Eastern Counties 14 Hampshire 14

 

The Under 17s completed their season with a hard earned draw against Hampshire at Bury St Edmunds.

Counties put in a frustrating performance as they played most of the quality rugby but were undone by a combination of penalties and over ambition!

The long coach journey from Southampton seemed to have had no ill effects on the visitors as they established an early 3 point lead courtesy of a penalty.

Having weathered the early storm, East began to look dangerous in attack. Skipper James Crossley (N Walsham) and Keelan Henry (Cambridge) both made breaks but neither came to anything.

 The half failed to flow as a spectacle as the sides, Counties in particular, failed to tune into referee Dave Speck’s requirements.

Hampshire’s Full Back landed two more well struck penalties to establish his sides 9 – 0 lead.

Alex Day (Colchester), Mike Di Ponio (Ipswich) and Crossley again made breaks but all too often the final pass went astray or players went too far and thus got isolated.

The second half began with Counties looking to make advantage of the breeze at their back and a forward pack that was beginning to take control.  Midgeley (Wymondham), Henry and Hays- Burt (Colchester), despite giving away height and weight were dominating the scrums and Harris (N Walsham) was now in charge of a much improved line out.

Despite having the lions share of possession, Counties kept coming up against a stubborn defence and instead of staying patient and working the phases they tried to score from every opportunity.

Invention and ambition are to be admired but it lead to Hampshire moving 14 – 0 ahead, when Di Ponio ran the ball out of his own 22 but to his horror saw his attempted pass intercepted for a try!

 The character and spirit of the side refused to buckle and they began to turn the screw on Hants.  An increasingly stretched defence began to concede penalties and the inevitable kick to the corner happened.  Harris took the line out, the driving maul was well executed and Gabriel Carroll (Sudbury) emerged as try scorer.

Henry Dewing (N Walsham) landed a superb touchline conversion to narrow the gap to 7.

Hampshire did venture dangerously into the Counties half but on three occasions Sam Porter (Shelford) managed to turn the ball over at the breakdown.   Will Mcgahey (Cambridge) showed real awareness and power to stay on his feet and drive Counties deep into the Blues half.  From the resulting ruck, his fellow Leys and Cambridge colleague, Fraser Heathcote, cut a great angle to race clear only to be halted inches from the line.

Hampshire were rocking and one wondered if a penalty try may be awarded against them… Henry was held up just short of the line and a clear try was not awarded by a team of three all claiming to be unsighted!  

Hampshire managed to clear their lines and push Counties deep back in their own half.  Again the Maroons chose to try and run the ball back when perhaps a more pragmatic approach would have worked!  Chris Lord (Bury), managed to make good ground and when the ball came back to Crossley, this time he did kick downfield.  Moore and Lord chased well and forced a line out to be conceded 13 metres out.    Once again Harris secured and Carroll orchestrated.    Dewing’s nerveless conversion from in front of the Grandstand put the scores level.

There was still 6 minutes on the clock and both sides knew that another score would win it!  Hampshire nudged and nudged downfield whilst Vince Hart (W Norfolk) almost escaped the clutches to race clear.  The final play of the game almost typified the match. Alex Day made a storming break out of his own 22 but failed to link with any of his team mates and was subsequently swallowed up by a determined wall of Blue defenders.

 

Full Time   E Counties 14  Hampshire 14.

 

Credit to Hampshire they deserved a draw for their tenacity in defence, especially considering they had 9 players making their debuts!

For Counties there were lots of positives.., but they need to learn to get the balance between adventure and control. 

 

 

Middlesex 31 Eastern Counties 39

 

Counties deservedly took the spoils in an incredible 12 try spectacle!

 

Once again Counties struggled in the line outs and conceded too many penalties but showed there is no substitute for pace. Time and again Counties broke the gain line and on other occasions may have scored more!

 

Middlesex were first on the scoreboard when turnover ball was sent right and an overlap allowed the winger an easy score in the corner.

Counties stormed back and after good breaks by Lord and Caldwell earned a penalty. A quick tap was fed to Brown who crashed to within 8 metres, the ball came back and Ben Bullock drove over.  Unfortunately it was his last meaningful act as he had to leave the field shortly after with a shoulder injury.

Counties were clearly keen to run the ball from all points but it cost them a score when an intercept inside their own half saw them slip 10 – 5 behind.

Undeterred, the Maroons went back on the offensive and launched several waves of attacks.  Finally the number of defenders ran out and Ned Brown crashed his way over by the sticks. Dewings conversion edged us ahead.

Whilst Counties looked exciting in attack, they were sloppy in defence, and a basic missed tackle allowed the Middlesex centre the chance to run through before fixing Full Back Moore and putting in his second row for  a 17 – 12 lead.  The sides went into half time level when skipper James Palmer was on hand to finish off, after several penalties had been conceded by a desperate Home defence.

 

Several changes were made at half time but it had no bearing on the performance, as Counties continued to attack from all areas.

The visitors scored a stunning try after 16 minutes.  The ball was stolen 10 metres from their own line and fed to scrum half Ali Price.  He raced up to nearly halfway before passing on to Moore who in turn fed Micklethwaite.  The centre then timed his pass perfectly to send Man of the Match Ned Brown in for his second score.

          In a mirror image of the first half Counties then conceded a try almost directly from the re start.   Another missed tackle and a good angle cut by the Middlesex outside centre made it 24 all.

 

Middlesex did try and wrest the initiative but were met by some more pugnacious defence, with Micklethwaite in particular excelling.

Price and Harvey moved their side down field and Price deservedly got on the score sheet when he took advantage of some good forward play to skip round the side of a ruck.

The game then finished just as the previous outing with E Mids had with Counties falling behind with less than 5 minutes to go before snatching the win!

Yet another intercept allowed Middlesex to break away and score in the corner to level.  The splendid touchline conversion bounced off and over the cross bar to put Middlesex 31 – 29 ahead – the first time they had led since the 9th minute.

As they had continued to do since the first minute, Counties ran the ball from deep.  Price raced 60 metres down the blindside before slipping inside to Micklethwaite who wrong footed the final defender for the winning score.

To rub salt in the Middlesex wound, Counties scored directly from the re start!  Keelan Henry fielded the kick and set off down field bouncing of several would be tacklers before popping to Andy Harris to swallow dive over for the last act of the match.

 

 

East Midlands 12 E Counties 14

 A last gasp try by Ned Brown (Shelford) gave Counties a morale boosting win in their opening Under 17 fixture.  Having led 9 – 0, Counties trailed going into the closing minutes of the game before Brown’s intervention.

With several players absent through National Cup commitments and the previous game v Yorkshire being a victim of the weather, it was a new inexperienced side that took to the field in maroon.

Understandably players were nervous and for the opening 10 minutes Counties looked all at sea!  Mids immediately asserted their authority in the set piece and the omens did not look good!

The home side launched several waves of attack but were halted by tigerish defence and it was the Counties forwards that were getting to the break downs first.  A turn over ball just inside the Counties half was sent left and Pasq Dunn (W Norfolk) made a searing break. Gooderham (Diss) appeared on his shoulder who in turn supplied Windass (W Norfolk) but the winger was hauled down just metres from the line.

  The break lifted the whole side as the team realised that they had a back line capable of cutting the oppo to ribbons given enough possession.  The balance of the game would be between the power of   E M and the pace of E C!

  Skipper Andrew Hamilton (W Norfolk) led by example as he battled manfully at the breakdown.  Pressure on the home defence finally tolled and Fly Half Tom Summers (Sudbury) landed a penalty from in front of the posts.

The forwards continued to battle manfully and they started to get parity with the Midlands forwards.  Ali Price (W Norfolk) worked tirelessly at scrum half and managed to give Summers the chance to release his threequarters.  Ned Brown cut a great angle back to allow Windass to make good ground whilst Gooderham weaved his way through midfield only to turn his ankle on the undulating playing surface.

  Turning round three points to the good, Counties doubled their lead within 5 minutes of the re start when Summers landed an excellent penalty kick.

East Mids still ruled the roost at the lineout and were attacking with much more quality possession.  However the Maroon scrambled defence was fantastic and time and again they halted would be attacks.

Summers slotted another well struck penalty to extend the lead but there was still 20 minutes left on the clock!

 A lapse in concentration allowed Seymour the Mids fly half the chance to get in behind Counties defence and when the ball was sent wide the cover defence ran out allowing left wing Baines the chance to run round under the posts for a converted score.

 Counties midfield defence did not take kindly to conceding a try with Dunn and Brown in particular, putting in some big hits that resulted in a couple of the Home players having to leave the field.

 Having looked like they had weathered the storm, Counties then shot themselves in the foot when an attempt to force a pass allowed Haddon to intercept and race clear.  Incredibly Poirier (Shelford) managed to overhaul the runner just short of the try line and force a 5 metre scrum.   Mids however could smell blood and they powered Counties off the ball at the scrum allowing No 8 Patrick the chance to drive his way over.

 With only 5 minutes remaining, Counties trailed for the first time in the match!  However, the side showed great character to work their way down field and pin the home side back in their own 22.  As the clock ticked down a penalty was awarded 12 metres out and Price tapped to feed the on rushing Brown to cap a fine personal display with a barnstorming score!

 

 

For a side that had never played together before, the players can take great heart from the way they worked together to engineer this win.

Yes there were too many turnovers in contact, yes the line out needs to function better, yes the intensity and aggression up front needs to improve, but… There were some real positives to work on.

There is some real pace out wide, the midfield defence reduced the opposite numbers to panic at times, and the scramble defence from 1 – 23 was tremendous!

Next stop Middlesex on April11th.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Hull and back!

Counties were defeated by the elements on Sunday as heavy snow showers prevented the game taking place.  A 22 man squad had left on Saturday morning, travelling up to Hull in a rather sumptious 79 seater double decker bus...  First stop was Hull Ionians RFC for a light training session.  Whilst Dave and Simon put the team through their paces, Cloggie departed the scene for an evening of debauchery in Leeds!

Next stop was the Holiday Inn Hotel with a chance to un pack and have a swim in the smallest swimming pool in the world!  Evening Meals were devoured with relish and then a Team Meeting was held where players were awarded their county ties and shirts for the match next day.

Daylight broke on the Sunday with some foreboding skies and as players and the likes were tucking into healthy (!) breakfasts.., phone messages started arriving about snow just about everywhere except the tropical marine enviroment of Hull.   Sadly the snow did begn to arrive and with it landing on an already cold and wet surface the game was called off at 9.45.

Disapointingly the players boarded the caoch at 10.30 not for Driffield, but the A1 and South and yet more DVD watching.

Part of the weekends aim was for players to get to know each other better and start bonding as a group....  Hopefully the time spent together has helped forge some links and future performances will benefit as a consequence.

 

 

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