Ashford Kent Under 12 Rugby

Albrow leads depleted squad to power packed performance

Woodham Ferrers 14 – Ashford 7
Ashford 21 – Chelmsford 21

As part of their build-up for next month’s Kent Festival, the Ashford Under 12s travelled to Essex on Sunday in search of some stiffer competition. From experience, Essex sides have a more physical approach to the game – particularly in the forwards. Unfortunately, the extended travelling distance meant that the team travelled with a depleted squad of just 15 fit players.

The team’s difficulties were compounded within minutes of kicking off in the first match when the team sustained injuries to players in three key positions. This reduced the squad to just 12 effective players. With the first choice fly half, scrum half, inside centre and winger out of action the team were forced into playing inexperienced forwards out of position in a reshuffled three-quarter line. It wasn’t a pretty sight but it was good character building stuff as the boys narrowly lost their first match against their beefy hosts from Woodham Ferrers by 14 points to 7.

In their second match, against Chelmsford, Ashford fell behind to two early tries as the forwards in the three-quarter line struggled to come to terms with their unfamiliar responsibilities. The boys recovered slightly to snatch one try back before half time. However, matters deteriorated further early in the second half when they conceded a third soft try - leaving the team with a two try deficit. At this point, with another rare defeat staring them in the face, the Ashford forward pack took matters into their own hands. Realising the paucity of talent in their backs the Ashford forwards, led by Captain Chris Albrow, changed tactics and repeatedly drove and battered their way into Chelmsford’s territory. The match became a close quarters battle as the Ashford were forwards were desperate to avoid exposing their vulnerable backline to further attack. From 21 points to 7 down, first Albrow and then prop Billy Stevens powered their way over the secure vital scores and draw 21 points all. Despite this being just a draw it was probably the performance of the season.

Try scorers over the two matches were Christopher Albrow with three and Billy Stevens with one. Full back Daniel Head managed a 100% record, kicking all four conversions.

Player of the week was Christopher Albrow.

Ashford blow hot and cold at Dover

Dover 0 Ashford 40 (8 tries)
Following last week’s trip to Hertfordshire, the Ashford Under 12s were back on familiar territory this weekend for an away fixture at Dover. The Ashford boys asserted their superiority over their local rivals by winning 8 tries to nil against home side Dover. A hat trick of tries was scored by George Morgan, a brace by Adam Batt and single tries by Grant Noremac, Alex Rawlins and Chris Albrow.

In recent months, Ashford have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to put weak sides to the sword and run up big scores. Where they seem to have hit a blank spot is in competing with sides that put out a physical set of forwards. This was thoroughly demonstrated in their match against Deal, a side they beat quite easily earlier in the season.

Ashford 10 (2 tries) Deal 15 (3 tries)
In the weekend’s second match Ashford got off to an unusually poor start. In the early exchanges the Ashford forwards were overpowered and conceded territorial advantage to their more physical opponents. Uncharacteristically weak tackling in the backs compounded matters. As a result, the Ashford side conceded 3 tries in the opening half. This was an awful defensive performance by a side that had conceded only 3 tries in total their last 13 matches.

The second half was a different story as the Ashford boys woke up and began to assert themselves. The forwards, led by captain, Chris Albrow gradually forced their way into the game and eventually edged the close quarters contest. Ashford’s first score came when prop Billy Stevens charged over from a tap penalty and then Albrow himself crashed over to reduce the deficit to just one try. With the clock running down Ashford remained in the ascendant but simply ran out of time to level the scores.

Players of the week were Daniel Head and Cameron Veitch.

Ashford RFC Under 12s Match Report 6th March 2005

Ashford Under 12’s falter to finally end 22 match winning streak
Ashford Under 12s 22 match winning streak finally ended on Sunday. In order to escape Kent’s snowbound pitches and to face some stronger competition, the team travelled to Fullerians in Hertfordshire to play in a multi-county festival against sides coming from as far afield as Wiltshire. Playing 5 matches, the team got off to a good start scoring 4 tries against the host club’s B-side. However, the recent absence of match practise began to show on the heavy pitches. In the two toughest matches, an off-colour forward performance meant that Ashford’s back line barely received a quality ball in the tougher against local Hertfordshire opposition. Despite this, they battled well until two uncharacteristic lapses in the tackling department saw them lose two close matches by a single try. The boys redeemed themselves with a win over Wiltshire side Salisbury and when their final opponents, Buckinghamshire side Beaconsfield, retired from the tournament, they rounded off the day with an emphatic 5 tries to nil repeat win against their hosts B team.

Results from the Fullerians tournament were as follows:

Fullerians B Nil Ashford 20 (4 tries)
Fullerians A 5 (1 try) Ashford Nil
Ashford Nil Harpenden 5 (1 try)
Ashford 10 (2 tries) Salisbury Nil
Fullerians B Nil Ashford 25 (5 tries)

Try scorers on the day were Christopher Albrow, Grant Noremac and George Sladden with 2 tries apiece, and Louis Burdon, Luke Chinnery, Drummond Clark, George Morgan and Luke Ransley with 1 try each. Joint players of the week were Christopher Albrow and Grant Noremac.

David Burdon