Kesteven U15 vs Boston Barbarians U15
Kesteven arrived with a team that was slightly depleted by injuries and unavailability after an enforced layoff due to recent UK storms. The weather conditions again were not ideal, initially the sun was shining but a strong wind was gusting along the length of the pitch. The Ks started the match with the wind at their backs and got off to a fantastic start when an excellent passing sequence ended with a strong finish by Issey playing at centre. The conversion was missed by Beth but the second try was equally as good and came in the same way with Phoebe being sent over near the posts, this time Beth slotted the conversion. While it was great to see the ball going through the hands with short accurate passes there could have been more tries from the backs soon after this but a tendency to run laterally towards the touch rather than drawing defenders in with straighter running lines made it easier for the Baa Baas to defend.
After the Baa Baas tightened up their defence the K’s found themselves deep in their own half but after a Kesteven put in at the Scrum Mia fed the ball to Beth at flyhalf who punted the ball high and long, the wind behind the ball defeated the players positioned deepest for the Baa Baas and the chase was on. Under pressure the Baa Baas were out rucked by the K’s who, led by some thundering pick and go runs by Hollie, found themselves under the Baa Baas posts where a short maul resulted in Skye touching down, Beth converted.
Moments later the Ks found themselves in a similar position to before and again deep in their own half Beth launched another huge wind assisted punt, this time there was not enough chasing Kesteven players and the Baa Baas ran the ball back at the Ks but they only made it as far as midway before again they were dispossessed by some determined tackling and rucking, the ball was distributed quickly and Phoebe ran half the length of the pitch with defenders not far behind to touch down on the far right hand corner. Beth lined up a difficult kick and had to reposition the ball several times on the tee because the wind was blowing it off, to the relief of the waterboy she turned down his offer to lay down and hold the ball in place, the kick was well struck and only just missed in the face of the wind.
It was noticeable that the BaaBaas were lacking match fitness throughout the half and towards halftime the K’s started to exhibit the same symptoms, this allowed some strong running by one of the larger Baa Baas backs to break some tackles and gain a rare touch down in the corner, the conversion was missed.
The Ks regrouped and again put on a forward display at the set piece that this reporter is yet to see bested within the East Midlands at this age group. The Baa Baas were continuously shoved off their own put in at scrum time, Hollie was particularly impressive and was instrumental in this demolition by regularly buckling over the Baa baas loose head prop. This afforded the lion’s share of possession to the K’s and after another reversal the K’s moved the ball around and opened up space for Emily to unlock the Baa,Baas defence and touch down
The second half was a little surprising in that with the wind now behind the Baa Baas the Ks expected them to use this and kick for positioning, the ever dependable Tilly, playing at fullback, dropped back in expectation of this but the attack never came, the Baa Baas decided to keep ball in hand and so after a series of rucks and counter rucks this resulted in the Ks forcing them to knock on. Due to injuries to the Baa Baas the scrums were uncontested for a period but although this arguably helped the Baa Baas the ks broke out from the scrum and after some good interplay a strong run from Emily resulted in a fine try, but the ball fell off the tee just before Beth kicked it and the conversion was missed. A few minutes later in almost the same circumstances Emily again broke through two defenders to score again running half the length of the pitch. This time Beth converted.
From the kick off the K’s muscled past the Baa Baas defence but knocked on and handed possession back to them 5 meters out, in the resultant scrum Mia playing at 9 tackled the Baa Baas 9 as she tried to move the ball wide, she had taken the ball back over her own line though and the following melee resulted in a 5 meter scrum to the Ks. From the put in Mia picked up the ball and darted through to snipe a try but was snagged on the line, the ball was recycled to Hollie who, carrying what seemed like half the Baa Baa defenders, powered over to touch down and earn a well-deserved try and player of the match award. Conversion was missed.
The kick off was delayed due to Baa Baa injuries, ultimately the Ks loaned a couple of players to the Baa Baas in Ellie Mae and Niamh, this seemed to help the Baa Baas who defensively tightened up and began to gain field position in attack .The K’s then got a little bit complacent, rucks were not competed for and the defensive line was static, the same Baa Baas player who had used her strength to break through before ran laterally across the pitch searching for a hole to exploit, she managed to round the end of the Ks defensive line and used her speed to touch down again in the corner.
The conversion was missed and at this point a rain/hail monsoon engulfed the match, only a couple more minutes were played before the ref blew his whistle and sealed a fine win for this Ks team considering they have not had a run out for a while.
Kesteven U15 46 Boston Barbarians 10