Woodford took their large U13 squad of 23 players to Romford for a friendly game played in three twenty minute sessions. Woodford defeated a spirited Romford side by 32 points to 12 (6 tries and 1 conversion to 2 tries and a conversion).
In the first third Woodford forwards struggled to exert their dominance, but Toby Harrison and Callum Levy in the front row gradually gained the initiative. Supported by Jack Holyman and Max Venditti in the second row the forwards combined to create a rolling maul and drive Arun Vaid over the line for the first try. With Zac Cannon buzzing around at scrum-half Woodford continued pressurising and the back line of Gabe Tomei and Jake Allen supported Will Carey to mark his debut as a centre with a well worked try.
In the second third the introduction of Robert Yiannakou and Fred Skipper as flankers sought to strengthen the pack; the backs now included Ben Dyson at fly-half; Ben Charles and Bailey Francis on the wings with Tom Fitzpatrick in the centre. In a keenly fought half the majority of the play was under the Romford posts. When needed Woodford “dug deep” in defence with excellent tackling from Fred and Tom, and solid rucking from Ben Charles when his team-mates became isolated. Ben Dyson provided good service from fly-half , supported by the tireless Rhys Phillips, to allow Bailey to prove his pace with a jinking run down the wing, only to be foiled by a good tackle from the Romford full-back. As Woodford relentlessly moved forward they were rewarded by a try from the nimble replacement scrum-half, Alex Marks.
The final third saw the realignment of the scrum to add some consistency, and a new line up of backs; Gabe at full-back, Jake on the wing, and Will and Toby as “crash-ball” centres. The scrum immediately imposed its superiority and put Romford under pressure. However a sudden break by the home team saw them run for the Woodford line, an outstanding tackle from Matt Bastick prevented a try, but quick thinking by the home team saw them score.
Not deterred by this set back Woodford immediately now pressurised Romford again, driving runs from Euan Fay and Mick Chamberlain nearly found their reward, but Romford hands held the ball up; it was inevitable that the pressure from the pack would succeed and another driving run by Will Curness eventually allowed Robert to force his way over the line. With their “tails-up” Woodford pressured again, impressive bursts from Toby and Will concluded in a good passing movement that saw Robert “pop” a pass to Michael Batt to score. Reflecting the spirit of rugby Romford then made a surprise substitution bringing on Woodford player Harris Sohoye as full-back so the game could continue; but even he was unable to stop a sweeping movement by Woodford that saw Will Carey beat Harris twice to score in the corner.
A good performance from everyone; we kept up consistent pressure and managed to turn this into points. The new members of the squad proved to be effective in their positions, and some of the old-hands proved their ability to swap to other positions.
Man of the match: Michael Batt - his all round performance in attack and defence - and one memorable crunching tackle!