CRUFC U16s 40 v 12 Harpenden

The prospect of meeting an in form Harpenden was eagerly anticipated as the test of the season so far for our unbeaten U16’s to liven up a cold and foggy Sunday, in front of
a decent crowd including resting or injured players and a delightful referee
who managed to keep everyone happy and in check.

As expected the game quickly became a midfield tussle for territory with our forwards matching the opposition onslaught, early breaks from Coops with Ryan to their 5 mtr and another from a ruck had the backs flow as Shea fed Louis to Ryan to Coops for Rory to
gas it to their game line for a scrum. They cleared as far as Hamish who popped to Coops for a ruck on their 22, Shea to Louis who tanked straight as a die into traffic popped to Jonno to place try # 1. Hamish collected and broke to Louis to Ryan who mauled to their 5 mtr, Callum lurked and lurched to place try # 2. Starving us of ball they re-gained control of the game, line outs and rucks eventually had Hamish turn it and burst out to Callum to Louis for a penalty, Shea took and gave to Rory for another blast down the wing. Again Harpenden swamped the ball, cold hands allowed a cheeky turn over, but they intercepted with a massive counter as far as last man Hamish, got him and a scrum, penalty to us, but  they turned it and pressed us to our game line and set up camp. A penalty to them, Ryan cleared but the momentum they had pushed us right back, more penalties to them from forced errors kept us pinned and the forwards as busy as I have ever seen them, Coops broke the spell, to Hamish to Rory to Louis to ½ way and the delight of our very own Anglo Saxon Euan for a line out and scrum. Penalty to us and Callum broke away to Ryan to Louis to Rory who blasted from the ½ way line to finally go over with try # 3, which was quickly met with a counter attack and well deserved try to Harpenden ending the ½ 19 – 7, the crowd were not disappointed, awesome spectacle.

The re-start was a mirror of the 1^st, scrums, line outs and penalties interspersed with searing tackles from Royston, Euan and Ryan didn’t stop them pushing back to our game line. Relentless pressure stretched Hamish, Euan and Royston to the limit and the relief of a knock on gave us a breather & a scrum where Shea was a right old handful to deal with, a line out then had us maul it to the ½ way line for a line out, they attacked, we turned it and WillB’s fresh legs opened the ga p, Hamish shot through to Ryan, Hamish switched and overlapped to place try # 4. We broke and they countered as far as Marcus with a massive tackle and line out, then a scrum, a penalty to them, then to us, Hamish broke again for Dan to steal the loose, another penalty, they countered, Euan turned it and hit rush hour, but Dan rescued his ball and went all the way to place try # 5, fantastic. Credit to Harpenden, they came straight back at us, fierce as ever, but tired legs and hands forced a fluff; WillB stole and scampered,
reversed to Louis to place try # 6. Again, they surged forward and forced more huge tackles from Marcus and WillP who could not stop them placing their 2^nd try just before the whistle.

Best we have ever seen the forwards defend, best we have seen the 2^nd row feed the backs,
best we have seen the backs move across the park giving the best performance of
rugby this season in the best natured match we have seen, great performance all
round.

Try scorers:-

Jonathon Bailey, Callum Austin, Rory Sheppard, Hamish Ritchie, Dan Proctor and Louis Rawlings

Conversions:-

Ryan Headington 5 from 6 attempts