Ampthill Mobbed.

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Hitchin U10’s V the Ant Hill Mob

A bright crisp autumnal morning at Ampthill, with Tony asking if the squad could play a lower level team from the hosts (their U10’s had just beaten the Surrey County Champs 7 tries to nil) as we were in need of an easier ride, following our losses to Kettering and St Neots. We were still sure they had some A team players involved, but it was a much more competitive day for us.
As the hosts were able to squeeze 2 pitches onto their patch and we were both able to field 2 teams, 2 games were played at once.
Pitch 1
Game 1
Ampthill v Hitchin A 2-2 (Drew)
Christian 1, Tom 1.
Squad Aaron, Andrew, Ashley, Bradley, Christian, Daniel, Frazer, Jack, Max, Oliver M, Tom.
Tony was appointed timekeeper and the game passed off (well we don’t kick yet!) with some strong Amp. running. Was this really their B team? The first of a deluge of balls lost in contact led to their first try. A ‘knock on’ by Frazer (off his knee) seemed like a kick and chase, which sadly ended with Amp. recovering the ball. A nice “hands on” moment when Daniel, having been high tackled, received a head rub from the Amp. Ref. 1-0 at HT. Andrew arrived late and got 10 press ups and he and Bradley entered the fray. Amp. soon got their 2nd then Bradley was unlucky to run into the ref. on one of his busy runs. Some desperate H passing meant we were unable to mount any serious attacks, as the ball was often received under great pressure. Daniel did manage a good break but it ended short. Tom and Jack had switched FH and SH roles at HT and from a scrum, Tom received a great pass from Jack, and shot through a gap, scorching downfield for our first try. Jack then put in a great hit to stop a move. Christian made a great break (Simon Shaw like) to give us a 2nd, but we were guilty of coughing up the ball on several occasions, leading to us failing to score again. 2-2 at FT.
Game 2
Ampthill v Hitchin A 3-0 (lost)
The same teams took the field, this time with our own ref, the affable Will Greenwood sounding/looking, Colin McGown, fresh from his World Cup Final assignment (Tony was there too, buying tickets from John Eales, seconds before kick-off.). At this point, a word of praise for our coaches/refs. Who HAS to be there every week? Who gets there first and leaves last? Who gets the kit bag? Who gets the credit they deserve? Probably not as much as they deserve. Well done guys (yes, as few more lady coaches would be nice –we have one, Claire, but she’s in NZ on honeymoon after getting hitched to Colin on 20th October (ring a bell? Yes, RWC final day!) I digress. Christian was tackling like a demon, Ashley was running with his usual great determination and skill, but we could not break through. Amp. started to maul the ball to good effect, 1-0 as they got over. Frazer hit his man well and the coaches had a humorous exchange “Don’t let ‘em have it!” “DO let ‘em have it” Great fun and in the spirit of rugby. 1-0 at HT. A well worked Amp. try followed the break, with their players accepting the generosity of Hitchin offering the ball to them at every contact situation. The Amp. forwards were able to pass well under pressure, but Max, Tom, Frazer and Oliver M showed what might be, with a superb move. Sadly and by now, predictably, the ball was lost in contact!! 3-0 came against a confusion of whistles from the adjoining pitches. 3-0 at FT.
Game 3
Ampthill v Hitchin A 2-0 (lost)
A big team talk from the coaches, hoping to end with a win, but it was same again, as they pulled the ball away from us. We were clearly tiring, after all the mauling we had done. We tried to move the ball away from the big Amp. forwards (Hitchin boys do seem smaller than many of the teams we play.) and inject pace into the game. Christian and Ashley ran well then we ……..lost the ball, 1-0. Amp. nearly got in again, but Tom covered well to get the player into touch. 1-0 HT. The Amp. Scrum Half was tapping and going with skill and Aaron took a good, quick lineout. Better Hitchin back play, with Oliver M outstanding and a dog tackled on the sideline! Jack took a bump and was replaced by Max, but a very alert interception by the Amp. SH, made it 2-0 at the very end.
Player of the week for the A’s Oliver M.
Observations? 1/.WE NEED TO PROTECT THE BALL IN CONTACT. 2/.We need to go to ground and ruck the ball more. We do not have the size or strength in the forwards any more, to go into a mauling contest. 3/.Passing needs to be done in matches, as a positive thing, not just if you’ve been/are about to be scragged. 4/. Communication. All players need to talk to their team-mates and organise more.
5/. This was a heck of a lot better than at MK or v St Neots. Room for improvement.
Now, thanks to Trevor Smith for the B team reports.
Pitch 2 Hitchin U10’s B Squad
William, Sam, Connor, Toby, Ben, Aless, Oliver P., George, Oliver, Russell, Sam

We played three matches against the Ampthill U10’s 3rd team, all three games were very tight though with the stronger pack and defence Ampthill went on to win all three games .
Game 1. Ampthill started the stronger but with some strong runs from Ben in his new position of Centre and some good tackling from Hitchin the game was close despite Ampthill leading 2 - 0 at half time. In the second half Toby and Conner joined the fray with Toby taking over at Hooker for the injured Russell, this was an unfamiliar position for him as he usually plays Centre or Wing. After some good play from both sides Ampthill’s pressure finally resulted in a try. Soon the pressure told again when Toby, last man in defence, got caught with the ball and Ampthill stole to score. Full Time result 4 - 0 to Ampthill. Good driving from Ben.

Game 2. This started in much the same vein as the first but Hitchin were starting to get stronger in defence and the new Centre partnership of Ben and Aless started to work better. At Half Time the score was 1 - 0 to Ampthill. In the second half Oliver P. came into the pack and linked up well with the other Prop, Sam. They tackled, rucked and mauled well as with ball in hand they drove forwards all the time to make lots of good ground. Unfortunately, Hitchin were making to many simply mistakes to score and Ampthill finally scored a second try to seal a hard fought victory. Good defensive work from Hitchin. Full Time score 2 - 0 to Ampthill.

Game 3. Handling errors from both sides stopped good attacks, but Ampthill took the ball at a scrum, the Scrum Half threw a very high pass which was well taken by the Centre who then ran through a gap in the Hitchin back line to score. Hitchin put together some good rucks and mauls then Aless slipped a good pass to Russell who crashed into the opposition pack and gained a penalty. Ben took on the penalty but threw a poor pass which Oliver P did well to pick up and then weave his way through to the line to score, one all. Unfortunately, straight from the re-start the Ampthill Centre skipped through five missed tackles to leave the score at 2 - 1 for half time. The second half started with good Hitchin pressure but again we made mistakes and let Ampthill through to score. They scored again before full time despite good tackling from Oliver P., Russell and Sam. Final Score 4 - 1 to Ampthill.
This was a much improved morning of rugby after last week when our defence was weak against a strong running St. Neot’s side.
Aless and Ben played in new positions of inside and outside Centre and both played well, good tackling and driving with the ball but must work on their positional play and not get sucked into every ruck and maul. New players such as Sam Jenkins and Oliver Davies , the Props, worked hard and tried to keep the ball moving forwards. As the games went on the backs started to move up and pressure Ampthill into making mistakes, this is something we will need to work on next week at training. Overall, it was a very good mornings rugby from both squads, big improvement from Hitchin and lots of hard work needed next week at training.
B Squad player of the day is Ben for always driving the game forward.

Training next week, lots to do.