Under 16 Match Report
Sunday 27th January 2008
County Cup - Semi Final
Lutterworth 17pts v Market Harborough 0pts
A sunny morning at Lutterworth with a moderate breeze blowing across the pitch towards the clubhouse with perfect playing conditions for this County Cup Semi-Final. There was a nice touch from the U17 squad before the start of the game as they formed a tunnel and clapped the U16 lads on to the pitch.
Lutterworth started the game playing into the wind and the early pressure was all from Market Harborough. They made full use of the wind to keep Lutterworth pegged back inside their own half, and Bale was made to clear the Lutterworth lines on two occasions. Eventually, a kick forward from Harborough was mis-judged and the ball went dead. 22 drop-out to Lutterworth. In an unrehearsed move Bale sprinted up the touch line and took a tap drop-out and sprinted forwards catching the Harborough defence asleep. Bale was supported by Dann who eventually released Grunwald who beat two players to score Lutts opening try. The conversion was scored by Bale – an excellent effort 5m in from the touchline on a windy day - to take the score to 7-0. From this point the Lutterworth boys started to apply more pressure. McDougall stole the ball from a Harborough lineout, the forwards drove for the line and only (very) determined defence from Harborough prevented Hopkins from scoring (I bet that hurt someone!!) A Harborough clearance was deftly headed infield by Leeks (Shirley!) Grunwald broke from the resulting lineout and his skilful kick forward was put down over the Harborough line by a defender just managing to deny Lutts the try. Five-yard (sorry metre) scrum. McDougall picked the ball up from the base of the scrum, and was driven forward by the pack, only to be held up over the line.
The sustained pressure was starting to tell and strong runs from the backs (Bale, Sandford, and Bruce) all cut through the Harborough defence. In the forwards, Vostanis was all over the park making an impact at the breakdown and in open play. The second half started with more pressure from Lutterworth. Williams made a great take at a Lutterworth lineout and the forwards drove over for Ingham to score his 972nd try of the season. 12-0 to Lutterworth. At this point Harborough woke up and they pressurised Lutterworth who gave away a succession of penalties, leading to Dann being Yellow carded (harshly in my view). This drove some on the spot changes with Williams playing scrum-half for the first time since he was seven (good job he’s grown a bit since then!) With 14 men on the pitch all of the Lutterworth team really stepped up a gear, and it is to their credit that Harborough failed to convert this numerical advantage into points on the scoreboard. Returned to full strength, normal service was resumed with breaks from Sandford, Barker and Bruce once again testing the opposition defence. Finally Goodfellow caught the ball at a Lutterworth line, and the forwards drove forward. Dann then spun the ball wide and Sandford scored in the corner. 17-0 Lutterworth.
"We showed composure today and had patience on the ball. We could have had 3 or 4 more tries. Our scramble defence was excellent today, even with 14 men on the park. We can be proud of what we have achieved today"
Forwards Man of the Match – Alex Vostanis
Backs Man of the Match – Alex Dann
Parent of the Match – Shirley Leeks!!
Match Reporter’s Note: Thanks to Simon, Derrick, Neil and others who helped me on the touchline by watching the game when I wasn’t! Also thanks to the numerous squad members not selected for today’s match who turned up to lend their support to the team. Writing the match report is just as difficult as Dave makes it look!!