Shipston U16s
Matches
Sun 27 Jan 2019
Banbury
29
5
Shipston on Stour RFC
Shipston U16s
A cold outing to Banbury

A cold outing to Banbury

Ruth Todd27 Jan 2019 - 19:32
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U16s lose out in physical encounter

A bitterly cold day for a game but from the first whistle it was clear to see that both teams were ready for a physical encounter. Shippo started the more brightly looking good throwing the ball from side to side and gaining good territory but great defensive work from Banbury kept us out. Alex B showing yet again that size and bulk means little when you have technique and desire to not give an inch and from start to finish he bossed it. With Banbury now settled into their game plan they put our boys under real pressure and not one but two great try saving tackles by Will F kept them at bay, this was short lived however as after a number of phases of recycling the ball Banbury managed to go over in the far corner for the first score ( unconverted ) 5-0.

The intensity of the tackling from both sets of players was making this a game to watch, another break from Banbury had them on our try line and great defensive work saw them held up twice however the third time the try was given to the disbelieve of the boys and I have to say some others who were sure it was again held up but never the less the score was now 10-0 to Banbury. The rest of the half the game was to and fro with us looking to play our characteristic style and only impressive defensive work from the home team stopping us score, half time came with the score 10- 0 to the hosts.

Any this point my hands were like ice so I stopped writing and am now relying on memory, the game was taking much the same shape as first half with tackles being made all over the pitch but a head injury to George H from a stray boot had him off the pitch for a head injury assessment ( which luckily he passed and was to resume playing )

The line out when straight was being stolen more times than not by us, but a break from another line out had Banbury break through yet again and score again making it 15-0. Shippo as usual never give up and we’re soon back in the Banbury 22 but a good turn over had the lighting quick Banbury winger race away to score another try this time with a great conversion to make the score 22-0. With our boys struggling to come to terms with the referees interpretation of the breakdown the big Banbury pack smashed over the line only for the ball to be knocked out of the Banbury player hands yet amazingly the try was awarded. With the score now 29-0 and both Will F and George H suffering with knocks and off the pitch you could forgive the boys for giving up but they didn’t and with the last play of the match a well worked move had us score a try with Sam L touching down ( unsuccessful conversion ) the final whistle went with the home side 29-5 winners.

On the face of it its looks bad but far from it when you look at the game as a whole, we were giving away in my estimation 7-8 stone in the pack yet not once were we marching backwards, when the line out was straight we competed and won a lot of ball, Charlie Y looked like he’s never been away and was impressive Devon took a few cheap shots late off the ball as did most of our boys but never took a backwards step , Alex B was just awesome as we have come to expect from him, Henry M played in a number of positions and I could go on mentioning every player but that’s now two games on the trot we have had difficulties to deal with and with the QF against Nuneaton two weeks away a weeks rest and training next Sunday we can re group and be ready to go at them full pelt.

COME ON YOU RAMS !!!!!!

By Andy Cooper

Match details

Match date

Sun 27 Jan 2019

Kickoff

10:00
Team overview
Further reading

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