Under 16
Matches
Sun 29 Sep 2019
Banbury
15
28
Amersham & Chiltern
Under 16
U16 visit Banbury RFC

U16 visit Banbury RFC

Tony Coyle3 Oct 2019 - 10:52
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.chilternrugby.com/

The U16s travelled to Banbury RFC for their first fixture in the BBO League

The U16s travelled to Banbury RFC for their first fixture in the BBO League. The impact of a busy school rugby schedule resulted in a squad of only 17 being available for this first important fixture in the BBO. The opposition were last year's winners of the Oxfordshire Cup – so our first game would be a clash of the Champions. The A&C starting XV had multiple players out of position but there was still quality across the park.

The starting 10 mins mirrored the tempo of the Wales vs Australia game with frenetic passages of play and both sides fully committed in the tackle and contact battle. As the half wore on the A&C pack started to dominate, with strong runs and shuddering tackles led by No.8 and Captain, Charlie Keith, ably supported by the rest of the eight. Unsurprisingly, the first score came from relatively short range, with tighthead prop, Tom Patrick powering over. Banbury had the edge out wide and their first score came from that quarter. '7 all' at half time with Banbury able to bring fresh legs on from their significant bench.

A&C got on top early in the second half with direct running by Will Stanford in the centre, tries came from live wire scrum half Tim Hayes and Tom Patrick claiming his second after a chase down-field. Banbury wrung further changes bringing on more fresh legs whilst A&C's two subs were brought into play. Momentum swung to Banbury as A&C started to tire and they scored their second, then a third was disallowed allowing A&C to clear their lines. In the final five minutes of the game A&C dug deep into the reserves of energy and drove down-field, resulting in another try from close range by loosehead prop, Alex Rutter. The subsequent conversion by Fly Half Charlie Barrett, secured the game and capped off a faultless kicking display from both the tee and out of hand in difficult conditions.

Whilst a number of the team have grabbed the headlines – the props scoring three of the four tries – this truly was a whole team effort with fantastic commitment and attitude demonstrated by all. At the start of the match a couple were playing out of position, by the end about a third of the team. A great win, plenty to work on but bags of effort and pride – well done!

Match details

Match date

Sun 29 Sep 2019

Kickoff

10:00
Team overview
Further reading