Spalding vs. Kesteven U13s

Pre Match
On a sunny but chilly morning, K's arrived at Spalding with a few injuries and illnesses, to be met by hard ground and the prospect of facing a mixed Spalding U13s/U14s team. K's were also pleased to welcome back Dylan from his 9-week lay-off for injury.

The game was to be played over 2 quarters followed by a full second half.

Quarter 1
K’s kicked off the match, resisting some large, strong running Spalding attacks with good tackling, notably from Joel. Having repelled several such runs, Oscar stole the ball for K's first possession. Despite the age difference, K's competed well in the scrum, driving Spalding back on several occasions (Spalding also drove K's back on several occasions). The early exchanges also featured good runs from Oscar and Joe D into the Spalding half.

From a good K's scrum, we spun the ball out and Oscar chose not to make the easy pass, instead opting to go himself. Against the odds, he managed to touch down for the opening try, 0-5. More strong tacking and a good run from Callum moved K's forward, ultimately resulting in a try in the corner for mullet-boy number 2, Tom McD, 0-10.

From the resulting kick-off, K's fumbled the ball and knocked-on, handing momentum to a committed Spalding side looking to avenge a heavy early-season defeat. Alf A disrupted the momentum by stealing the ball deep in K's 22. A strong run from Ollie M took K's up the field, with further field position being gained by a strong run from Will H. K's then spun the ball out wider where Tom McD was waiting to pounce again, 0-15.

From the resulting kick-off, K's fumbled the ball and knocked-on again, handing momentum back to Spalding, who went over from a penalty when K's were slow to get off the line in defence, 5-15.

Quarter 2
Quarter 2 was also played into the wind and was a tough, attritional affair. A try at the end of the period for Spalding was the only scoreboard action, narrowing the gap to 10-15 at the break.

Second Half
K's started the second half with some fantastic, fast, free-flowing rugby, attacking on both sides of the pitch and ultimately feeding Ollie T who scored in the corner to increase K's advantage to 10-20. More strong running and wide play then set up Oscar for his second of the game, 10-25.

K's were dominating field position and possession against a tiring Spalding team who started to make some high tackles. Prolonged treatment was administered to Joe D who was on the end of a particularly high one before play resumed with a scrum!

Laurence was unfortunate to have his first try chalked off before Will H powered over from close range, 10-30.

K's caught the resulting kick-off this time and more strong, fast running took K's back into Spalding's half, setting up Tom McD for his third of the game, 10-35.

As Spalding tired, the height of the tackles rose to inappropriate levels, incensing one spectator in particular who, concerned for the safety of the K's players, chose the next break in play after Will H's second try of the match (10-40) to step onto the pitch and ask the referee to keep an eye on it. It was at that point that Moron of the Season was awarded as the referee rightly dispatched said supporter from the field.

From the restart, Wyatt ran most of the length of the pitch to extend the margin to 35 points (10-45) before a brace from Ollie T extended K's lead firstly to 10-50 and then to 10-55, which was the final score.

Post Match

The boys enjoyed the best match food of the season so far - kudos Spalding! Apologies were made and compensatory beer was bought for the referee!

It was great to have Dylan back after his long injury lay-off, and there were great performances from Callum, Alfred A and Joel (before his injury). Man of the Match was Laurence who put in a great shift in defence and some strong attacking runs and was unfortunate to have his first-ever try ruled out. Well played Laurence!