Chess Valley U14s 27 – 25 OV

The game started, and Chess were put under immense pressure, straight from the first whistle.

OVs were camping on our line, passing the ball to their speedy winger, who dotted the ball down for their first try.

Valley’s heads were down. We were without our usual captain (Adam), and we lacked a bit of motivation. We couldn't get our hands on the ball.

Later, we conceded a penalty, just under the posts, letting OVs successfully take a penalty kick, bringing the score to 8-0. OVs continued to apply pressure and were rewarded with another try, bringing the score to 13-0

Just as we thought all was lost, Steve, Paul and Grant encouraged us to ruck more, which we started to do. After a good few phases, Toby bulldozed his way over the line to open Chess Valley’s scoring.

Chess Valley’s first try completely lifted the spirits of the players. From a good, strong scrum Rory broke blind and made a nice run, giving a great timed pass to Jack, who scored a well ran try in the corner, making the score 13-10 at half time to OVs.

The second half started with Chess still on the rampage.

The first try of the half came through Joe, who wonderfully stripped the ball and broke through the line to dodge defenders and score a good try. This put us in the lead at 15-13.

Once again Joe received the ball from some good passing down the line. He paced down the wing, passing everyone to get a very good try, converted by Ed, to make the score 22-13.

We didn't stop there. Josh used the wind on his back to put a lovely kick through for Jack, who gave chase, applying high pressure on their full back to gather the ball and score in the corner. Score 27-13.
After this we knew we were certain the game was ours but OVs fought back, scoring two tries and a conversion, bringing the score to 27-25 to chess Valley.

With one minute left to play, Valley continued to apply pressure. The ref eventually called it game over and, after a large discussion over the score, the ref said that Chess Valley had won a well fought game, at 27 vs 25.

Man of the match awards:

Forwards …Ethan
Backs ….Jack