Redingensians U 15’s. 17 V 0 Reading U 15’s. (BYL)

Berkshire League.
6th January 2013.
Redingensians U 15’s. 17 V 0 Reading U 15’s.

On a misty morning at Reading R.F.C both teams kicked off their League fixtures.
Reading kicked off; the ball was secured & was moved through a couple of phases with both Liam & Colm having strong runs. A penalty was given for a high tackle. Yannic found touch with his kick (not to be the first time he achieved this). From the line-out Reading won the ball & set up a maul, then the shove came on from the Ensians forwards pushing their opponents back & a scrum was won because of this. The work put in on the training ground on the scrum machine was to tell all game , as time & time again the ball was put on a plate for Alex Crocker to set the backs going.
At one ruck Reading was awarded a penalty & as the outside-half attempted to clear downfield his kick was charged down by Alex Canham, who retrieved the ball & ran under for posts for the opening score. Conor Boyd converted for a 7-0 lead.
The rest of the half followed a familiar pattern with both sides trying to make ground, but due the standard of tackling on both sides not much ground was made. The play took place between both sides 22’s, there were several knock-on’s from both sided as the play became a bit scrappy. So as the ref blew for half-time the score was still Ensians winning 7-0.
Ensians kicked off the 2nd half, the play continued to be a bit scrappy again with knock-on’s from both sides. As Ensians started to apply pressure a penalty was won by Ross Green for the player not releasing. Conor kicked the penalty from a fair way out to make the score 10-0.
As the play unfolded from the kick-off Reading upped their game & were trying their best to get back into the game. However the defensive tackling on their own line by Ensians ensured that even though Reading re-cycled the ball several times, they were forced back about 30 metres.
By now the Ensians scrum was dominant & at every scrum was told by the Ref to halt the push as Reading were being pushed back. From one Reading scrum they were pushed off their ball & Crocker released Canham who side stepped & then threw a dummy to release Liam Cook. As Liam was carrying the ball in 2 hands he was able to show the ball to the defence & hold them as he stepped inside to run under the posts. The conversion by Conor was successful to take the score to 17-0.
The confidence in Ensians play was evident as the ball was being moved by all players across the field. Yannic retrieved the ball from one kick up field by Reading & after a strong hand off set Ryan Spong down the wing. It took a great tackle by his opposing number to halt him in his tracks. There was time for one more planned move by the backs with an inside ball to Liam who unfortunately knocked on in the tackle.
The Ref blew the final whistle with Ensians winning 17-0.
A game played in great spirit by both sides with the defensive tackling tht would have pleased both sets of coaches.
The coaches had a HARD job in selecting the following:
Man of Steel : Max Clark.
Man of Match : Callum Large
So a great start to the League, a special mention to all forwards today as they set the platform for the rest of the team to play. A thank-you to ALL boys who turned up today even though some never got on to the field. This is a SQUAD game & all boys will get plenty of game time.
Neil Thomas.