Success again for U14s in EK Cup

A successful trip down the coast for U14s

Deal and Betteshanger 5 Folkestone 55

By Mark Santer

The journey down the coast to Deal was undertaken with high expectations of a good day’s rugby, and spectators at this game were not disappointed.

Folkestone won the toss and put Deal to play with the wind which was blowing quite hard.Deal started the match with a kick and immediately announced that they were going to play a fast and physical game, sterling defence by Folkestone didn’t manage to change possession and some clever movement of the ball through hands saw Deal go over for the first score. But the high wind was not to be helpful to kickers in this game and it was not converted.

That was Folkestone’s wake- up call. We had to respond quickly, and respond we did, with Harry Wren and Louis Santer at inside and outside centres working well together the push up the field began, careless play and a knock on allowed an early scrum and put in by Deal which came out sideways and was contested in the loose by Dan Croker blindside flanker, the resulting ball out to Rory Morgan on the wing gave him a chance to show his pace and run in for a try from the halfway line. Jack Hobbs took the conversion kick well and we were off the mark.

The pack dominated most of the scrums, and Connor Leather, Mike Alchin and Burt Guilfoyle worked tirelessly for the entire game.

The rest of the first half was a terrific contest and Deal really tested the Folkestone resolve in every area. Rob Sherrard had been quiet in the game so far and it was not until half way through the first half he started to receive quality ball from Teds Morris, playing at scrum half, and exploited his pace and strength to run in two tries for Folkestone, one of which was converted by Josh Palmer. So at half time Deal 5 Folkestone 19

The beginning of the second half was when our champagne moment came, Deal were battling very hard keeping possession well, and eager to claw back the deficit, their number eight and front row running tackling and driving hard, Jack Hobbs put in a monster tackle causing the ball to spill from the Deal player. We rucked over with numbers to secure the ball came off the back of the ruck through hands and Josh Palmer, number ten, put it to boot and pumped the ball into the Deal try zone, it was then a straight footrace between the retreating Deal backs and Josh, supported by Hobbsie. Finally it was Hobbsie who dived full stretch amongst the Deal players trying to recover the ball, and got a hand to it scoring in the right hand corner, a brave act taking us further ahead. The angle was a tough one, regardless of the still high wind, and it remained unconverted. Changes at half time saw Luke (Scotty) McAdam replace flanker Tyler Russell, who had given everything and was exhausted. Scotty ripped ball from a Deal forward in open play and ran through six opponents to score between the posts, this was probably a run of over 30 metres: awesome! Hobbsie popped over the conversion and we were 31 points up.

Harry Wren showed his pace in another long run in that started from some really good movement of the ball from within our own half and put his name on the score sheet, this time converted by Josh. Max Howitt came on at scrum half to weave more of his magic. AlexPrice came on to replace Charlie Stratford at eight, and continued to do some sterling physical work.

Matt Karim replaced Charlie Hewitt in the second row, and Fred Packman replaced second row Luke Thorpe, both of whom had worked tirelessly at every breakdown. Dan and Scotty worked well together, and we were gaining territory through some quality phases of rugby. Scotty ran in two more tries, both unconverted.

Billi Stonebridge and Isaac Bolton injected some fresh- legs pace into proceedings and we kept driving up the pitch creating opportunities

The final bit of icing on this particular cake was that Flanker Dan Croker was rewarded for all his big hits and relentless driving up field with a great try…his first for Folkestone! And Hobbsie stepped up for a sweet kick to convert.

This was not an occasion to single out an individual as man of the match because in the minds of the coaches Paul Tim and Mark this was some of the best teamwork rugby we had seen them play. We did however recognize Hobbsie’s champagne moment.

Tries Scotty McAdam (3) Rob Sherrard (2) Jack Hobbs Harry Wren Rory Morgan and Dan Croker

Conversions; Hobbsie 6 points Josh 4 points

Squad: Alchin (capt) Connor Leather, Burt Guilfoyle, Luke Thorpe, Charlie Hewitt, Tyler Russell, Dan Croker, Charlie Stratford, Alex Price, Isaac Bolton, Max Howitt, Teds Morris, Billi Stonebridge, Fred Packman, Matt Karim, Scotty McAdam, Josh Palmer, Harry Wren, Rory Morgan, Louis Santer, Rob Sherrard, Jack Hobbs.

Thanks to Alistair Sutton for his support of the squad.