Under 14 Match Report
SUNDAY 13th November 2005 2nd Round Cup
Lutterworth 26pts V Oadby Wyggs 5pts
Pitch Conditions: Soft
Weather: Fine/Sunny
Lutterworth had their hardest game of the season so far. This was a hard bruising affair and one which Lutts handled very well indeed. For the first ten minutes both teams huffed and puffed but it was the home side that took the lead through Joe Leeks. Joe intercepted an Oadby attack and sprinted a full 40 metres through their defence avoiding one or two attempted tackles, he placed the ball over the line to the delight of the home crowd. This was followed by a very close attempt to convert the try by Ryan Bruce but on this occasion it just missed 5 – 0. Lutterworth at this stage of the game were well on top and they kept Oadby on the back foot for the first twenty minutes. Barnaby Barker took the ball off one of the Oadby backs and he too sprinted through to put the ball slap bang under the posts. Ryan converted and the score was a healthy 12 – 0. This now was the turning point and Oadby realised that if Lutterworth scored again this game would be over as a contest. For the next 15 minutes they pressured Lutterworth back on their own five-metre line. Thacker kicked the ball out for a line out and this pushed the play back out to the half way line. The Oadby winger received the ball and got clear, only to be caught by the tackle of the season from Barnaby Barker - a text book tackle which prevented Oadby from scoring and the half time score remained 12 – 0 to Lutterworth.
The second half started as the first half ended with Oadby pressurising the Lutterworth defence and with fifteen minutes of the half gone they finally got their just rewards. Big Theo was set up to barge over in the corner to reduce the arrears to 12 – 5. Dan Thacker was having another terrific game with tackle after tackle. The forwards were again outstanding in this game and they won a scrum against the head which set up Lutterworth’s next try. The scrum was won and Barnaby Barker received the ball and he switched his direction to catch Oadby cold and he crossed the line, Ryan Bruce converted and the score increased to 19 – 5. The try seemed to deflate Oadby and this showed with a lot of handling errors allowing Lutterworth to attack and attack for most of the last ten minutes of the match.
George Hargreaves got the bit between his teeth and he put one of the Wyggs forwards in to touch. The tackle was immense and the forward threw a punch in retaliation fortunately for him the referee was lenient and a warning was all that was given. Lutterworth were awarded a penalty and pushed forward, they lost the ball and Oadby put together a move that was looking good before the tigerish Barker once again intercepted the ball and run right through the opponents defence much to the delight of the rest of his team-mates. This was Barker’s hat-trick and a superb effort (With mummy watching). A reminder from the coach that they were playing rugby and not football tempered the wild celebrations, and Ryan Bruce converted once the celebrations had died down 26 – 5
Ben Stone and Jamie Steventon got in some lovely positions today but it was not their day although their movement was much better than in recent weeks. Josh Williams and George Hargreaves played well and the forwards all knew they had been in a game; to their credit only once was their lines penetrated.
Lutterworth now look forward to a Semi Final spot and I am sure that once the coaches iron out the communication side of their game, the results we all want will happen.
Coaches Man of the Match: Dan Thacker another 1st class Captains performance.