U14’s win away at Royston

With Royston having just 10 players available, we loaned them 3 players each half and kept the packs together to give the forwards some good quality game time. Huge thanks to Danny, Connor Attoe, Luke, Callum, Will Goff and Freddy who each took their turn playing in black and white against their team mates.

As it was the backs that were reduced by 2, there was plenty of space for them to run around, and while there was some excellent tackling going in across the park, there was also plenty of misses too as well as plenty of open space which meant it was something of a try fest for both teams, with Datchworth ultimately having the upper hand. Connor Bridge bagged 7 tries, and Matt, Sam and Danny got one each too. Once again our pack was mostly dominant in the set piece, and they got the opportunity to try some nice moves off the back of the scrums and off the lineouts.

Way too many things to note in detail, but some highlights included Danny’s galloping run up the right wing from his own 22 to bag his try; Callum’s Number 8 run off the back of the scrum through 2 defenders before popping it up to Sam to thunder through for his; Thomas Beechey’s lovely pop pass in contact to Matt who was on a beautifully timed run who broke through the defence for his try; and of course several jinking runs and the usual blistering pace from Connor B to secure all of his tries, including one from a scrum deep inside his own 22! In fairness, Callum got a great try too down the right wing after beating 4 defenders, but it was when he was playing for Royston, so we won’t dwell on that one!

Lots of great plays during the match, and we had the buffer in terms of the score line to allow the lads to try some different things, some of which came off, some of which didn’t, but the perfect opportunity to try new ideas. One thing they still need to remember is to run with the ball in two hands, or at least to tuck it under the armpit if they must run with it in one hand, as we lost the ball several times in contact, and through some easy ripping by Royston.

Thomas Beechey was awarded Man of the Match by the captain Matt, for his consistency, hard work and excellent support play throughout the game, and for his work in the breakdown.