Old Cats narrowly beat the U16Bs

From your correspondent David Adams

Winter returned to Wilkinson Way on Sunday and the U16B’s entertained a large but cold crowd against Old Cats. With the excellent Doug Ogilvie in charge the opposition kicked off into a strong wind and driving rain and it wasn’t long before the weather had its say. Within a couple of minutes Sam Johnston kicked us into the Old Cats 22 and Ben Seymour won a line out from a perfect throw from Hamish Watson. The pack then drove the ball close to the try line and with a little help from our backs pushed over and the excellent Oli Kirkpatrick touched down.

So first blood to the black and whites and for the next 15 minutes both teams battled it out for possession and territory. The strong wind was affecting the accuracy of passes so the game was mainly fought between the two packs. Although Old Cats were a bigger team there was good defensive tackling from Scott Atchison, Max Foskett, Josh Smith, Kyle Drablow, Charlie Cochrane and Cameroon Bellenger. However some good play by the Old Cats pack and with the help of Harry McGuigan (playing at 9 for OC) one of the oppositions large forwards wriggled through our defence to score close to the posts to make the score 5-7.

Almost immediately from the kick off we were on the offensive and again in their 22. This time it was Old Cats that were tackling well in defence but from the back of a ruck Oli KP made a darting run and was only denied a second try by a high tackle. From the resulting penalty Sam Johnston faked a kick to touch and passed the ball to Hamish Watson who was tackled on the try line. The pack then recycled the ball and Max Foskett sneaked around the heap of bodies to score.

Old Cats wasted no time in mounting another attack and after 5 minutes of pressure, when again we defended well, one of their forwards scored another try. So 10-12 at half time.

The second half started slowly with the weather still wet and windy. It was end to end stuff for the next 15 minutes with all offensive moves being well defended by both sides. Jack Gilbert made one try saving tackle when it looked like the Old Cats forward would score and Oli KP made another good run only to be tackled 10 yards short. However OC’s larger pack was starting to wear us down and from a good spell of pressure Old Cats scored and a few minutes later in a lovely passing move started in their 22, they added another 5 points to their tally. With the OC’s standoff half kicking into corners Will Mylchreest, playing on OC’s right wing, was unlucky not to score.

However Farnham weren’t about to roll over and surrender and Max Williams had a great run down the left wing and a good pass to Seb D’Entrecasteux almost lead to a try. However from the resulting passage of play Nye Johnson got the ball to Gus Andersen who’s pace was too much for the OC defence. Gus then converted his try to make the final score 17-22.

Sam and Al would like to thank the boys who volunteered to play for Old Cats Elliot Beach, Tom Adams, Hari Tote, Will, Nye, Hamish and Harry. Podium points went to;
3rd Gus Andersen for all round performance, good kicking and his excellent try
2nd Max Foskett on his return to rugby, a poachers try and high tackle count
1st Scott Atchison for his strong tackling and defensive play