Results and Reports 19th February 2006
Deepings U8 10 - St. Ives U8 30
Saints opened the scoring thanks to a try by Reuben Patrick after a solid build-up by Peter Ford and Jake Bowen, but the hosts dug in and quickly equalised, the scorer ironically being Saints’ Daniel Palmer who was guesting for Deepings! From the restart the visitors again surged forwards, putting through Jake Bowen to restore the lead; but again Palmer equalised for the hosts. From here on, though, the visitors seized and held onto the initiative. Patrick made a jinking run through the home defence to regain the lead for Saints, and then as Deepings pressed forward he intercepted the ball on the run and took it through to the line. Dylan Laws made a strong run for Saints but was tackled just before the line, and Patrick took the pass and stepped over to score; and the scoring was completed shortly before the final whistle when Jake Bowen made a powerful run through the field and Patrick was on hand to take the pass and run through to score Saints’ sixth try and his excellent fifth of the game.
St. Ives U8 10 - Wisbech U8 25
Having stayed on after their opening victory, Saints were comfortably beaten by a muscular and well-drilled Wisbech side. Wisbech opened the scoring straight from the first whistle, and promptly ran in two further tries, demonstrating strong side-stepping and support play. Saints started the second half more brightly and eventually got the chance to respond, Reuben Patrick making a jinking run through the Wisbech defence to the try line. Wisbech quickly responded to restore their three-try cushion, before Patrick again wrong-footed the defence and dashed across to score in the corner. Saints’ second-half resurgence was not enough to enable them to recoup their first-half deficit, however, and Wisbech scored once more before the final whistle.
Deepings U9 20 - St. Ives U9 0
Deepings better teamwork and more clinical finishing overcame a spirited St. Ives performance with 2 tries in each half. St. Ives drove strongly and mauled well but made handling errors at critical times and were unable to convert pressure into points. Tyler Elstub prompted the back line well and Toby Naylon and newcomer Bernie Augstein made strong runs with the ball while Lachlan Park tackled like a demon as usual. However the team as a whole let Deepings run at them too often and as a result they were unable to stop the fluent opposition backs from scoring, even with only small amounts of possession in the second half.
St. Ives U9 0 - Wisbech U9 35
It was a similar story in the second match against Wisbech. Daniel McManus and Nicholas Abbott drove strongly into the heart of a very physically robust Wisbech team and Elstub, Sam Kennedy and Harry Leyden were always up in support but they were unable to breach the Wisbech line. Wisbech scored twice before half time to go into the break 10-0 up. In the second half the heavy pack steamrollered the St. Ives defence despite strong tackling from Chris Radbone, Max Davies and Lachlan Park and 3 tries in the last few minutes added to 2 earlier scores left the Young Bulls well beaten.
Under 14s
St. Ives 12 - Biggleswade 13
A bright but chilly Sunday morning saw St. Ives welcome Biggleswade RFC to Somersham Road. A large crowd of both home and visiting supporters were treated to a superb game of rugby, played with great heart and spirit by two committed young teams.
Having witnessed a stunning match at Northampton Saints the previous day, St. Ives were fired up for what they knew would be a difficult task. Biggleswade attacked from the outset, sending wave after wave of attacks in to the home twenty-two. However, a wonderful display of defence from the whole team kept the visitors at bay. The first score then came to the home side when Tino Zicchi ripped the ball clear from a Biggleswade forward, rounded another defender and sprinted from inside his own twenty-two to score under the posts, the try converted by Andrew Howard. This only served to make Biggleswade raise their game still further and finally from ball turned over the visitors were able to use the favourable wind to kick behind the defence and win the chase to score in the corner.
The second half saw tremendous battles all across the fields, with both forward packs competing in set piece and loose play to try and gain the upper hand. As the game went on a tiring Saints side conceded a penalty for being offside, which was successfully kicked to give the visitors a narrow lead. The home side responded quickly and drove towards their opponents’ line, causing them to infringe. A quickly taken penalty was moved wide and saw Zicchi race over in the corner. But the game was still not over and Biggleswade kicked long in to home territory, secured the ball and managed to crash over to take the win by the narrowest of margins.
The St. Ives man-of-the-match was shared between Alex Fry, who worked tirelessly in the front row and Tommy Collins who gave a great performance of both attacking and defensive three-quarter play.
The spectators were all left to reflect on a great game of rugby in the “time honoured fashion” in the clubhouse!