Quins U15 v Twickenham U15

After a couple of late injury call-offs we were facing Twickenham with only 12 boys… Fortunately Twickenham are a great bunch of lads and allowed us to use their subs in rotation throughout the match so the game was at least played with even numbers.

Big Thank You to Twickenham.

After a strong start from our boys keeping the ball alive through some great off-loading and go-forward, the bigger and stronger Twickenham pack started to win most of the collisions and their powerful rucking saw us cough-up a lot of ball leading to their 1st and 2nd tries.

After the 3rd try, when our heads could have dropped, we dug deep and unearthed some of the resilience and belief the boys are starting to have in themselves.

We went into the break 3 tries to 1 down.

The 2nd third was much the same with Twickenham forwards physically dominating the breakdown and our backline lying too deep in defence so that when the ball was spun out to their backs they managed another try with some slick handling and a great score in the corner. We hit back with a well-worked try of our own to make it 3 tries to 2 (I have no idea what the actual score was… I was too excited watching the match!!).

Unfortunately an instant response from Twix at the restart put them back into a 2-try lead. 4-2.

In the final third our boys picked-up the tempo and started to move the heavier Twickenham pack around the pitch tiring them out and we produced a fantastic, well-controlled multi-phase try under the stix to make it 4-3.

With only ten minutes left, Twickenham scored another cracker through their backline to make it 5-3 and it looked like we would be on the end of a defeat to our local friends.

However the aforementioned resilience and grit kicked-in again and the boys pushed up the field to to make it a 1-try game (5-4) with the last play beckoning from the restart.

A quick huddle from the team and a plan on what to do as soon as we caught the ball saw us edge back up the pitch with a couple of penalties against Twickenham for infringements at the ruck. We did not let them have the ball and in a massive team effort went over the line well into stoppage time to tie the score at 5 tries apiece and, apparently, 29-29… However we still had the conversion to come, which was slotted and the boys left the field in jubilation after clinching a fantastically well-fought game from both sides 31-29.

It’s this sort of rugby that puts a smile on everyones face. Two well-matched teams giving their all and learning at every twist and turn of the match. Belief, teamwork, grit and some fantastic running rugby saw both teams put in a great performance.

It’s impossible to pick out a man of the match as everyone tried their very best and grew in confidence, even as the game got away from them, so no MoM this time but special mentions to James Hall, Daniel Kehoe, Thomas Cowin and Theo Shah for their prodigious work-rate around the park.

See you all Sunday for training to work on our rucking and defensive alignment :)

Finally a huge thank you to Marcus Shepherd for stepping-up at the last-minute to referee the match. His constant chat with the boys made them aware all game of what was going on and what every decision was for. Thanks Marcus.