Overcast, 3° CE Counties Under 17s 33 Middlesex 31.
Counties won this thrilling game by the narrowest of margins as the game fluctuated from one team dominating to the other on several occasions.
Counties had no less than 6 players making their debut and with a heavy leaning towards players from St Jo's College they put in their best performance of the season to hold off a much bigger Middlesex side.
The game almost broke down into 4 quarters....Counties began brightly and used the wide open spaces of the Cambridge pitch to attack out wide. Mike Stanway (St Jo's) had a fine debut for EC and he was unlucky that his fine break did not result in a try as his inside pass was forward. However he did round off a fine move moments later to score out wide.
Lock George Murray(St Jo's) elected to take the conversions and he landed a superb conversion...In fact his success rate of 4 out of 5 conversions was the ultimate difference between the sides!
Counties doubled the lead when Fraser Beckett (Sudbury) scored an outrageous try. The diminutive scrum half scampered away from his own 22, chipped over the full back and then was quick enough to outpace the cover from 50 metres!
The second part of the 1st half belonged to Middlesex as they used their formidable forwards to pound the EC defences. Tom Rhodes late withdrawl provided overtime to the two young props Davis (Bury) and Adams (St Jo) and they battled bravely against heavier opponents whilst Shaq Meyers, Seth Rodger (Walsham) and Sam Harry (Colchester) tackled manfully. With the props off resting along with Meyers nursing a sore ankle, Middlesex reduced the arrears to 14 - 7
The second half saw changes in personell but as the effects of the heat and pace of the game began to take its toll, scoring opportunities became more frequent. Middlesex picked up where they had left off and scored 2 tries in quick succession to raise doubts about Counties ability to live with the now rampant visitors.
One thing that was never in doubt was the pace of the White's threequarters and Henly - Hunter (W Norfolk) and Stanway were causing problems. Meyers returned to the fray and he seemed to galvanise the EC forwards. The line out began functioning again and the scrum remained solid enough for the backs to start getting the ball in space. Meyers powered his way over from short range to restore Counties lead as they now began to dominate proceedings again.
Chris Lord (Bury) joined the action and he made an immediate impact. His first touch was to brush off a would be tackler and coast home in the corner. His presence in midfield augered well for the future and he sent Henly Hunter away on an electrifying break. The West Norfolk flyer was hauled down short but there was no denying him a few minutes later when Meyers and Hall performed a text book 8 & 9 blindside break from a scrum to send him in at the corner.
At 33 - 19 the seemed over as a contest.... Middlesex had other ideas and stormed back to dominate the final minutes.
Two scores scored in quick succesion (crucially one conversion was missed) set up a tense finale. Counties looked dead on their feet and it took a try saving tackle by Full Back Charlie Moore (W Norfolk) to save Counties blushes.
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