The Rockets struggled to get a team together for this Bank Holiday weekend match away at Shildon. As the U14s were playing on the same day we were lent one U14 player, Fraser, to boost the numbers. The Rockets had 14 players ready to battle the unbeaten Tigers.

Battle commenced with the Rockets kicking to the Tigers, the possession passed between the two teams for a good 7 minutes. At this point, the Rockets had a scrum on their 20 metre line where Charlie broke away from the back of scrum storming through 4 Tigers players to score his first try of the match giving the Rockets the first points on the board. A long conversion from Peter increased the points.

The Tigers kicked off but a series of unfortunate mistakes by the Rockets kept the Tigers deep in the Rockets half. The Rockets defended valiantly for a good five minutes but the Tigers managed to score on the overlap. This was not converted.

The next ten minutes had both teams going back and forth but no one could penetrate each others defensive lines. At one point, Michael (Tigers No.3) managed to skirt around the Rockets wing, but was taken down by a beautiful tap tackle by Peter which put him into touch. From this scrum, the Rockets drove into the Tigers half but lost the ball. The Rockets kept the Tigers in their half when after the fifth tackle, Alex (Tigers No. 6) went to kick the ball but was tackled by Fraser, the ball dropped to the deck which allowed Jake D. to scoop the ball to give possession to the Rockets. The next drive the ball was passed to Charlie who ploughed through the Tigers defence to score his second under the posts. Peter converted again.

Another minute of play and it was half time. (Tigers 4-12 Rockets)

The beginning of the second half had the Rockets dominating running in three connective tries. The first was scored by Thomas W. on the two minute mark who received the ball on the wing and running in the 5 yards to score. A further 8 minutes later Charlie scored his third set up from a third tackle on the set. The third followed a minute later with Fraser (U14) who scooted on the third tackle at the half way line and darted through the defence to score under the post. Peter converted two of the three tries to put the score to 28-4.

The last 15 minutes had the Tigers driving into the Rockets half. Errors made by the tired Rockets side allowed the Tigers to score two tries and a conversion closing the score to 28-14. The final whistle was blown putting to an end the Tigers undefeated record of 2 years.

Congratulations to all those who played. It was well deserved.

A DVD is available of the match. Contact Doug to order. Price £(Donation)