunds. As summed up to the squad by the referee at the end of the game, they did everything well at times, but only in small phases of the game. Shelford were competitive in all facets of the game, but a lack of concentration & control at certain times during the game was their undoing. The game started very evenly, and went scoreless for a good 10 minutes. Shelford looked like they were getting the measure of the Bury forwards but ultimately, Bury were first on the scoreboard from turnover ball, which was a pattern that was to repeat itself later in the game. This was followed by another soon after to give them a 14-0 lead. After this, Shelford had their best spell of the game, and they were unlucky not to score more than they did. Firstly, Alex Long’s arm hit the touchline as he touched the ball down, and secondly Nathan Taylor lost control of the ball just as he was about to go over. Just before half time Connor Denton squeezed his way over, which was converted by Joe Sherrington-Scales to leave the score at halfway 14-7 to Bury. With the amount of chances Shelford had had in the first period, the boys went into the second half with a good chance of turning things around. Unfortunately, a number of errors then started to creep into their play. Some bad handling meant the ball was spilt on a number of occasions, and Bury were quick to pounce and punish us severely and profit from our misfortune. Four unanswered second half tries by Bury mainly from turnover ball and around the outside of a disorganised defence, left a somewhat deceiving final score at 36-7 in favour of Bury, in a game that was far closer than the score line might suggest.
Under 12’s Welwyn 0 Shelford 7 In the first half our forwards suffered a peculiar lethargy and developed no momentum in the loose. There was far too much dithering around the breakdown which meant we lost too many turnovers. Strong defence meant we kept the scoresheet clean but we were unable to build any concerted attacks. As a result the first half ended scoreless. This listlessness from the forwards earned them a severe shouting at during the break. This had the desired effect and they came out for the second half more motivated than an Argentinean prop singing the National Anthem prior to giving Ireland a pasting. As a result Shelford immediately gained the upper hand. We went close on a number of occasions and eventually managed to slip centre James Tilbury over for a deserved score. Noah Brown confidently slotted over the conversion. We were well on top now and only some uncharacteristic lack of precision by the backs prevented us from stretching the lead. Welwyn mounted a final onslaught but some desperate defence kept the them out. Eventually the final whistle went and we had ground out a narrow 7-0 victory. Overall it was an excellent performance from the boys. The forwards improved over the course of the game, winning their own setpiece and becoming more dynamic in the loose. The backs defended heroically and with a bit more accuracy and precision in passing would have scored more tries. With a full squad we will soon be a force to be reckoned with! Under 10’s GAME 1: Welwyn 15 : 20 ShelfordA tight game with Shelford edging it 20 points to 15. Scrum half Ollie Barnes scoring from the scrum in the last few minutes of the match to clench the game for Shelford. Scorers in this game were Ollie Barnes 2, George Franklin and Reuben Patrick 1 try each. GAME 2: Welwyn 10: 25 ShelfordShelford played Welwyn B and came out winners 25 points to 10. This game saw some good tackling by Henry Moore who kept stopping the Welwyn attacks. Scorers in this game were: Barnes 3, Patrick and Moe Drury 1 each.
Under 9’s Game 1: Welwyn 0 – 15 ShelfordShelford started briskly with a lot of earlier pressure on Welwyn which was rewarded with a try for Thomas Gelling. After the re-start Shelford pressed Welwyn with good tackling from Stan Clarke, Garret Shannon and Tom Whitehead. This lead to a turnover ball, Kieran Hatter took a pass from Tom W and scored an excellent try. Shelford were 2 tries up at half time. In the 2nd half after good defensive play by Shelford Tom Whitehead picked up the ball in his own half to run through a couple of tackles, wrong foot a couple of players to score an impressive try. Game 2: Welwyn 10 – 15 ShelfordThis was a closer game for Shelford with a 2 tries coming from Tom Whitehead and other try coming from Ben Frisk. Our first try came after pressure from Shelford where we pushed back Welwyn and Ben scored his try. Welwyn got one back and Tom ran through Welwyn to score our second from the start. In the second half Welwyn pulled another back, however after much pressure Tom Whitehead received the ball to score another good try. Game 3: Welwyn 0 – 5 ShelfordThis was another good team performance with good defensive work from Tom and Ollie Parkes, Tom Whitehead and Garret Shannon. When the ball eventually got out to the wings we managed to gain ground, Miles Brown was very unlucky when he ran nearly the full length of the pitch and placed the ball over dead ball line. Stan Clarke was also unlucky when he put the ball down over the dead ball line. 2 missed tries. However we managed to it right when Ryan Lees received a pass on the half way line and used his pace to secure the game.
Under 8’s SHELFORD A 10: WELWYN A 15This game could have gone either way, Nevertheless excellent tagging from most of the team closed a strong Welwyn side down. Harry and Daniel led the way with 7 tags, Josh & Luke with 6 each. The two tries were scored in excellent fashion by Aidan Thomas in the corner and Luke Burnham through the middle. This game also proved that our boys can pass with range when they want to especially Angus. SHELFORD B 25 : WELWYN 20The developing players continue with their unbeaten record outplaying Welwyn in every department with both thoughtful passing and some excellent running. In this game they also proved that they too can tag with all players collecting a few tags with Harvey and Will leading the way 5 & 6 tags respectively. Tries in this game came from mercurial running by Will Stepney collecting all five tries. This could not have been achieved without some sound passing by Harvey ( with the pass of the day to Will), both Joshes, Dan, Aidan and young Tom. SHELFORD A 15 : WELWYN A 20This was a tough game with excellent tagging ( including the odd dive !) coming in from the boys. Daniel led the way with 8 tags followed by Hayden & Harry with 6 each. Tries were hard to come by but Harry Simpson, Hayden McKenzie and Luke Burnham scored 1 each. If we have learnt anything from Welwyn its about passing the ball before getting tags and running into space in front of you rather than behind the line of play. The player of the day is difficult to work out because of the excellent effort put in by all the boys. Nevertheless given its his first season of rugby and first time playing Welwyn Will Stepney deserves once again to be man of the match, for his collection of five tries for the developing players. Under 7's SHELFORD vs. WELWYN : Won 2 Drawn 1 This was our best performance yet. All the players put in a fantastic effort to beat a very good Welwyn squad. Even though we started the first half behind we kept coming back to draw the first game. After that both the Sharks & the Dinosaurs got into their stride and with some spectacular tagging and some awesome tries, Shelford's amazing skills and commitment carried them to two well earned victories. Again tries and tags by all involved. Thank you to everyone who made the journey and a big thanks to Welwyn for an excellent day. See you all next week. |
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