Results and Reports 28th January 2007
Under 15's
St Neots 12 - St Ives 15
Have suffered with cancellations due to bad weather in recent weeks, St. Ives were eager to return to action against St. Neots. A good amount of travelling support enjoyed a well-contested match.
With several of their regular forwards unavailable, St. Ives were forced in to some hasty re-jigging in the pack, with one or two players experiencing the delights of the second row for the first time. This experimental line-up worked very well, with the experienced players ably supporting the newcomers. The visitors started in determined fashion, with good interplay between forwards and backs and only stern defence kept St. Ives at bay. However, after repeated assaults on the home line, a back-row "pick and go" from a set scrum saw Robert Hickman emerge from the bottom of the pile; 0 - 5 St. Ives. St. Ives then hit their hosts with a barrage of attacks but excellent defence coupled with some mishandling in the backs ensured that St. Ives didn't record any further scores. In contrast the hosts seized the initiative and from a scrum worked the ball to their full back who raced away to score in the corner; 5-5 at the break. The second half saw St. Ives with the wind behind them and although they won good ball through their forwards, the backs couldn't capitalise on the possession. Dogged defence from the home side eventually saw a turn over and with the referee unsighted, a knock-on in their own twenty-two went unpunished. Once again good interplay and handling saw the home backs race clear to score under the posts, with the try successfully converted; 12-5. The visitors finally started to play as they have been in recent games and shook the rust out of their systems. With the forwards again providing an excellent platform the backs moved the ball through hands and Andrew Howard raced over to score; 12-10. From the restart St. Ives secured the ball and again attacked, making ground in to the opposition half. With time running out, scrum-half Andy Cox linked with Ben Sockett to make ground from a scum and then release John Leak in a blind-side move that fooled the home defence and saw him score in the corner. The hosts did not give up and the visitors were again forced to hold out for a narrow but deserved victory.
This was a good match played out by two determined sides and both sets of players gave their all. St. Ives team manager Andy Britton was pleased with his side's performance in coming back from behind and in particular with home the makeshift pack performed. It may well provided further options for future selections!