U11s at St Neots Festival

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This was another good festival performance from the Under 11’s. Cambridge didn’t turn up so our competition was a single league of 7 teams with no finals as each team would play 6 matches. Unfortunately our match scribe was on holiday and the games were so exciting I forgot to take many notes. The following is the best I can remember.

Hitchin 5 – 0 Newmarket
(Euan)
We were keen to fire on all cylinders from the off so opted to kick and put Newmarket under pressure straight away. Unfortunately the kick did not travel 7m so we started defending a scrum on halfway. At least this gave us the time and space to play ourselves in and it soon became apparent that our smaller scrum had the upper hand. Newmarket pressed back but we ripped from a maul and set Euan free on the wing. Pace and weaving running evaded at least three tackles as he touched down in the corner.
We had the best of the second half but were unable to convert pressure into points and when Newmarket’s bigger pack started to win ball we rose to the challenge and defended well.

Hitchin 0 – 5 Biggleswade
Only at the end of out first match did we discover that we had to play again immediately and were therefore unable to prepare as we’d like. Crisps, chocolate and hot dogs were discarded as we took the field against the eventual league winners. Shortly after the start one of Biggleswade’s forwards burst through several weak tackles to score. Thereafter we tightened things up and it became a much more even contest with just the one try in it.

Hitchin 10 – 0 Dunstable
(Euan, Miles)
An excellent performance by the forwards although we didn’t always release our backs enough. Euan showed how effective he can be receiving the ball from a maul on the touchline and out pacing everyone to score in the opposite corner.
We continued to dominate for the second half and made the victory safe after a storming run by James A was halted just short of the line but Miles was there in support to pick up and score.

Hitchin 30 – 0 Rushden
(Harry(2), Michael T, Bryony, James A, Sam)
It was tight for most of the first half as Rushden have one of the largest forwards we have seen (until we met Huntingdon) and he tied things up in the mauls. However, although they were smaller, our pack played well as a unit, and slowly got the upper hand. Our first score came from an excellent break by Henry who passed inside for Harry to go over. Michael T then burst off the side of a maul for our second. Henry forced his way over but was adjudged to have handed off, so we turned round 10 – 0 up.
The second half was a riot of free flowing rugby. Henry and Harry again combined well but were held up only for Bryony to rip the ball free and dive over. From the kick off we set up a maul then fast hands released Harry to run ¾ of the pitch for his second try and a bonus point. Henry’s pass then set James A free to run in from half way. Rushden managed to regroup for a while but eventually we got the ball to Sam on the wing who weaved his way past several tacklers to score his first ever try.

Hitchin 0 – 0 Huntingdon.
Huntingdon are a very big team with some of their players as big as their coaches and a front row that must have weighed as much as our entire pack! You could almost see their surprise as they were pushed back in the first scrum. We’d realised that they could probably maul us to death so we put in a series of crunching tackles on their biggest players – they can’t maul on the floor!
This was a really exciting match with both sides having their moments but in the end it was the defences that held sway. One moment typified our effort when Ben had a good run up the wing only to be enveloped by the Huntingdon front row. Although only half their size he hung on to the ball like a limpet and prevented a potentially dangerous turnover.

Hitchin 10 – 10 St Neots
(James A, Michael T)
Our final match was the only one with a non-neutral referee. St Neots started like dervishes and we were on the back foot for much of the game. We defended well but conceded just before half time when they were adjudged to have touched down in the corner. Our response was magnificent, first James A took a ball at the front of the lineout and charged down the line to equalise. Then Harry made another break only to be held up close to the line – this time Michael T. was on hand to pick up and score.
St Neots applied lots of pressure from the restart and after desperate defence it appeared that James A had managed to ground the ball in goal. I’m afraid I may have lost a ‘fair play point’ as I sought clarification as to whether the referee had signalled a 5m scrum or a try – it was a try. The team took the decision well and did their best to regain the lead, the backs combining well, but in the end we ran out of time and had to settle for the draw.

Biggleswade won the league and Dunstable got the fair play award – they also won the Hansard Trophy for fair play across all the age groups. I believe we finished third in our league.

We took every available member of our squad and every last one of them did the team and themselves proud. It was especially pleasing to see some of the less established players stepping up to the mark. Ben has progressed enormously this season and Matthew has become an important squad member, James B put in another solid performance and it was good to see Sam score his first ever try.

To choose a Player of the Week from such a good team performance is very hard, but if there’s one player who typifies our dogged determination, it’s Bryony.

The squad has developed enormously this season, both in terms of individual skills and especially teamwork. There is, of course, still much to work on, but the foundations are solid and we can look forward to next season with confidence.