U15s v Hitchin
Report by Ed Simpson.
After an immaculate show of respect by players and spectators, the U15s played two matches against the visitors from Hertfordshire.
The A game delivered two contrasting halves of rugby today in difficult conditions. After winning the toss we chose to play into the wind. The two sides were evenly matched but Farnham struck first when some sharp handling released Oli Pye out on the left wing who broke 2 tackles and scored in the far corner.
Hitchin came straight back used the wind to their advantage to kick into the 22 and after sustained pressure score out wide. 5-5. From the kick-off Farnham were back in the Hitchin 22 working phases with forwards and backs combining, Ben Evans found a gap and muscled his way over from 5m out. 10-5 Farnham. This end to end play continued with Hitchen scoring under the posts going into half time 10-12 up.
Second half we struggled to manage the conditions. What should have been an advantage with the wind behind Farnham, turned out to be our undoing. Putting more width on the pass resulted in too many knock-ons with the ball moving around in the wind. We over kicked - with balls running over the deadball, and missed touch on pens. These errors killed our momentum and gave Hitchin vital field position which they converted into 2 more scores. We managed to score with 5 minutes to go but the opposition held on to grind out a good away win. Final score 17-24 Hitchin.
On the adjacent pitch, a mix and match Bs line-up were simply too strong for their Hitchin counterparts in a one-sided 32-0 victory. Tasked with working hard, looking after the ball given the conditions and playing with the understanding that many were playing out of their comfort zones, the boys were gladly up for the challenge.
In difficult conditions, we dominated both halves - both into and with the wind - against a side that offered little in terms of attacking endeavour and just enough in defence to frustrate and stop us racking up a cricket score.
Still, the boys deserve credit for producing a coherent display and dominating the key aspects especially considering the makeshift nature of the line-up and that they were stripped of their usual back-row strengths due to the limitations of the fixture.
Of particulate note, Patrick Sykes pulled the strings at fly-half and rose to the challenge of playing heads up and asking questions of the defence as he saw fit - and Euan Morris was a reassuring presence at fullback and a constant threat when he joined the line.
Charlie Jenkins and Dan Hunt snuffed out what attacking verve the visitors could muster in midfield and distributed well, while our pack, denied the chance to contest in the scrum, did their talking in the loose with strong carry after strong carry.
Tries: William Eastlake, Tom Rich, Louis Scoular, Keagan Olverman, Archie Hawkyard, Zach Robinson Con: Patrick Sykes .
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