Impressive start, disappointing finish

The first Sunday of December 2015 brought the much anticipated return fixture of the under 15’s v Bath. The previous encounter saw the green and white army beat the boys in blue 43-14, a score line which flattered the victors as it was a hard fought match.

Good pressure from Chew and clumsy Bath errors saw a brilliant piece of individual play by Danny Ridding, using his explosive pace to touch down in the left hand corner. 0-5. The intensity continued and a beautiful run by Chew's no. 9 Ben Mead nearly saw another only for the move to break down shy of the try line.

The battle of the no. 8’s began with a ferocious tackle by Joe O’Sullivan on his opposite number. Visibly shaken the Bath back rower looked dazed and unsteady as if hit by Santa’s sleigh. At times in the first half it seemed that the ref was hurriedly trying to use up his annual penalty allocation from the RFU and his whistle sounded more like a majorette band leader on Super Bowl Sunday. That may explain why he was in the mood to let so many forward passes by the home side go uncontested.

A period of sustained pressure from the Bath lads won them several aforementioned penalties which eventually led to a try for them on the 17th minute which was converted. 7-5.

As cross field winds picked up Bath's attacks were thwarted by solid defending and Chew's winger Jacob Maddox who pulled off two exceptional tackles. Excellent defence also by Sam Volkes further disrupted Bath's flow and a menacing run by Jackson Bryant forced the blues to stay narrow exposing space on the wing. Quick thinking Mead threw long out the line to Haywood who instinctively drew his man to release Maddox into the corner for a dream debut try. 7-10.

The second half began as the first ended, with Chew camped in Bath's 22. A poorly executed pass to Bryant was plucked at pace two handed from well above his red scrum cap, which led from the breakdown to an exquisite piece of solo footwork and try by Mead. 7-15.

Unfortunately that’s where the good news ends as despite the ref behaving himself following a kind word from coach Voigt at half time Chew seemed to inexplicably implode. A second high tackle infringement from O’Sullivan saw his nemesis finally get the present he was looking for and he quickly skipped through the bewildered Chew defence. 12-15.

Bizarrely a slight reprieve saw the ref ping the home team for a succession of off side offences. But a turnover from Bath and an attempt to clear down the line saw a huge defensive tackle by George Bazley leaving Bath's outside centre seeing elves following the pair's collision. The impact was reminiscent of a crash test dummy hitting a wall. The forced error gave Chew a penalty in front of the post for Ridding to slot. 12-18.

Poor handling from the restart gifted the Bath side the opportunity they needed to capitalise on the valley boys mounting disintegration and they didn’t need to be asked twice. 19-18.

An over exuberant O’Sullivan yet again found himself on the wrong side of the law and this time was sin binned for an early tackle. With 4 minutes left on the clock the task at hand for Chew was a tall order but not an impossibility for the team, who have pulled off so many gutsy performances this season.

Alas, it was not to be and after a well worked passage of play saw the home side find gaps in a leaky defence and scored a final try to the sound of cheers from the jubilant home supporters.

Coach Mead said afterwards “Disappointed to lose, soft penalties, poor defence at critical moments cost us, but we will put it right on the training ground.”