Folkestone U11’s at Thanet with Dover and Ash - 29 January 2012

On a cold and damp morning 22 hardy young souls (and parents) visited the north eastern corner of the county to play matches against Thanet, Dover & Ash. As we have the largest squad it was decided that Folkestone would put out two teams with an additional two players in each side from Dover. The idea was to get all children playing in five teams, with one team having a coaching session when not playing.

The young Stone’s were divided into two balanced squads and sent on their way to play in various matches. Below is the report for one side and following on is the report from Alan’s Folkestone Reds.

In their first match against Ash the U11’s went down to two tries in the first half due to tackles being missed and players standing and watching the ball rather than competing for it. Unfortunately this was a trend for the day.

However in the second half Folkestone came back and scored two good tries, firstly from a quickly taken tap penalty by Nat who offloaded to Ollie, who worked the ball back to Nat who crashed over. This rejuvenated the side who continued to press Ash before Poppy crashed over from short range. With the match finely balanced and procession changing hands regularly, Ash managed to cross the line in the last move of the match to snatch victory.

Up next were their usual team mates and as usual a hard fought match with the Folkestone Reds (Alan’s group in bibs).

On then to play Dover and Ryan & Cameron our extra players lent by Dover were up to show their mates their skills. A close match ensued with good defensive play by both teams keeping the other side out. Unfortunately the habit of ball watching and lack of tackling cost two tries, before Folkestone woke up and came back with a try from Percil. Dover scored again before Tom M reduced the deficit, but Folkestone couldn’t conjure another try as each break wasn’t supported & Dover kept turning over the ball.

Finally the hosts Thanet and confusion as to whether the game would go ahead. We were ready, but Thanet were packing up so we switched off and then Thanet wanted to play. Unfortunately it took three quarters of the match for Folkestone to realise they were there to play rugby, when four tries down, although the U11’s had a try disallowed when Nat and Percil seemed to ground the ball before Thanet got under it. They then scored two quick tries from Percil and Tom M. Thanet then managed to reply with the last move of the match.

Although lack of tackling and not committing to rucks and mauls cost this team, there were aspects of good interlinking play when they threatened every team they played against and often looked the more accomplished side.

Now to the Reds… Folkestone (reds) got off to a slow start, against a physically much larger Thanet side on a tapering pitch, and conceded 4 tries in the first half whilst defending the wide end. After the break, and with the narrow end advantage, Folkestone began to wake up and put in some good tackles; of particular note was a try saving tackle by Tom Evans against a Wanderer almost twice his size. In spite of a much improved second half performance Folkestone were unable to score in spite of coming close on a couple of occasions. Thanet ran in their 5th try to make the final score 25-0.

The reds second game was against the other half of the Folkestone squad. The teams were very evenly matched and both sides put up battling displays the share the honours at 20-20. The highlight of the game came from Ben Verkaik who gathered up a loose ball and ran in a great solo effort try.

Folkestone reds final game of the day was against Dover. A closely matched and very physical game saw Dover running out 15-10 winners. The packs were very evenly matched and there was some good mauling throughout the game. Ben got his second try of the morning after being released down the left hand side before diving in for the score.

Excellent personal performances came from prop Danny Gilligan and Simon Goodden playing at no.9, both giving 100% throughout the morning. Danny was at the centre of the pack, leading the way and made some penetrating runs making great gains. Simon caused real problems for his opposite numbers and was in the thick of it both in defence and attack.

Special thanks go to Alex and Callum who joined Folkestone reds from Dover and allowed Folkestone to field two full sides.