Under 14s squeezed out try-fest at Donkey Lane on Sunday (21/04)

End of season kicking lesson for Enfield by Rob 'Hold The Back Page' Painter

In the boys' final game before the season finale on Tour they started as brightly as the spring morning. Two good, wide passes followed a good catch from kick off. David carried up the middle strongly twice, with the ball being well secured each time. Max made ground on the wing and was in danger of being isolated but for Patrick getting in quickly to protect the ball. Donal scored in the very next phase. Superb attacking and well connected rugby all round. 5-0:two mins

The sharp start proved to be our best rugby of the first half. Fullerians are a good side and came back strongly to lead 17-5 by half time. We had beaten a largely ‘B’ team in Watford pre Christmas. Today they brought most of their ‘A’ team as both sides rotated players regularly in an enlarged squad friendly played over 60mins.

All three of the first half Fullerians tries came from clever kicking. After winning a turnover, Fullerians kicked well into space to clear. They regained the ball, then won a penalty for a high tackle. The penalty got the away side into our 22. Eventually pressure told for them to level the scores. 9mins. 5-5. On 18 minutes we had a repeat. Another kick chase led to Fullerians regaining the ball and playing the game in our 22, before scoring. 5-12. Then from a line out on half way a box kick (called by the coach on the side line) into space wasn't cleared by Ignatians allowing a score through our broken defence. 5-17: twenty six mins.

Between the hat-trick of scores via the boot Enfield enjoyed some possession and territory. A try opportunity was fashioned from good hands across the back line after a line out, with Ollie G eventually hauled down just short of the line. But too often our runners carried the ball back into traffic rather than moving the ball further outside where we had numbers and space. And too often ball carriers ran into tackles without immediate support from their teammates to retain the ball.
HT 5-17.

The second half started well for the home side. They looked sharper and hungrier after some ‘words’ at the interval. The boys moved the ball well to the wider channels twice before Patrick crossed to bring us back within 5pts. 12-17. 32mins. Enfield had further chances only halted by knock ons before we fell to the Fullerians boot again. A smart kick over the top found space and a very fortuitous backwards bounce went into grateful Fullerian hands for an easy run in. 12-24. 39mins.

The Fullerians try was a setback after a good period after the break. However just minutes later we scored following good hands, a Matteo run and another good burst from Max. Liam S scored from 20 yards breaking through two defenders. 19-24. 41mins.

Then suddenly the boys in Blue and Gold went ahead! Ollie S intercepted and fed Patrick, who had a quite superb game with his running, to score under the posts. 26-24 44mins. The score line improved further on 49 minutes with recent scorers Patrick and Liam S carrying well before David got over the line from short range. 33-24. 49mins.

A twelve point half time deficit at half time had been turned into a 9pt advantage in 19 second half minutes. Credit to the boys who appeared more energetic. However Fullerians scored an easy try just a minute later to set up an anxious finish. 33-31 50mins.

The final ten minutes were played in our own half as perhaps Fullerians reverted to the full A side to grab the win. The game became very scrappy with several scrums, where we struggled more than in recent weeks. Enfield defended valiantly. A couple of times the boys chose to run the ball out of defence from our own 22. This time next year we expect them to learn to exit with a strong kick but it’s not in their repertoire yet and a poor kicked clearance is both more likely and a riskier choice right now. Just before the final whistle Fullerians thought they had scored, Enfield thought they had won the ball holding them up on the line! Instead the away side were awarded a scrum. With the clock well into the red Fullerians then passed the ball wide and scored in the corner for a late, late winner. 33-36 FT.

Despite a bit of a lesson in the art of kicking as an attacking weapon the squad performed well against a side divisions above them. The coaches were pleased that the matchday squad of 28 competed so well across the extended game with the significant rotation of players. Alfie said in his post match presentation that the squad would not have put in this level of performance 6 months ago, and he is right, the squad is now much deeper in numbers, quality and now game experience.

And so we roll on to the tour for the season finale…get your change ready for the amusements.