Under 15 Match Report
SUNDAY 22nd October 2006
Lutterworth 20pts V Oakham 22pts
The sun didn’t shine and the wind howled around the ground like an angry ghost with a hangover. Oblivious to the elements, the boys took to the field. Our boys made the better start of the two teams. Within minutes we had Oakham on their heels and heading backwards. From a scrum on the opponents 22, Alex Dan darted like an arrow into the heart of the Oakham defence. He released well to Ryan who drove to the line only to be held up by Herculean defenders. The ball was cleared and from there we were awarded our first penalty. TRY……..quick tap to Ewan who was tackled well. Leo York scooped the ball from the deck to dive over the line. Ryan struck the ball against the wind but failed to steer it as the turbulent spectre denied him his 2 points.
Oakham hadn’t come all this way to lie down and let our boys have all the fun. No sir. From the restart, they started to play. The pressure was telling as we gave away too many penalties over the next 15 minutes. After 3 consecutive Oakham scrums, they got there reward. TRY…..forward power was too much and our defence crumbled as the Oakham pack crashed over our line to score. The conversion was good. 5-7 at the break!
From the off, we were once again up and at em. Clean ball from the maul, the backs stroked it across their line to Barney who took off like a gazelle before neatly handing Mikey Ingham a chance to dazzle down the line. He reached the 5 metre line before being shepherded into touch. The lineout was won by Oakham and the attack petered out. But within minutes, we were back in front. TRY…..the loose ball was collected by Alex, off to Ryan who missed out his 2 comrades and found Barney who wasted no time in sprinting to the corner. The cruel wind was no friend of Ryan Bruce’s and the score was 10-7. This game was all about the pendulum which now swung back to the travellers. Their pack were winning more and more ball and after giving away a penalty for not rolling away from the tackle, the ball was tapped, passed to their fly half who produced a visionary cross field kick to his winger who caught the ball majestically before sliding ‘seal like’ into the corner. With the conversion missed, it was now 10-12. Pendulum time again. Within minutes we had a penalty on their 22 which was given away because Oakham did something very naughty which I didn’t see ( I aint perfect, OK) Up steps Ryan, and with his trademark deep breath, taunted the wind to stop him for a third time. It didn’t and we were ahead once more. 13-12. But, anything we can do……you guessed it. Penalty to Oakham and it’s 13-15. We piled the pressure on once more and looked certain to score after winning 2 scrums from 10 metres out, Mikey laid the ball off in the tackle 2 metres from the line. It was intercepted by an Oakham player who took off in Forrest Gump fashion and finally stopped running when he arrived beneath the Lutterworth posts. The conversion rubbed salt into the wound and there seemed no coming back from 13-22. But wait, the clock hadn’t stopped ticking, the fat lady hadn’t sung and that pendulum was still swaying to a rhythm all it’s own. With time running out, we pinned them back, deeper and deeper until the try line came into the sight of Daniel who ran to it like a man possessed. TRY……Ryan had the wind licked and converted well to take it to 20-22. And at that very moment, with the ball still bouncing beyond the posts, the referee blew to call time on this most closely fought affair.
In fairness, we were 2 points short of making this the right result.
Coaches comments: ''Some good spells of play but we were too slow to support our runners at times''
Men of the match: Backs, Alex Dan who competed well
Forwards, Martin Rayner, never stopped fighting up front.
Guest reporter : Mike Bruce