Fantastic in defence - but still a loss

On a grey and miserable morning where the rain showed no signs of stopping or as we all know it, rugby weather; the Folkestone U13s arrived at Ash ready for their 3rd game of the season. Buoyed by a close game the weekend before at Sittingbourne, there were high hopes for another good performance this week.

Right from the kick off Ash showed their intent with a strong run well into Folkestone territory, this we met with a robust defence from the Folkestone lads, signs of some good rucking early on. An Ash knock on at this point gave Folkestone their first chance of possession and the first chance for the 2 packs to test each other, both sides appeared well matched in the scrum.

From here on in, the play follows an established pattern, both teams playing well, but Folkestone were pegged back in their own half, showing time after time how their tackling and defensive play has improved game on game. A near try to Ash sees Jason Baker bring the ball out with a good run, for one of Stones’ best moves of the game so far.

A line out follows soon after and the Folkestone team have gained a little momentum and have progressed to the Ash half now. Some excellent passing sees the ball move out to the wing, only to give away the advantage by not releasing the ball on the ground. During a short break to allow one of the Ash lads to dust himself down, the Folkestone boys huddled together, the belief growing that they can get a win.
The next few minutes see Folkestone moving forwards, taking the ball in to the Ash half. Unfortunately the slippery ball and a good run sees Ash overturn the possession and get behind the Folkestone team for the first try of the game. Folkestone, having felt confident just moments earlier, were clearly shell shocked at the speed of the Ash try, so much so Ash got a 2nd just minutes later. With the Stones still struggling an Ash scrum inside their own half led to a 3rd try for the visitors to go in 15-0 down at half time.

The second half picked up where the first left off, Ash scoring 2 early tries. For the most part, the second half was played exclusively in the last third of the pitch, close to the Folkestone try line. Folkestone briefly shone again with a good move, Finley Pleace picking up the ball and passing on to David Gunn, then on to Ben Fairclough to cut inside taking the ball into Ash territory but it wasn't to last. A big scrum by Ash saw them score a 3rd try of the half, a 4th would have followed but for a huge tackle by Finley Pleace. The game was rounded out with a final try and conversion for Ash, taking the full time score to 41-0 to Ash.

This was a hard fought game were Folkestone showed real grit and determination in challenging conditions. The defence was strong today, but maybe this was part of the downfall. Too much energy expended defending to be able to move the ball forward efficiently. Jason Baker and Aidan Fagg again showed their commitment but the rest of the team are catching them up. Ben Fairclough continued to show his ability to tackle anything, but the Folkestone player of the match this week went to Finley Pleace for his tackling, awareness and movement around the pitch.

U13s Squad: Mason Colchester-Long, Thomas Davey, George Pettifer, Aidan Fagg, Theo Faulkner, Jacob Ashby, Sam Adams, David Gunn, Nicholas Mitchell, Alex Cooke, Barney Mackenzie, Jason Baker, Patrick Matthews, Noah Reynolds, Ben Jeffery, Ben Fairclough, Jake Baker, James Lawrie, Rory Hards, Finley Pleace.