U14 Dursley Friendly

With a few new faces in the squad, the game, which was to be played in four 15 minute quarters, was a great opportunity for the coaches to test people out in unfamiliar positions.

We started brightly with some strong rucking from the forwards and sharp backs play. The deadlock was broken just a few minutes in when we broke the line and crashed over from 30 yards. This set up a 7-0 win for the first quarter.

From the restart we were in their half and after a period of sustained pressure, the backs broke down a well defended Dursley back line to score. After a short time the critical changes to our side allowed the opposition to come back into the game. At the end the second the overall score was 14-5 in our favour.

The third quarter saw the fight back continue with a storming effort from the opposing centre who sprinted down the wing to score impressively. However it was quickly brought to a halt as the inevitable happened and Andy Christie managed to put in two sidesteps from 5 metres out before scoring in typical fashion. Soon after, camped on our own line and after several commendable try-saving tackles, the opposition finally converted and brought the scores to 19-19 setting up an exciting finale.

Fitness came into play as both teams battled for the decisive score. It came our way when we won a scrum five metres out after pressurising a clearance kick and new boy Lawrence Dowel picked from number 8 and dived over under the posts. Even from the last restart with a few minutes left to play the boys kept the pressure on and the full time whistle went with us camped on their line.
Man of the match, voted for by the coaches and supported by the team was Lawrence Dowel. Well done to him and all the team for a gutsy display!