Herts U15 B team took on a formidable Middlesex side at Hertford
RFC on Sunday 23 January 2005. They resisted some early heavy pressure with Andrew
John's line kicking, and, after some
solid work on loose ball by flanker, Jack Cornthwaite, centre Robert Richardson broke through the defence on the half way line. He
ran strongly before offloading to good support from winger Daniel Nansoz 10 metres from the try line. Nansoz finished off the
move under the post and Andrew John
converted. Unfortunately, weak tackling at centre and scrum half allowed Middx
back into the game for a converted try. Further positional confusion coupled
with poor awareness allowed Middx too much space and allowed them to score out
wide, closing the first half down 7-12.
Herts opened up the second half in
attacking mode with Andrew John
placing a long kick right in Middx's corner by the try line. Middx tried to
repel the Herts attack, but Richardson again from space on the half way line for a rapid home run under the
posts. John converted. John also slotted a penalty to put Herts ahead 17-12, but
Middx scored a late converted try for a narrow, but good spirited 17-19 loss.
All 10 replacements were fielded, with
flanker William Fraser making a
significant and direct attacking impact. Some of the replacements,
logistically, cannot possibly come on in their favoured positions. However, in
a squad system they should still be proud to have the opportunity to play for
the County and be in contention for an A team slot. If they have coaching
parents , these parents should understand this too !! Some B team players will
still get the opportunity to play for the A team and even, possibly, go forward
to the National 10s as well as receiving a recommendation, from the Herts U15
Coaches, for Saracens Academy. Although a few parents are frustrated that their
sons are not already in the A team, or playing in their favoured position,
there may be many and varied reasons why, but a history of aggressively arguing
the case to the Herts U15 Management does little to help their sons make their
own way in the rugby world!!
In the same fixture, Herts U15 A team were under the cosh for the early part of their
match and spent a lot of the first half in their own half, and more
particularly, their own 22. Despite this, their defence held well. They only
conceded one unconverted try by half time and Middx missed a penalty kick. The
second half saw rewards for the earlier blockade, and, as Middx tired, the
solid blind side flanker, Miles Dempsey, was rewarded for his hard work with a try which was converted by Fly
half, Zak Vinnicombe. Although
Middx tried to get back into the game, Herts defence held firm. Winger, Lars
Johnson, made an outstanding tackle
on his opposite number, leaving him in a heap close to the touchline! Herts
built on their attacking play and centre, Ian Harrowell, scored two outstanding tries under the posts after
finding space and using his electric pace to break through the defence. Vinnicombe converted both.
Full back, Chris Johns, added the
final score under the posts after a strong run from the half way line with Middx
players unable to get a hand on him.Vinnicombe added the final points for a well earned, 15 man,
20-8 victory.
This keeps the Herts U15 A team 100%
record in 15 a-side matches on track following on from last season.
2003/04, 2004/05 to date:- Played 5,
won 5, 134 for, 35 against.
We must be doing something
right!!
After the match, Herts County ties were
kindly awarded to 24 new County players by County Chairman, John Drew.
This season we currently have a squad of
47. This is about 5-6 too many and is a result of being presented with a lot of
injuries from Club/School rugby before final selection. We kept the door open
for these players. We were also unsure of some players' commitment to County
rugby as we had about 6 players drop out after successfully progressing through
to the final selection stage. Strange that they should go so far and then drop
out of their own volition, but maybe a sign of the times?!
Although our next match is scheduled to
be an A&B fixture against Essex at BSRFC on Sunday 13 Feb, half term
clashes with the RFU's Youth Structured season - which dictates out match
dates. I notified all concerned with the full U15 timetable in September 2004.
However, as several players have just remembered they are going skiing in
February, often booked a year ago, we may yet only run one side. All County U15
players will still train at Hitchin Academy on Wednesday 16 Feb and 2 March,
but as our following fixture, against Eastern Counties is an A team-only-fixture,
we will start to reduce our squad as we approach the 10 a-side campaign.
Subject to confirmation, we have two 10 a-side festivals. The first is the
Easter Counties 10s at Culford School on Sunday 10 April, where we will
probably take around 22 players, before finally reducing to 16, plus 4
"non-travelling reserves", for the flagship, National U15 10
a-side competition at Rugby School scheduled for Saturday 30 April to Monday 2
May 2005.
Regards,
Tony Rea,
Herts U15 Manager 2003/4, 2004/5