Under 11’s call checkmate at Chess Valley

The first game consisted of Finlay Kelly, Matthew Rates, William Goff, William Bacon, Isaac Byrne, Joshua Staddon, Spencer Bayford, Thomas Paine and Thomas Beechey as the starting nine, and they played out of their skins to earn a convincing win scoring 7 tries to 3.

We were treated to some excellent passages of play, including 3-4 pass plays down the perfectly formed line (all players), spins out of tackles to win tries (Joshua, Isaac), pop passes from contact onto running players (William G), huge leg drives in tackles and mauls earning vital yards (Thomas B/William B/Matthew R), some huge tackles across the park (all players) and even the odd box kick or two (Thomas P)! Individual tries came in from William Bacon, Isaac Byrne and Thomas Paine, and a huge tally of 4 tries came from Joshua Staddon after some beautiful flowing rugby – a joy to watch, and particularly pleasing to have one of the Chess Valley coaches specifically come over to congratulate Datchworth on our performance!

For the second game, the starting 9 was made up of Joshua Higgins, Oliver Dean, Benjamin Wright, William Field, Finlay Kelly, Mathew Rates, Thomas Paine, Joshua Staddon and Spencer Bayford, and while the match was a lot tighter, we still took the win 4 tries to 3. Again we saw some great box kicks and quick restarts from Thomas Paine to help us keep on the front foot, but also some excellent chasing of the ball from Oliver Dean and Benjamin Wright which meant that the Chess Valley boys struggled to get up to speed and make ground on the return – we want to see more of that commitment from the boys in future games please! Some big hits from Joshua Staddon again as well as from Finlay Kelly and Mathew Rates, together with 3 tries from William Field and another for Thomas Paine secured the win for us again. Another fine effort lads.

After a short break it was decided to play a third game, and this time even after some fine individual tries from Spencer Bayford, William Bacon and Willim Field, Chess Valley were able to get their speed demons onto the ball more and they were able to run in 5 tries against us. However yet again the lads gave it 100%, and some fine chasing down of the opposition from Cameron Smith for example helped to keep the scoreline close. Nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of for a fantastic morning’s rugby Datchworth Under 11’s!

Roll on the County Tournament!