Sun 4 Sep 2022, 11:00
The U15's started the new season with a match on week one after a summer of very dry weather and hot mid week training on hard pitches. So they hadn't done a lot of contact training prior to the match. The match was set up as a training game split into 4 quarters to give coaches plenty of opportunity to tweak line ups, correct issues and get everyone available plenty of match time. The refereeing duties were shared between both clubs again to work on coaching opportunities.
The main change in the laws for U15's this year is being able to lift in lineouts, with lineouts still being unopposed, giving the forwards a year to work on this element of the game in a safe environment. The lads have been practising this a lot through the off season and the lineouts worked well today with Oli and Will being the brave souls going up in the air to catch the ball. Their lifters got them back to ground safely on each lift and the hookers threw in accurately too.
The first quarter understandably started a bit slowly with quite a lot of fumbles by both teams with the first team to strike being Moderns when they broke through to score and followed this up with a good conversion. However as the quarter continued, Paviors started to get into their stride, got the ball wide to Elijah who made a break down the left wing and passed to Cole who ran in for a very well taken long distance try. The conversion was just missed.
The second quarter was very even and neither team scored so the half time score was Pavs 5 - Moderns 7.
In the second half Paviors started to really get going. They tackled well, were quicker to rucks and put a lot of pressure on the well drilled Moderns team. After Harry thought he had scored (on the 5m line), Moderns were the first to get more points when the game seemed to stop for an injury but the ref played on and Moderns took a quick tap and go when Paviors weren't ready. This was also converted giving them a 9 point lead but Paviors fought back with a lot of pressure.
The next 2 tries came through strong forward play. Josh drove close to the line and stretched out a long arm to touch down the ball and Nick took a tap penalty from 5m out and there was no stopping him. Another try was scored by Danny after a fumble by the Moderns backs but was not awarded as the ref was playing advantage for a Paviors knock on. The score was now 15 - 14 to Pavs with 2 minutes left.
In the last 2 minutes Moderns decided a risky grubber kick through as a means of grabbing back a winning try, but this was pounced on by the Paviors backs who used the broken field to find space and get the ball out wide on the left again for Cole to break free and score his second try of the game and bring the game to a close.
The rustiness definitely wore off as the game progressed and both teams put on a very entertaining game for the spectators at pitch level and on the balcony. The pitch was hard and a there are a few grazes to heal up this week and hopefully we get rain to soften the pitches up. For a first game of the new year both teams should be really proud of their performances and this will set them up well for an NLD game in 2 weeks time. The lads chose Josh as their Man of the Match but there were plenty of players who this could have been awarded to. The whole team played brilliantly.
