Effingham and Leatherhead U15 vs. Twickenham U15B

Twickenham 5 – 50 Eagles

Juniors U15 • League • Sun 8th Nov 09, 10:00AM

Sunday 08th November 2000
Effingham and Leatherhead U15 vs. Twickenham U15B
Eagles 50 - Twickenham 5

The Eagles travelled to Twickenham and got back to winning ways after the holiday break with an excellent win against a Twickenham  team who had the misfortune to meet an Eagles team playing committed rugby with a strong game plan who hit the ground running.

On a grey day for rugby, the Eagles received the kick-off and immediately launched into a game plan of retained possession and short plays before putting it wide.  The home team had barely touched the ball before centre Tom Calverley drove through the middle Twickenham's defensive line and barged over for a first try near the posts. Fly-half Evan Newton made comfortable work of the conversion to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead.

Twickenham  had little response to the aggressive driving and close support play of the dominant Eagles' pack remarkably playing one man short in numbers , exemplified when wing forward George Goodliff broke several tackle to score wide left runs.  A great forward drive, supported by crash balls by centre Robert Gibbons  put the Eagles on the home try line and full back Aidan McCarthy burrowed through to score. We then had two virtually identical tries in quick succession by hard running  Man-of-the-match Robert Gibbons, who passed at high speed, directly though the defence at the post. Both were  converted by Evan Newton.

Whenever Twickenham tried to play the ball out, the Eagles defence was rock solid and rarely did the opposition cross the game-line. Eagles soon piled on the pressure again through the ever aware & clever play of scrum half Murray Smyth their forward dominance to release the backs, the ball was moved wide right through four pairs of hands to leave winger Chris Bradshaw with plenty of work to do, but he side stepped and outpaced the defence to score down the wing. Newton converted to take the score at half time to 38-0.

Twickenham started more brightly in the second half, but still the Eagles kept up the pressure. Prop Philip Bedford and hooker Michael Lawrenson were everywhere making numerous tackles. Recent newcomer Alec "Francois" Broomfield was unstoppable in the line out and driving forward in the loose. Dan Bishop ably stepped into the left wing position and coped well with some good breaks and retaining possession when isolated. The dominance of the Eagle's pack led to an excellent pick up in broken play again by Goodliff to run from his own half to score beneath the posts. The Eagles final try was the best team effort with James Angus, Robert Altomare  & Chris  Bradshaw all combining to allow Evan Newton to score in the corner.

The home team came on strong towards the end and deservedly for their efforts scored a close in try with their last play of the game.

 

Eagles Squad: P Bedford, M Lawrenson, T Calverley, E Newton, R Gibbons, R Altomare, C Bradshaw, A McCarthy, D Bishop, M Smyth, J Angus, G Goodliff, A Broomfield.

Scorers: Tries Calverley, Goodliff(2), Gibbons(2),McCarthy, Bradshaw, Newton   Conv: Newton(5)

Report by K Dickinson. Photographs by Q Bradshaw