U15s vs Farnham

On a mild morning atRedingensians we welcomed Farnham R.F.C in another match that was arranged within the last week.Ensians had almost a full squad with 25 boys available.
The format of the match was agreed by coaches on both sides to 3 periods of 20mins ensuring lots of game time for all players.
Farnham kicked off first & the ball was retained by Ensians& through several phases of play the ball was in Phillip’s hands who made a good straight run & was tackled near the line & his pop pass was taken over the line but was held up. From the scrum Alex Crocker took the ball on the blind side & was adjudged to have made a double movement to get the ball over the line. Farnham cleared the ball from the penalty. At the line-out Ensians stole the ball & as the ball was moved through the backs, Yannic made a lovely move looping around AlexCanham& was tackled into touch. Ensians was keeping the pressure on with plenty of ball being re-cycled, maybe a bit of “WHITE LINE FEVER” led to chances being squandered. From some more re-cycled ball a pass in midfield was intercepted & a try was scored by Farnham against the run of play. The conversion was missed. The momentum was still with the boys & from a ruck Ross was first to the tackle area (as he always seems to be) & Farnham were pinged for holding on. Conor kicked the penalty to bring the first period to an end, with the score.
Redingensians 3 – 5 Farnham

The 2ndperiod began with all replacements coming on for Ensians. The pattern of play was the same with the boys re-cycling the ball, on one occasion the ball was passed along the backs to Samuel who with a few swerves made good ground & at the ruck the boys were penalised for going off their feet.
A quick tap penalty was taken by Max, the ball was passed through the hands of Alex Canham&Yannic who were communicating well putting into practise the moves practised at training. As the ball was passed to Richard on the wing a lovely side step inside his man & he was over for the try. (A stalwart of the breakfast club, Catman was conspicuous by his absence to see his son’s try. A hefty fine on tour to be upheld no doubt). The conversion was missed. The tackling by both sides was of a very good standard, so any ground made had to be earned.
Farnham had their rolling maul working well & the boys were working hard to stop just short of the line.
From a 5 metre scrum their No. 8 picked up & powered over the line for the try, the conversion was successful. This was the last play of the 2nd period.
Ensians 8 – 12 Farnham.
Farnham had possession from the start of the 3rd period & were awarded a penalty. A quick tap was taken & a dummy was thrown & try was scored, the conversion was missed. Ensians were having the best of the scrums as the work done on technique was showing. From one scrum the ball was with Yannic who side –stepped & looked certain to score, but yet again another fine tackle stopped him. The ball was quickly re-cycled & Ben Espley was able to score a try. The conversion from the touch line was successful by Conor. Straight from the kick-off the ball was retained & not for the first time Yannic ran hard & straight making plenty of ground. As the ball was retained Callum was able to power over the line, Conor added another conversion. Ensians were now playing at a high tempo & at the next maul the ball was stolen, Alex Canham took the ball to the blind side & his pass was timed perfectly for Archie to score on his debut for the club (Always a great way to mark your debut). The re-start was collected by George whose strong run made plenty of ground, quick ball gave Ryan space to exploit & this time he decided to ground the ball over the try line. The conversion was made by Conor. Farnham to their credit kept their heads up. At a line-out the ball was thrown over the top & collected at speed for them to score. The conversion was good & this turned out to be the last play of the match.
A thoroughly good game of rugby played by both sides played in the true spirit of the gameThe referee was Paul Lee whose officiating of the game gave both sides the chance to play a good flowing game.
Man of the Match was : Alex Crocker.
Man of Steel was : Richard Catlin.
Lemming of the week went to Ryan Spong.
However Ryan did redeem himself somewhat by winning the drink-off.