Towcestrians RFC 57 - 12 Bedford Blues U16

This Match Report will be cut a little short as I was personally driving our #8 to Hospital at the end of the First Half! That will give you some clue as to the very physical match we were in for today against Bedford Blues. With Saints PDG player Alfie out; plus Saints DPP players JJ and Rory - and Pires also out, this was a 'development' side that started a little slow. We only had 17 lads start and Taylor wasn't going to see the match out either.

Bedford started well and right from the kick-off they had us pinned in our 22. We defended well, but wet conditions and a few half-hearted tackles found us down within 5 minutes. Bedford getting the try but missing the conversion.

0 - 5 Bedford.

Harvey didn't have his strongest of games today and from the restart he kicked it out to touch. Their line-out on their 10m, and Tows lads piled on the pressure. Up at them and their Backs didn't like it too much. At the subsequent ruck, we turned over the ball, getting the ball to Ricardo, who had a great game - very physical run, through several attempted tackles and down for the try. Harvey, got the kick which got us in front.

7-5 Tows.

From the restart Bedford piled the pressure back on. They got the ball back from us in our 22 but a big tackle and they knocked on... advantage played and another strong run from Ricardo who passed to Harvey and he opened up his legs to run from our 22 to their try line. He must've been out of breath as he missed the conversion which isn't what he would usually do!

12-5 Tows.

From the restart, they seemed to be targeting Tommy who was struggling to catch the ball. The conditions weren't helping but he fumbled the restart, backwards luckily, and suddenly the ball was on our own try line - Pickles secured the loose ball and ran straight back at the Bedford attack. Great run, handing off tackles and was only stopped by a high tackle that the ref didn't see - he managed an offload to Harvey who popped it to Jacob after committing another few tackles. Jacob was through and his run took him all the way to the try line. A great try. Harvey got the kick.

19-5 Tows.

Our next try started with a great run from Lucas, who was back in the team after a couple of months off through injury. He passed to Harvey who kicked over the top... was a bit too long but Jacob and Monk chased it down and that pressure ensured their full back fumbled. Turnover ball, passed to Ricardo who was taking no prisoners today - his second try of the game. Harv got the kick too.

26-5 Tows.

His third of the game came not long afterwards. On their 22, pressure from the Tows lads and they ended up passing forward and knocking on - advantage played as Ricardo picked up the loose ball. He ran sideways handing off a few attempted tackles before straightening up and making for the line. Try no.3 for our Flanker. Nice easy kick for Harvey and we were 33-5 up.

33-5 Tows.

It's at this point that the match Report will become a little light. Taylor was involved in a collision, knee on knee we believe with their very large Center and he was down. He couldn't get up and we knew this wasn't good. The ref stopped the half there and told the lads to go back to the changing rooms whilst we tried to help Taylor. He couldn't move his knee and was clearly in a lot of pain. When the Emergency Services said an ambulance would be 2+ hours, we knew we had to get him off the wet floor and in the warm. We stretchered him off then I brought my car round and managed to get him in the back with seats down in the front! Thankfully, it's a Courtesy Car, so I'm not too worried about the aftermath mud wrestling that looked like it happened in the car! We hope Taylor is okay as he's currently still in A&E as we write this.

The second half seemed like it was quite close though the end result does not reflect that. Bedford managed to score once more, and convert, but the Tows lads managed to open up the score to 57-12 with tries from Ricardo; two from big Joe and one from Adam. With two conversions kicked, that gave us 57, which is when the Ref was asked to call a premature end to the game.

57-12 Tows.

Good to see a convincing result with some of our key players missing, though that did give others the chance to get some minutes under their belt. Man of the match goes to Ricardo today, good game chap.