U13s at the seaside

. . .but they took their sons with them and it was worthwhile in the end...

The game was played in four 15 minute quarters against what transpired to be the Worthing development team for the first and fourth quarters and their first team for the second and third quarters. Ensians had just 16 players and it was clear that stamina would play a part.

Q1
John started his contribution early by winning the toss and electing to kick off; Henry obliged and Worthing failed to collect cleanly, the ball spilling out and being hacked down the left touchline where Benjamin celebrated his 13th birthday by pouncing on the loose ball to score in the corner within 15 seconds of the start. John failed with the conversion attempt, which given the distance was not surprising.

Worthing kicked off, but this time the catch was clean by Matt Jones who made a little ground and set up a ruck on our 10 metre line. The ball was passed out to John who unsurprisingly ran through to score under the posts, although he surely made a mistake by allowing Henry to take the easy conversion.

No score from the kick off this time, but after a messy period of play a destructive tackle from Ruaridh forced a knock on by Worthing; John picked up the ball and passed to Chris Andrews who ran through to score in the right corner. John once again elected to take the difficult kick and fairly drilled it over from the touchline.

After a couple of minutes of messy play Scotty, playing at number 8, stole the ball from a Worthing scrum that was in all sorts of trouble and ran in from 15 metres to score under the posts. Once again Henry converted.

This time Worthing inexplicably kicked off straight to John who caught the ball on his own 22 and ran straight up the right wing to score, although the poor dear was too tired to go round behind the posts. He still managed to convert the extra points, though...

End of Q1 Worthing Development 0 – Redingensians 33

Q2
This quarter was played against much tougher opposition and the sides were quite evenly balanced. Worthing did score, though with their big inside centre running down the left wing to score after evading three tacklers. No conversion.

End of Q2 – Worthing 5 – Redingensians 0

Q3
The same tough opposition and the same story. The teams cancelled each other out, but eventually the big inside centre broke through to score again, this time right next to the posts. The conversion attempt failed again, although to be fair it was right into the teeth of the horizontal rain.

End of Q3 – Worthing 5 – Redingensians 0

Q4
For the final quarter the Worthing Development team returned to the pitch, although by this stage the conditions were positively appalling with the horizontal rain in our boys’ faces – not ideal given they had almost all played the whole match.

Nevertheless things started well with Henry collecting a failed kick to touch and slipping the ball inside to Shane who ran through to score from his own 10 metre line. Benjamin was given the honour of converting from in front of the posts as the final nice thing that was to happen to him on his birthday...

A couple of minutes later Scotty picked up from a ruck inside his own half and ran through to score under the posts. He took the conversion himself and managed to get it over off the bar.

After a scrappy period of play the final act of the match was for the Worthing scrum half to take a quick penalty on the 22 and run through to score under the posts following Shane’s perfectly executed, but highly illegal, dump tackle. Unfortunately for Worthing the conversion attempt went wide off the post and a minute or so later the ball was kicked off the pitch to end the fourth quarter and the game.

End of Q4 – Worthing Development 5 – Redingensians 14

Final score – Worthing 15 – Redingensians 47

To summarise, it was a long way to go and the weather was awful, but the boys played well and there was a good spirit on both sides. Thanks to Worthing for making us extremely welcome.

Post Script; take a look at the match report on the Worthing website; whilst it is written from their perspective it is a true and positive account of the day and further evidence of the good spirit of the day.

Oh, and for those who were wondering, Benjamin was rolled in the mud at the end of the game...

Steve Giles