Results and Reports 1st October 2006

Under 9's

This was St Ives Under 9s first “full contact” fixture, where they played at Deepings against both Deepings and Spalding.

Spalding

A tremendous start with Ross Meagher making a direct run through the heart of the Spalding defence from the “kick off”to score a try. This was followed throughout the game by a fine display of offensive tackling, led by Jake Bowen in particular, which really put Spalding on the back foot and gave St Ives plenty of turn over ball. Peter Ford added to the try count with a good run along the wing to score from distance. St Ives won 10-0.

Deepings

This was a closer encounter. Deepings took an early lead and it wasn’t until the second half that pressure following some spirited tackling gave St Ives a scrum close in. Ross Meagher picked up from the base of the scrum and ran to the corner to equalise. Jake Bowen continued to lead the tackling but at the last stroke of the game a good maisey run by a Deepings player gave them a try and the game.

Deepings won 10-5.

Player of the week was Jake Bowen.

Under 10's

St. Ives U10 5 Spalding U10 15

A committed performance in their first fixture of the season was not enough to beat a strong Spalding side in Sunday’s fixture at Deepings RUFC. St. Ives were on the defensive from the start as the heavy Spalding pack attempted to steamroller their way to the line but tremendous tackling kept the smaller Saints side in the game. Eventually though the Spalding prop seized on a loose ball to stretch over and put the first points on the board. This sparked the Saints side into life and following a storming run from Sam Kennedy, Sam Hirons was held up just short of the line. From a scrum won against the head, Tyler Elstub again went close but the ball was turned over and the Spalding centre ran the full length of the pitch to score and leave Saint Ives 10-0 down at half time despite long periods of sustained pressure.

This pattern continued at the start of the second half with Saints camped on the Spalding line before the Spalding centre again pounced on a loose ball to sprint clear of the covering defence and score. Spurred on by Sam Kennedy’s driving runs and strong mauling from Malcolm Maclean and Daniel McManus, the pack drove deep into Spalding territory. Terrific tackling from Toby Naylon and Bernie Augstein pinned the opposition close to their own line and in the maul which followed Saints were unlucky to be held just short. However they made amends shortly after when Spalding tried to run the ball from their own line. Bradley White, playing in his first match, rushed in to smother tackle the Spalding centre and in the maul which followed Daniel McManus ripped the ball free to score. Unfortunately this was all the side had to show for their efforts as the final whistle blew shortly after.

St. Ives U10 25 Deepings U10 5

A Sam Hirons hat-trick took the headlines but capped a fine team performance from the Young Bulls. Building on the strong driving and tackling of the first game, the side were able to run the ball wider against an inexperienced Deepings team. Pressure in the scrum early on allowed Lachlan Park to steal the ball against the head and Tyler Elstub took advantage to sprint through a gap to score the first try. From a similar situation shortly after Elstub sprinted through a gap before offloading to the supporting Hirons who outstripped the defence to score. From a pass by Jack Fleming, Hirons’ second effort was from longer range as a neat sidestep left the opposition clutching at thin air and he sprinted clear to make the half time score 15-0 to St. Ives.

Max Davies and Nicholas Abbott came on to beef up the front row at half time and immediately continued the pressure on the home side. Toby Naylon and Chris Radbone both went close as gaps opened up in the Deepings defence before Sam Hirons completed his hat trick with another jinking run to the line. Deepings finally found their rhythm and fought back strongly. Eventually they created the space to put their scrum half over in the corner for a try their efforts deserved. However this just spurred the Saint Ives side to one final effort and Sam Kennedy powered his way through several tackles to score the final points of a storming performance.

Under 13's

CAMBS CUP

St Ives Under 13’s got their Rugby season off to a good start at the Cambs Cup held at Cambridge Rugby Club. Having been drawn in a difficult group their first game was against Cambridge, the favourites. A closely fought match with some outstanding defence play from St Ives and good running rugby from both sides it eventually finished with a defeat to St Ives by one try to nil. St Ives faced Ely in their next match another closely fought match which ended one try all, St Ives try scorer Jake Peattie. In their next game they came up against Royston who had lost their previous two matches. This would be the deciding match, St Ives and Ely were on the same number of points and it hinged on the results from both games, St Ives set the tone for their game by scoring two tries in the first half, they continued to dominate in the second half producing another try to win 17 points to nil. Tries by Nathan Dewar, Jake Peattie and Alex Colah and 1 converted kick by Max Dominy. St Ives went through to the semi-final on superior try count. St Ives were drawn against Peterborough in the Semi-Finals, this would again be a closely fought match with St Ives coming out on top 1 try to nil scored by Alex Brown. We would face the very strong Cambridge side in the final, at the start of the game the weather turned nasty making it difficult to play open rugby, Cambridge took control from the start and dominated throughout the game scoring three tries to nil. Congratulations to all the boys for all their hard work.

Under 16's

St Ives 17, Ely 5

St Ives' eagerly awaited first game of the season kicked off to a rude awakening. The strong running Ely Stand-off received good ball from his forwards and outsprinted the entire St Ives defence to score in the corner.

The shock seemed to be just what St Ives needed and they began to play with much assurance. Both sides were obviously finding holding onto the ball tricky in the windy conditions, but a well executed move in the centre after good scrum work by the smaller St Ives pack saw James Wood crash through to score. Dan Breed added the conversion.

Playing with the wind, St Ives pressed for further scores, but excellent Ely defence held them out. Just before half time, a collapsed maul gave Breed the opportunity to add a penalty.

The second half was a real to-and-fro affair, with Ely making good use of the wind to gain terrotorial advantage, but St Ives excellent rucking and counterattacking back play seizing the initiative. With a few minutes to go, Ely had a great opportunity to score running from their own half. Even though Ely still had some way to go,man-of-the match Tom Brown showed he was made a stern stuff with a thundering try saving
tackle.

Back came St Ives. One try was disallowed "held up", but superb continuity finally saw the Ely defence breached by Adam Buttigieg, Breed adding the conversion.

There was still time for Ely to attack, and the final move saw a try scoring opportunity go begging once again with strong St Ives defence.