Folkestone U14s 0 – 52 Canterbury U14s

Suffice to say that Folkestone struggled to contain the elusive runners in the visitor’s back line and at the same time found it difficult to break a well-organised defence. One particular area of concern though is the number of turnovers that Folkestone conceded. Time and again Folkestone runners found themselves isolated and the lack of quick support resulted in lost ball. Canterbury were also very good at stripping the ball in the tackle. These are both areas where the Folkestone lads were taught a bit of a lesson. Hopefully they will learn from it.

There were a few encouraging signs though, even in such a heavy defeat. The Folkestone scrum gave their opponents a difficult morning and Jack Edwards’ distribution from scrum half got visibly sharper as the first half progressed. The Canterbury defence had to work hard to contain the direct running of Sid Gurung, Ben Proctor, George Way and Dylan Himbury and conversely a number of the Folkestone lads distinguished themselves with some fine tackling – notably Jack Hill, Sam Baker, George Way, Charlie Watson and Harry Clark.

One final word for Douglas Wood, who pulled off one of the most remarkable charge-downs of a kick that this correspondent has ever seen, not only charging down the kick but catching the ball at the same time! It was a piece of skill that deserved a try and on another day it would have resulted in one. Sadly though, not this day…