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I’ll start this match report with a big thank you to Aldershot & Fleet for managing to salvage a decent playing surface for our lads to play on today... No mean feat – as both Rugby pitches were basically underwater. We played our match on a full size football pitch, marked up with flags and the posts padded with protectors; the pitch still had puddles in both goal mouths and other areas, but thanks to the Ref (Russ) and Chris ARFC /Steve of A&F, we all agreed that we could have a safe match by working together to protect players from the water hazards.
The match kicked off; within 2 minutes A&F had managed to burst through our forwards and backs and scored the first try of the match. Our lads slowly started to awaken and moved in to tackle the big U15’s, slowing down the numerous A&F attacks. Both Chris and myself were pleased that forwards and backs were working well together and as individual units, Rucking and Mauling were executed well, with Ned managing to salvage most of the breakdown balls before turnover. We had also practiced ball handling and awareness in training, so had told the lads to experiment and try things out as this was a friendly.  A&F put us under a lot of pressure, rightly using their larger players to force their way through our lines. It wasn’t long before we were 10-0 down, a good A&F run down the left wing to score near ‘lake Victoria’ (see photo’s)! Gregg A rallied the troops and some thrilling end to end rugby followed, we were unlucky not to score having gained some decent territory and executed some good interplay between the forwards and backs. Our first and very well deserved score finally came, when the forwards pushed through using Cam, Gregg A, Joe Jack H and Jacob to work the ball on the right ready for the backs to feed Dan for a score on the left, 10-5. A&F got another 2 tries in rapid succession, to make the score 20-5. Half time team talk was positive, both Chris and myself were impressed with the commitment and guts from our physically smaller team.  The second half continued much as the first half did, A&F had subbed a couple of players and started putting pressure onto us from the restart. Five minutes into the half, we lost Dan due to a chest injury, when he lost his footing and collided with an A&F player, both players came off with impact injuries. On paper we only had 15, so we would have been forced to drop down to 14 and re-organise the team; A&F sportingly lent us a spare player, who fitted in as fly half / scrum half to replace injured Dan. We had a couple of other stoppages; Gregg P for a bashed wrist and Brad for a head injury, but once again the lads sucked it up and carried on. Brad, Sam and Ned were all brave under the restart and high balls, managing to tidy up and push forwards into the attack. Aldermaston then re-doubled their efforts on a quickly deteriorating quagmire pitch, Jamie combining well with Sam, Ned and Jack F to power through for a try on the left wing, 20-10. There was some great tackling and individual efforts made by Gavin, Gregg P, Joe and Rhys, all putting their bodies on the line to stop the A&F onslaught, but the larger A&F players managed to forge through and scored yet again 25-10!. Some more excellent rugby followed, keeping the spectators, coaches and seagulls on tender hooks, ARFC had moved into top gear and really started to work the rucks and move the ball out to the backs, Jamie pushed through again and scored to make it 25-15. The clock was running down, but ARFC kept fighting to the last, Rhys making his customary run off the back of the scrum and managing to make some good territory gains on the open and blind side - through sheer guts and determination, he broke free and flew down the left wing towards the A&F line, Rhys was really unlucky not to get on the score board for his efforts. We had tried the crash ball after each penalty, Cameron, Jacob, Gavin and Gregg A all managed to make 10-15 meters on each attempt; the support play from the forwards and backs was consistently good. In the dying minutes of the game, Gavin broke free and steamed through the tiring A&F backs for a good score to make it 25-20. At the final whistle the score was 25-20 to A&F, a great game of rugby. Steve the A&F U14/U15 coach specifically came over and spoke to the lads to say how impressed he was with our efforts and ability; bearing in mind 60% of his team were larger U15 year olds, we had performed very well. Our MOTM this week is Rhys: not only did he put his body on the line on numerous occasions, he made some great territory, excellent tackles and generally threw himself all over the park to win the ball back. He was unlucky not to score in the 2nd half with a great individual run, no matter what A&F threw at us, he kept fighting them hard for the full 60 minutes and helped make the difference between a heavy loss and narrow defeat. I had to stop taking pictures in the 2nd half due to the mud, injuries & excitement – Chris was also biting his nails whilst watching from the opposite touchline. Our respect and admiration for this team grows weekly. Another excellent effort lads, well done. More quagmire pictures here: http://www.aldermastonrugby.com/index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=slideshow&gid=76&Itemid=57 MOTM: Rhys Dan O (1 Try) Jamie (2 Tries) Gavin (1 Try) |
Youth Rugby 
