U12s
Matches
Sun 01 Mar 2015
Uckfield U12 As & Bs
10:00
Farnham R.U.F.C.
U12s
U12s day trip to Sunny Uckfield

U12s day trip to Sunny Uckfield

Steve Ratcliffe6 Mar 2015 - 00:26
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.farnhamrugby.org/t

The U12 As and Bs had a great trip to fantastic hosts, Uckfield. Click for more

Well, What a great way to spend a Sunday morning!

Rain had been forecast earlier in the week but by the time Sunday came round, the clouds parted and glorious blue skies prevailed.

The coach left Wilkinson Way at 8:45am sharp but the driver seemed to have only a passing acquaintance with the principles of navigation and his sat nav (£9.99 from Lidl) seemed to have decided to take the assembled throng to Uckfield via Ulan Bator. After a mere hour and 45 mins we rolled gracefully into URFC, nestled in the rolling south downs. With great weather ahead, where better for a morning’s rugby and a six nations match in the afternoon?

Uckfield had delivered a squad and a half of prime U12s and Crowborough arrived with a similar contingent. Farnham had a full compliment of As and Bs, all ready to rock and roll. The boys started by running their own drills to warm up – Who needs coaches?

At 11am the As assembled on a satisfyingly claggy pitch to play the Red and White hoops of Crowborough’s As whilst the Bs took on the mighty Purple and Gold Uckfield. Crowborough started strongly with an early score and imposed themselves on the game. After their traditional slow start, the Farnham boys dug in and scored an equaliser via a Hamish Watson special. Charlie Cochrane played a blinder with some George Ford like kicks out of hand and in the second half Dylan (Dancing Feet) Milner scored a fantastic try and the boys finished caked in mud but happy with a 2-1 win.

Meanwhile on the other pitch, Uckfield had rested their top 5 players but their remaining side was still on top form and with the benefit of home advantage ground out a deserved 4 -0 win.

For round 2, Uckfield’s strongest players took on the As whilst Crowborough’s Bs took on the mighty Farnham Bs. The Bs were on fire after their previous match and dominated all phases of the game. First to score was Barney Swift with a super try. Will Mylchreest then bossed a score. In the second half William Burbage ran in two majestic tries for a 4-0 win. The As had a tougher time. Uckfield’s A pack had weight, height and strength but buoyed by a good performance vs Crowborough, the As pack once again dominated the set piece, pushing the sizeable Uckfield boys off the ball regularly. Eventually, Uckfield showed their quality with a great try but Farnham fought back gallantly, allowing Jake Epps to stick one over the line. 1-1 at half time would have been a deserved full time result but it was disappointing to see the purple shirts create a neat move to go 2-1 up in the second half and that’s the way it ended. On balance the better team won but the boys played with passion and had the better technique although it wasn’t enough to overcome the formidable Uckfield As. A special mention must go to Nye Johnson who was playing his first game for the As as scrum half. He made a fabulous job of it, sniping and darting in all the right places and made a real difference.

Finally a 13 a side game was arranged to give more of the Uckfield squad a go. A number of the talented B squad were drafted in to bolster the numbers. Barney Swift, Cameron Bellenger and Oli Waite joined the As and to a man they all made a magnificent contribution. By half time, the score was nil all and it was only a single score which gave Uckfield the win the the second half.

What a great morning’s rugby! The team then retired to the club house for a much needed shower followed by a generous lunch laid on by Uckfield. Shame England couldn’t deliver a performance as strong against Ireland but I guess we can’t have it all.

Well done to all those who made the trip down. Special thanks to Dominic and Alistair for coaching the As and Bs and to Mike for his (occasionally iffy but fair) refereeing skills. Maybe we’ll take them if they return to fortress Farnham for a return game next year.

Match details

Match date

Sun 01 Mar 2015

Kickoff

10:00

Meet time

09:30
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Principal Partner - Saltus