Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Match Report 23rd January 2005
Depleted Ashford extend winning run
Away at Aylesford at the weekend, Ashford U12s started the day minus two of their key ball-winning forwards. Matters were further compounded when the team’s most powerful forward, prop Billy Stevens, announced he was carrying a shoulder injury. The selection difficulties were used to blood relatively inexperienced players, Patrick MacEnri and Lukas Warrilow in the A team starting line up. Despite the setbacks the Ashford boys made it wins 17 and 18 on the trot.
Ashford 20 (4 tries) Aylesford 0
Ashford got off to an ominously poor start when they failed to field the kick-off and immediately conceded a scrum just five metres from their own try line. From the resulting scrum, strong tackling saw them put their opponents on the defensive and the lost territory was soon regained. Matters then greatly improved when fly half Louis Burdon picked up a loose ball and sprinted around the blind side of a ruck to open the scores. Although lacking dominance up front, Ashford nevertheless built a solid half time lead with tries from inside centre Adam Batt and scrum half Luke Ransley. Turning round for the second half, Ashford’s forward effort deteriorated when prop Stevens’ injury required resting. With the flow of possession drying up, the team spent long periods on the defensive. As the clock wound down, outside centre Grant Noremac found himself on the end of a short passing movement and outflanked the Aylesford defence to forced himself over in the corner and secure a four tries to nil victory.
Ashford 10 (2 tries) Edenbridge 5 (1 try)
In their second match of the day, Ashford started brightly. Kicking off, they immediately put their opponents under pressure and forced a scrum near the Edenbridge try line. Ashford’s attacking drive was scrambled into touch and from the resulting line out hooker George Sladden pounced onto a loose ball and dived over to open the scoring. A second try soon followed when Adam Batt sprinted in from half way. After this, however, Ashford allowed the gritty Edenbridge side to edge their way back into the match. Ashford found themselves in the unusual position of being pushed off the rucks and saw hard fought possession choked up in a series of poorly managed mauls. In the end, the inevitable happened when Ashford were pressured back towards their own line and conceded their first try in five matches. Despite their under-performance, the team held on for a two tries to one win.
The players know that they can play much better than this and will learn from the experience of managing with less than their usual share of possession. “A” team player of the week was full back Daniel Head.
In a third match, Ashford’s development squad put in a plucky performance before going down three tries to one against Aylesford’s A team. Development squad player of the week was William Mowl.
