Under 16 Match Report
Sunday 16th March 2008
Lutterworth 3pts v Welsh Exiles 8pts
Picture the scene. I’m in the clubhouse at the bar. The barman lurches towards me (obviously had ‘a few’ – surprisingly Pete Sandford no-where to be seen).“Neil, you couldn’t help me out by writing the match report could you? I really don’t think I’ll be able to see enough of the pitch from here.” I did wonder why he was cuddling the Stella tap quite so tightly.….anyway here goes…..
Heavy conditions for today’s match, and a stiff breeze blowing into the face of the Lutterworth players at the kick-off. Bale kicked off and immediately the Lutterworth team served notice to the visitors that this was going to be a contest. The forwards, led by Ingham, made several strong drives against the seemingly larger (OK - except for Williams!) Exiles pack. Eventually the Exiles woke up and started to put some pressure on the Lutterworth defence, but strong tackling from Bale, Stone and Barker held them off. Lutterworth conceded a penalty for holding on in a ruck, giving the exiles opportunity to use the wind to kick for field advantage. However, at the following lineout they failed to win their own ball. Glover, jumping at the front, stole the Exiles ball (he then proceeded to do this for the majority of the afternoon!) the forwards drove in and Bale cleared the Lutterworth lines.
By now the Exiles were starting to put consistent pressure on the Lutterworth defence and good hands saw the ball spun wide and only a great covering tackle from Barker, ably assisted by Hargreaves, prevented a try in the corner. Lutterworth then conceded a penalty in front of their posts for offside at the base of a ruck. Griffiths stepped forwards for the Exiles and made no mistake. 0-3 Exiles. The Lutterworth pack responded to the score against them with a series of pick-and-go drives up the centre of the park from Stiff, Ingham, Hopkins and Connor. The Exiles were penalised for offside and Bale slotted the resulting penalty to level the score at 3-3. Exiles then lost their composure and gave away a penalty for holding on after the tackle and then conceding a further 10 metres by not retreating. Bale made a very good attempt at the penalty kick but it faded just to the left of the uprights.
The second half started with scrappy play from both sides, with neither pack really able to provide a stable platform for an attack. The Exiles used pick-and-go tactics to drive up the field inside the Lutterworth 22, but sterling work from the Lutterworth back row turned the ball over and Bale cleared for touch. Unfortunately the Exiles (unusually – they hadn’t really capitalised on their own lineouts) then won the resulting lineout and spun the ball wide and put Jones over for a try. 3-8 Exiles (conversion missed).
Once again Lutterworth showed determination with Ellis collecting the ball from Bale’s re-start drop kick. He passed the ball to Connor who took it forward into a maul. The referee then awarded a scrum to Lutterworth, Chan collected the ball from the base of the scrum and the ball was spun wide. Goldsworthy showed some real pace on the wing, and this time it was the Exiles who needed to make a try-saving tackle, bundling him into touch 10m short.
Lutterworth finished the game strongly, with another scrum won and Bale chipping through for Goldsworthy who just failed to collect the ball.
Coaches Comments:
"We can be pleased with today’s efforts. There were some good performances today, with good rucking and scrummaging from the pack in the first half particularly. However, the fact that we have not been training together showed. What is needed is a combination of commitment and consistency"
Men of the Match
Forwards: Hargreaves
Backs: Barker
(Wo)Men of the Match
Well done to Williams and Leeks (Nicola and Shirley) for only shouting a little bit for the wrong team today!
A big thank you to all the parents who helped on the day, and especially to our wonderful catering Mums