Boston U13's V Sleaford

After a much needed (and confidence boosting) win against Deeping in their last match a fortnight ago, the U13s were in good spirits when they welcomed Sleaford to the PRSA this morning. Once again outstanding commitment meant that the matchday squad was at near full strength with just Ollie and Raimonds missing due to a football fixture and McKenzie who had picked up a nasty looking foot injury during the week.
The depth of the Boston squad was put in sharp relief when Sleaford arrived with nine players and after a brief discussion the coaches agreed that it would be better all-round if four Boston players switched sides in each half so that two full strength teams could play each other. It’s always tricky playing alongside people you haven’t played with before so credit must go to Finn, Jenson, Isaac, Barney, Harry, Nathan, Sam and Ollie S for donning the red and black and fully committing to the Sleaford cause.
The Sleaford Captain won the toss and decided to play with the wind advantage in the first half. The strength of the wind soon became clear as that first kick-off carried straight through and over the dead ball line – advantage to Boston as they decided to restart with a scrum on the centre line. Unfortunately they were unable to convert that advantage and the ball quickly came out on the Sleaford side. A couple of quick passes took it wide and their no.8 was able to run it in for the opening score.
Fortunately for Boston that advantage was short-lived. A knock-on by Sleaford at restart resulted in an advantage to Boston who won the ball from the resulting scrum. A couple of passes down the line put the ball in Henry’s hands and he was able to power through the Sleaford line to touch down for Boston’s first score. Two tries for Angus followed with some typically direct running and side stepping which left Sleaford defenders trailing in his wake. Henry added another score before Angus completed a first half hat-trick to leave Boston leading 25-5 at half-time.
With the “loan” players switched, Boston started the second half with the wind on their backs and they quickly made that advantage pay, scoring four unanswered tries before a lengthy delay after one of the Sleaford players winded himself trying in vain to tackle Angus who ran in in for his fourth try of the morning. The player fortunately showed no ill effects and was able to continue after getting his breath back. During that period, Boston played with some real confidence and those tries came off the back of some really lovely attacking and expansive rugby: Finley scored after being put into space with some unselfish play by Angus to draw a couple of defenders and pass the ball wide; Harry scored for the second game in succession after a powerful run by Tom and was strong to offload as he was being tackled; and Henry became the second Boston player to nab a hat-trick.
Sleaford then had their best passage of the game. A couple of penalties conceded by Boston for misdemeanours around the ruck provided an opportunity to build some pressure and some strong driving forward runs by Ollie S took the ball within metres of the Boston line before the defenders in desperation committed another penalty. From the resulting free pass Sleaford were able to throw the ball wide and found a gap in the Boston defence to carry it over the line.
With the clock ticking down towards the final seconds of the match, Toby scored Boston’s final try of the game, which came from an outstanding move: Tom kicked deep into Sleaford territory after picking up the ball in the middle of his own half. After an excellent chase the ball was ripped from the Sleaford ball carrier, a short pass inside to Angus who was able to release Toby who completed the scoring with a diving finish. With that the match finished 50-10 to the Boston side.
It was an excellent performance by the whole Boston squad who were in control throughout the game and every player made a contribution whether they were in a Boston or Sleaford shirt. For Boston, passing through the hands was a particular strength in this game and created attacking opportunities by stretching the Sleaford defence. Angus and Henry stood out for their finishing and great all round contributions in defence as well as attack, but there were notable contributions from Ollie V at 9, Thomas who demonstrated great all round skills at Centre and Ollie S who really seems to be starting to understand how his power can make inroads into opposition defences.

Next up for this team will be a visit from Market Rasen on Sunday 20th March where the boys will be looking to extend their current form and put a stop to a recent run of losses against the Rasen side.

Boston U13s: Barker, Barnett, Copley, Hasler-Stephens, Holder, Lawman, Martin, Millington, Mountain, Oversby, Pikett, Roe, Sorbian, Staley, Taylor, Vickers, Westbrook