Sunday, December 05, 2004
Ashford Under Extend Winning Streak to 14 Matches
At the weekend, playing away at Gravesend, Ashford Under 12s enjoyed comfortable wins over Gravesend and Tunbridge Wells and extended their current winning streak to 14 matches.
Gravesend 14 (2 tries) v Ashford 28 (4 tries)
In the opening match, Ashford, playing up a steep slope, suffered from a series of adverse penalty decisions and poor tackling. As a result, they went behind to an early Gravesend try. Ashford bounced straight back when vice captain Christopher Albrow picked up from the base of a ruck, drove over and levelled the scores. Turning round for the second half and with the slope in their favour, Ashford applied sufficient pressure to open up a 3 try lead. Using the contours of the pitch to their advantage, Ashford forced a series of scrums on the Gravesend 5 metre line. From one of these lock George Morgan barged his way through 4 defenders to crash over. Once ahead, Ashford asserted themselves and camped inside the Gravesend half for most of the second half. After a series of close passing moves involving both forwards and backs, scrum half Luke Ransley went outside the defence to score in the corner. From the restart kick, full back Daniel Head set his fellow backs on the attack. When the Ashford attack was held up 5 metres short, prop Billy Stevens gathered and powered through the defending line to touch down. As the clock wound down, Ashford allowed their concentration to slip and rewarded Gravesend with a consolation try. All four of Ashford’s tries were converted by Louis Burdon.
Ashford 15 (3 tries) V Tunbridge Wells 0
In match two, the Ashford boys were expecting a tough fixture from a Tunbridge Wells’ team who’d beaten them in last year’s Kent semi-final. However, going up the slope in the first half, Wells looked out of sorts. Ashford almost went straight into the lead from the kick off, as centre Adam Batt caught the ball and scorched through the Wells’ defence - only to be denied a try as he was held up over the line. Ashford then spent the whole of the first half on the attack. Following a tap penalty charge by prop Stevens, lock Morgan latched onto the offloaded ball and dived over to open the try account. This score was soon followed by further tries from Albrow and prop Glenn Caton as the team opened up a 3 try lead before half time. The second half was a different story as playing with the slope behind them Tunbridge took to the attack. However, solid Ashford tackling at half back and the occasional break upfield, ensured Tunbridge couldn’t exploit the advantage of the incline. Ashford closed out the game and were delighted with a victory over opponents that will be contending for major honours later in the season. Player of the week was Luke Ransley.
Ashford’s development squad showed good progress in playing a mixed A and B level Tunbridge team. The development side competed aggressively and although losing by 3 tries to nil, showed an excellent competitive spirit throughout.
David Burdon 5th December 2004
Gravesend 14 (2 tries) v Ashford 28 (4 tries)
In the opening match, Ashford, playing up a steep slope, suffered from a series of adverse penalty decisions and poor tackling. As a result, they went behind to an early Gravesend try. Ashford bounced straight back when vice captain Christopher Albrow picked up from the base of a ruck, drove over and levelled the scores. Turning round for the second half and with the slope in their favour, Ashford applied sufficient pressure to open up a 3 try lead. Using the contours of the pitch to their advantage, Ashford forced a series of scrums on the Gravesend 5 metre line. From one of these lock George Morgan barged his way through 4 defenders to crash over. Once ahead, Ashford asserted themselves and camped inside the Gravesend half for most of the second half. After a series of close passing moves involving both forwards and backs, scrum half Luke Ransley went outside the defence to score in the corner. From the restart kick, full back Daniel Head set his fellow backs on the attack. When the Ashford attack was held up 5 metres short, prop Billy Stevens gathered and powered through the defending line to touch down. As the clock wound down, Ashford allowed their concentration to slip and rewarded Gravesend with a consolation try. All four of Ashford’s tries were converted by Louis Burdon.
Ashford 15 (3 tries) V Tunbridge Wells 0
In match two, the Ashford boys were expecting a tough fixture from a Tunbridge Wells’ team who’d beaten them in last year’s Kent semi-final. However, going up the slope in the first half, Wells looked out of sorts. Ashford almost went straight into the lead from the kick off, as centre Adam Batt caught the ball and scorched through the Wells’ defence - only to be denied a try as he was held up over the line. Ashford then spent the whole of the first half on the attack. Following a tap penalty charge by prop Stevens, lock Morgan latched onto the offloaded ball and dived over to open the try account. This score was soon followed by further tries from Albrow and prop Glenn Caton as the team opened up a 3 try lead before half time. The second half was a different story as playing with the slope behind them Tunbridge took to the attack. However, solid Ashford tackling at half back and the occasional break upfield, ensured Tunbridge couldn’t exploit the advantage of the incline. Ashford closed out the game and were delighted with a victory over opponents that will be contending for major honours later in the season. Player of the week was Luke Ransley.
Ashford’s development squad showed good progress in playing a mixed A and B level Tunbridge team. The development side competed aggressively and although losing by 3 tries to nil, showed an excellent competitive spirit throughout.
David Burdon 5th December 2004
