Under 17 Match Report
Lutterworth under 17s Tour to Holland 30th April 2nd - May 2004
Match Report – Amstelveen RFC – 2nd May 2004
An 11am kick off was a little too early for some Lutterworth players, who having had an enjoyable/ late evening in Amsterdam and Tilburg were feeling a bit tired. However after some light warming up, the game started with open flowing rugby being played by both sides. However, from the whistle it was obvious that although the Amstelveen players were technically very good in the rucks and mauls, the Lutterworth players were much stronger with their powerful running able to break tackles.
Scott Ward opened the scoring for Lutterworth, with a break through try, he received the ball from the back of a ruck, ran through and round 3 players, then beat the full back to score under the posts, converted by Sam Brookes. After several phases of tight forward play, Dan Wesley picked up the ball, broke through the Amstelveen defence to score Lutterworth’s second try in the corner.
Led by Matt Lund-Yates who received the ball from a tap penalty and bulldozed his way over the line, converted by Sam Brookes. From the restart, Amstelveen regained the ball and looked set to score, but unfortunately spilled the ball in the tackle, this was picked up and fed out to Rob Hughes, who ran his way through and over some brave Amstelveen defence to score under the posts, converted by Sam Brookes. Half time score 26-0 to Lutterworth.
Early in the second half, after some looping backs play that created an overlap, Rob Hughes timed his run perfectly, to receive the ball at full pace and score in the corner. Lutterworth then seemed to sit back and Amstelveen had probably their best series of play with several sustained attacks and many different phases of play inside the Lutterworth 22, they crossed the Lutterworth line only to be held up. From the resulting 5m attacking scrum they again crossed the line but unfortunately the ball was turned over and the line was cleared.
Two tries were then scored in quick succession, the first from a Lutterworth throw in to the lineout, the ball was passed out the backs, Phil Stanley received the ball having looped round the wing to create an overlap and scored in the corner. The second was from a ruck on halfway, Matt Lund-Yates made a storming run up the middle of the field and passed the ball out of the tackle to Rob Hughes who scored in the opposite corner.
Two different set piece plays then saw two more tries, from a scrum the ball was passed quickly down the line to Pete Bouchard on the wing who side stepped one player, before being tackled by a second, he popped the ball up to Scott Ward, who ran in to score under the posts, converted by Sam Brookes. This was followed by a lineout ball received by Jamie Loughan as second jumper, a maul formed around Dan Wesley and after a drive up field, Scott Ward rolled off the side of the Maul to score, converted by Sam Brookes.
After several phases of tight forward play, the last try was scored by Tom Holman, receiving the ball from Matt Lund-Yates who passed out of a tackle.
Final score 60-0 to Lutterworth.
Amstelveen were great hosts, they have an excellent pitch and clubhouse and we were made to feel very welcome. Amstelveen players remained fully committed right to the end of the game and posed for a joint photograph with their visitors. During the speeches, plaques and ties were exchanged, Rob Hughes was named as Lutterworth man of the match and Julius van der Weerd was named as Amstelween man of the match.