Ashford RFC Under 13s Report 19th March 2006

Normal service resumed

Whitstable U13s 5 – Ashford U13s 70

Ashford fielded an experimental line up for this fixture. Several key players were rested including the team’s captain and vice-captain. New to the team was debutant Max Anglin, stepping up from playing for the Under 12s. Max played a solid game at both scrum half and fly half and fitted well into a back division that always had the edge over their opponents.

Ashford’s game plan was to spread the ball wide and avoid over exploiting their strength in the pack. Despite windy conditions the boys rose to the task and scored a total of 12 tries and 5 conversions to secure a 70 points to 5 victory over their East Kent rivals. Nine of the twelve tries came from the back division.

Four boys registered a brace of tries each; Grant Noremac, Aiden Moss, Danny Herriott and Adam Batt. Others to make the try scoring sheet were Billy Stevens, Gareth Jenner, Harry Atkins and Gavin Norman. Daniel Head scored 5 conversions.

Player of the week was Cameron Veitch.

Ashford Under 13s Falter in Kent Championship

Match Report 12th March 2006

Despite a tournament scoring record of 43 points for and none against, Ashford RFC’s Under 13s were eliminated from the Kent rugby championships on Sunday. With two wins and a draw to their credit, Ashford were eliminated in the quarter finals by 4 goals to 3 in a drop goal shoot-out.

With a season’s record to date of 20 wins from 21 matches, Ashford were seeded no.1 in the tournament’s draw. They got off to a bright start scoring 38 points in their opening match over Medway.

Sadly, in the second match, things started to go wrong. Ashford faced an Aylesford side, ranked 17th in the tournament, and a side over which they had scored a combined 92 points in their two previous meetings this season. From the whistle Ashford lacked sparkle and their normally confident backline conspired to drop or knock-on an inordinate amount of ball. Several scoring chances went begging before scrum half Rory Beech scored the winning try in the 16th minute of a 20 minute match.

Despite the under performance, the two wins were sufficient to put Ashford through to the quarter final. Here they faced a Beccehamians side ranked 7th out of 8 qualifiers. Ashford had an easy route to the final, if only they could play their normal game.

Unfortunately, in the opening exchanges against Beccehamians, the Ashford forwards failed to really impose themselves upfront. With their backs’ misfiring, Ashford applied no real pressure on the Beccehamians line through the opening 10 minutes. A tendency to attack down the short side allowed Beccehamians to contain Ashford’s pressure. At half time an injury allowed the introduction of new forward Danny Herriott. Herriott’s physical presence immediately livened up Ashford’s approach and he was unlucky not to score, being brought down just inches short of the try line. On balance Ashford had edged the match territorially, but with the final score tied at 0-0 Ashford faced a drop goal shoot-out. Despite successful drop goals from Daniel Head, Ollie Best and Billy Stevens, Ashford lost by 4 drop goals to 3 and were eliminated from the tournament.

Beccehamians went through and will face Blackheath in the Kent final on 25th March. Despite a fantastic season’s record of 22 wins and 1 draw from 24 matches, and 880 points scored against 79 conceded, Ashford U13s must now seek other avenues to prove their calibre.