Under 15s v Shelford Rugby Club - Away Friendly on 16 Sep 2012

The U15A’s got the season off to a winning start with a strong performance against Shelford. With several players stepping up from last years B team squad the team started very strongly with the Forwards dominating in the scrums and rampant in the loose. Sam J, George E, Dan H, Oli P and Joe all drove the ball on strongly marshalled by George V at scrum half whilst Frazer, Oli M and Harry were industrious ensuring quick ruck ball was delivered and adding pace and variation to the attack. When the ball was then moved wide, Sam R and the centres of Saiful and Aaron looked threatening but with the backline playing together for the first time struggled to make the moves work making it difficult for wingers  Ashley and BMW to get into the game.

Shelford while struggling to match the dominant Hitchin pack tackled well in the backs snuffing out the early attacks. Finally Max managed to cut through the line to score the first try which he then converted with a superb kick 10yds in from the touchline. Hitchin went further ahead following a series of scrums being taken against the head with George E picking up at 8 and driving up field followed by further quick ruck ball and more drives from the forwards. Eventually after a number of players got close, Dan H crashed over for the second try again converted by Max.

Shelford then started to enjoy some possession aided by several soft penalties and finally some success in the set pieces Despite some good defence, Shelford finally managed to score a relatively soft try as the backs got caught napping on the wrong side of the pitch at breakdown when Shelford switched sides leaving Ashley and Max outnumbered.

Hitchin came back strongly with some good runs by Max and Saiful and a number of broken field breaks from the flankers Oli M and Frazer. A box kick from George V unluckily just eluded the chasing runners but the clearing kick was expertly gathered by Max who interchanged passes with BMW to tear up the touch line before being stopped in the 22. Following further set piece pressure and forward drives, Oli P drove over from close range to end the half 19:5.

The second half saw Dan B on for Frazer and Will on for Harry. Despite starting strongly and continuing to dominate up front, Hitchin eased off the pressure slowly allowing Shelford back into the game. Shelford mounted a series of attacks which Hitchin resolutely fought off before they finally broke through for their second score.

Frazer then returned to play in the centre with Aaron moving to the wing in place of Ashley which  added some shape and organisation to the back line and gave the forwards a midfield target to build attacks off. The forwards seemed to come back to life with some superb maul steels from Will and Dan H and continuing close range drives which finally saw Sam J crash through to score. Hitchin’s dominance continued for the rest of the match which was unfortunately ended a few minutes early following a potentially serious injury to one of the Shelford players which required an ambulance.

In summing up, there were a number  of great performances especially by Max who was man of the match and Sam J who won the Cruncher. As ever there are things to work on especially looking at the period after half time when we dropped the intensity and allowed Shelford back into the game but, overall it was a very good performance for the first match of the season.