Sunday saw the Ensians U13 squad travel to Newbury for their next fixture in the Berkshire League. Having lost the previous week to Bracknell, probably one of our fiercest rivals over the years of mini rugby, it was important for the squad to not only put in a performance, but to come away with the win. Twenty seven boys made the journey for both a pre league Sevens game and the following full fixture.

The Sevens game
Referee: Giles Perry
Team: Rich C, Ben H, Jack, Will A, Ryan, Samuel, Michael

With no room for subs and clearly playing a physically smaller side, Ensians 7s team knew they would have the freedom to take the game to Newbury. The boys were definitely up for it and played extremely well from start to end. The first try went to Will with a smooth dummy and burst for the line. Ryan was next on the score list with some good hands creating the overlap allowing a positive stroll over the last few yards. Two more tries for Ensians followed in the first half with Michael supporting well to take a good offload and score followed by a great kick over the top of the Newbury defense from Will allowing Ryan to catch the ball on the bounce to get his second of the day.

The second half was more competitive but still produced two more tries for Ensians. First up was Ben touching down after some good handling and a gift from Ryan. Finally, came Jack’s turn with a good burst through two tackles.

Final score: Ensians 30 Newbury 0

This reporter was suitably impressed by the Ensians side who I can’t remember missing a tackle in the whole game – Samuel and Richard may not have made the score list but there will be a number of Newbury players nursing aching muscles after some of the hits they took from the pair of them. There was great organisation by a team that talked to each other and seemed to enjoy having the freedom to just play rugby. Well done guys, exceptionally good sevens performance.

Berkshire League game
Referee: Paul Clark
Squad: Madge, Charlie, Jason, Luke, Callum, Aidan, Cheesy, Ben E, Ross, James, Aaron, Alex C, TG, Bryn, Liam, Alex C, George W, Guy, Ryan, Ben H, Joseph, Max

With a number of changes to the starting fifteen, both players and positional, Ensians needed to start well in what was always going to be a competitive match. Newbury were certainly determined and had a couple of big strong lads in the forwards and some good runners in the backs that were going to test the Ensians’ side. Over the last two League games, Ensians have started well but failed to secure the points their efforts deserved but today was going to be different.

Early on in the game, Ensians handled well to allow Bryn to run the ball deep into the Newbury 22. Good support allowed the ball to be recycled and Ensians forwards drove the ball over the line through some well-called “scoops” to allow Callum to score the first try. Not to be deterred, Newbury fought back and were soon to take the lead. A scrum to Newbury saw them burst through the inside channel thanks to a couple of missed tackles by Ensians. The try scorer went under the posts and the subsequent conversion made it 7 – 5 to Newbury.

Ensians soon restored their lead with a well taken line out against the throw. Passed out through the backs, Liam straightened the line to offload to Bryn who went over in the right hand corner, 10 – 7 Ensians. From the resultant kick off came perhaps Ensians finest score. Cheesy took the catch, ran straight and received some quick support. With the ball quickly recycled, the ball went down the back line with a good inside pass to Guy on the inside run. Some more good support and the ball was recycled once more, fed to the backs for Bryn to score his second try of the day, converted by Guy, 17 – 7 in Ensians favour.

The rest of the half was played mainly in Ensians half as Newbury battled to close the gap. However, some good tackling and even better organisation saw Ensians hold out until the half time whistle.

The second half started with a penalty for a high tackle giving Ensians an additional three points from Guy’s conversion. Next up was Bryn with his third try of the game after some excellent scrumaging on the Newbury five metre line by the Ensians forwards. Quick hands saw the ball move to Bryn in the centre and a quick burst of speed was unanswerable by the Newbury defense, 25 – 7.

At this point Ensians relaxed a little allowing Newbury to get their second try of the game – weak tackling was mainly to blame with Ensians defense failing to close down the attacking players, 25 – 12.

Although the gap had closed, Ensians now started to play with a combination of commitment and confidence. Pinned back in their own half after a nice kick by Newbury, Alex Canham then took the ball on the right wing and through a combination of great running and kicks forward, took the ball all the way down the Newbury five metre line. The resultant scrum gave the backs the ball to be fed out to George on the left wing to score Ensians fifth try and put some more daylight between the teams.

One more try before the end of the game was to come for Ensians and again thanks to some good running by the backs. Another mazy run by Alex and the ball came to Bryn who closed out the game with the final score converted by Guy. Final score 37 -12.

Man of the match award went to Luke who had his first start in the League fixtures and proved that the “players in waiting” are more than capable of stepping up to the mark. Well played Luke and all the team for a performance that showed courage, commitment and confidence.

Match details

Match date

Sun 20 Mar 2011

Kickoff

11:00

Team overview