U14 Bs continue winning ways at Ironsides!!

Waterfall Cup U14s - Surrey Cedar
Battersea Ironsides B - 5
Farnham B - 22

On a windy, grim day in South London, we scalped Battersea Ironsides, making up for the Bowl trophy loss in last year's tournament. The boys came away worthy 22-5 winners after dominating all but the first 5 minutes.

In what must now be considered our trademark, we started slowly, only really coming alive when our goal-line was threatened. Battersea had some very big lads, but were unable to capitalise on lots of early possession beyond a scrappy score in the first few minutes of play. A few missed tackles and we were down 5-0. We made a quick tactical rotation, and bounced straight back with Josh Warner, Jack Bonthuys and Reef Mitchell tearing through the Battersea pack in a march up the steep incline to their line, with Josh going over for a deserved score. 5-5. In impossibly windy conditions, snug up against the touchline, Henry Thompson's conversion hit the upright and so very nearly went over! Minutes later Nicky Da Gama Rose broke their line and scored on the other side of the pitch, following some great distribution at the ruck by Orsino Hampden-Woodfall. 5-10.

While Battersea made us work a bit for our third try, it was fast possession and attacking space that saw the ball miss the halfbacks and go straight to Rory Hodges who went over for our third try. 5-15.

We were downhill in the second half and although there were some issues with our rucking, we were the much more disciplined team throughout. The penalty count started to go in our favour and Battersea lost their heads a number of times. There were some 'spirited' (aka dangerous) tackles from Battersea, but it's a testament to the maturity that the squad is showing that they did not respond. Rather they took the game to Battersea, rucking hard and providing lots of opportunities for Reef, Nicky, Jack and Tom Sims to make yards beyond the gainline.

Josh Warner was at the centre of things at No.8 and went over in the 45th minute for a deserved second try after the forwards had recycled the ball four or five times. 5-20. Tom Quick converted well with the wind blowing, and it was a fitting last score on a day when the whole team performed well, even after our traditional sluggish start. 5-22. This was a great team display and there were a number of outstanding performances; notably Josh, Tom, Rory and Nicky. However, for sheer determination and committment to tackling, Reef Mitchell got the shirts to wash and was man of the match.

Tries:
Josh Warner (2)
Rory Hodges
Nicky Da Gama Rose

Cons:
Tom Quick

Man of the Match:
Reef Mitchell