Thames vs Rochford U7s, 7 February 2010

The game kicked off with an explosive start from Finlay, after his debut try in the last match he was hungry for more. After sprinting diagonally through the stunned Thames defence, he passed to Milo who returned the favour to set up Finlay for a fantastic Storer brothers opening try.
It seems that Thames are made of stern stuff though as they replied with an equally quick try without much effort. With the score at 1-1, Dalton tried some fancy footwork followed by a long circular run to confuse the opposition before slipping a sneaky one to Toby who duly obliged with a try to regain the lead for Rochford. However, Rochford, were caught napping and Thames produced an individual effort down the line that left the visitors looking at each other. A pattern was forming, both teams were passing through each other’s defence like a hot knife through butter.

The game restarted with Toby passing to Matthew who was unlucky when his attempt to set up Milo was denied by a fantastic interception from one of the Thames players who then ran the length of the pitch to put them in the lead. After some middle ground to and fro, Ben stopped a Thames attack in its tracks with an important tag. Thames then dropped the ball which Milo scooped up and fed to Matthew who powered up the middle. A nice short left pass sent Toby on his way but he was held up by a pocket of home players. Fortunately most of them ended up behind him and the offside decision was given. With the defensive line sent back 5 yards, Rochford regained their formation and Toby sent Dalton on another arcing run that reduced the Thames defence to a Maginot line.

With the score level at 3-3 Thames set off with more determination, a great tag by Toby was not enough to stop the attack as a zig zagging run from one of their faster players left Rochford for dust again.

At the break Steve explained to the team that they were playing well in attack but needed to keep their defensive line discipline and make Thames work for any ground they wanted to gain.

The team talk seemed to be taken board as immediately in the 2nd half, Dalton stopped a Thames attack from one of their stronger players with a great tag. Further good defensive work from Rochford forced a mistake from Thames and the turnover ball granted the visitors possession. However an uncharacteristic mistake in attack gave the ball away and one of the Thames wingers tore down the line for a decent individual try. At 5-3 it looked like this one was beginning to slip away. But Rochford are made of better stuff than that. The age advantage was not putting the U7s off. They dug deep and Ben launched himself into an inspiring run that put through Fin to supply Milo and then on to Dalton who finished a fantastic move – great Rugby boys! This was more like it. Thames replied with another good effort but then Dalton restarted with a pass back to Ben who weaved his way through the middle ground before setting up Finlay who, just when it looked like he’d reached a dead end, found support from Milo who found the gap and scored. More good passing and running from Thames earned them another score – this was proving to be a well matched game of end to end action.

With his team 7-6 down, Edward tried to even things up with a powerful diagonal run across the last third of the pitch followed by a pop pass to Ben who ran back across field and fed Dalton who set up Ethan for his first try for the club – another great team effort, well done. However with this Thames side it was like trying to hold back the tide, they just kept coming and steamed past with another try to take the lead again. As the clock ticked down Toby stormed the defence and was tagged but fed Milo who equalised just before the whistle was blown for Full time. Phew!

Lessons – This was a difficult game because the opposition had more older players, however if we had held our defensive line better we could have beaten them as they too, lacked in this area. That said, the attacking stuff was good with moments of brilliance so well done, a draw was a good result.