Monday, January 10, 2005
Match Report 9th January 2005
Ashford trounce Kent Champions in 10 try Rout
Ashford 50 (10 tries) Blackheath 0
Kent Under 12 Champions Blackheath paid the price for bringing an under strength side to Sunday’s official Kent RFU fixture at Ashford. The Ashford Under 12 boys, having built a record of 15 wins in succession, were anticipating a challenging clash against supposedly one of the top Under 12 sides in the country. In the event, the city slickers underestimation of their country cousins ensured an ignominious defeat for the world’s oldest rugby club as Ashford piled on the points in a 10 try rout.
From the first whistle, Ashford dominated all phases of play. At every close quarters encounter the Ashford forward pack drove their opponents backwards – forcing them off the scrum ball and taking the lineout at will. As the Ashford pack rumbled up the field, the high-speed back line exploited huge gaps in the opposition defence.
The Ashford boys asserted their authority from the kick off when the ball was caught cleanly, then driven upfield by the forwards and slickly passed to centre Adam Batt who sprinted past the defensive cover to score the opening try – within 15 seconds of the first whistle. What followed became a record demolition as the Ashford pack led by lock Christopher Albrow and aided and abetted by prop Billy Stevens drove mercilessly into the London side’s forwards. By half-time Ashford led 5 tries to nil.
Turning round for the second half, Ashford had the wind behind them and upped the already impressive scoring rate to a try a minute. The forward dominance became absolute when Prop Billy Stevens bounced his way through a crumbling defence and dotted down the simplest of tap penalties. From the restart, centre Grant Noremac gathered the kick off and nonchalantly galloped the length of the field to score the match’s 10th and final try. With the opposition no longer putting up meaningful resistance, the referee signalled an early finish to proceedings just 5 minutes into the second half. Ashford try scorers were Adam Batt, Grant Noremac and Chris Albrow with a hatrick apiece and Billy Stevens with 1.
In the final analysis, the Ashford team were irritated that the reigning Kent champions put up such a pitiful effort. What was meant to be one of the season’s toughest encounters turned out to be little more than a training exercise.
At the same fixture Ashford’s B team recorded the season’s first victory with a 4 tries to 2 win over their Blackheath equivalents. Try scorers were George Morgan with 2 and Luke Ransley and Lucas Warrilow with 1 apiece. Development squad player of the week was Liam Sohngen.
