LSFC U13s were at home on Sunday in round two of the Surrey Waterfall Cup, facing Kingston OE (KOE).
With the teams warming up, it appeared that the boys would be in for a tough match given the bulk and height of a number of their opponents. However, off the back of a solid win in the opening round, confidence was high, and the boys were focussed. With an almost full turnout it was also one of the strongest squads that had taken the field this season.
Whilst the boys had hoped to be quick out of the blocks for the second fixture running, they were immediately on the back foot with some of KOE’s towering forwards and abrasive backs cutting through the middle. Within a few minutes, KOE had scored under the posts. The young Scots came back into the game quickly though, pressuring the opposition backs into spilling the ball for Seb to fly-hack up the park. It looked certain that his footballing skills would see him score, but he was illegally brought down without the ball. From the resulting penalty, and a few phases of play, Rupert broke through several tackles with a strong run to level the scores. The forwards were now looking secure in the scrum and at ruck time, allowing Rudy and Gregor to release Elliot and then Rupert again, to score well-worked tries, outpacing their opposite numbers to charge over the line.
KOE wouldn’t be brushed aside though and, with the young Scots being turned over in a number of rucks, came back towards the end of the first half to lead 15-20. Rupert levelled things up with another trade mark winding run, leaving the KOE defence frustrated, but injuring himself in the process of securing his hattrick. Debutant prop Emre, who put in a convincing opening performance, crashed over to get one for the forwards and edge us ahead at half time. With injuries mounting, Henry came onto the wing with Gaston showing his versatility for the second fixture running, moving out from the front row to cover centre.
At the start of the second half the boys again suffered a number of turnovers, the weight and height of the opposing forwards taking its toll. Once again KOE capitalised and levelled, but by this time their forwards were starting to fade. The bench was emptied with Kuzey coming on in the second row and Rupert being able to return to action. In one of the tries of the day, Emre broke out of the Scottish 22 going two thirds of the park to score his second. KOE secured another score but the Scots’ tackling and rucking speed stepped-up midway through the second half with Max and Mark rucking aggresively, Liam and Patrick making some great hits and Rudy and Raph taking down players twice their size!
With around 10 minutes remaining and the Scots just ahead, Elliot looked to have broken away from our 22 and to have outpaced the opposition to score, but was adjudged to have dropped the ball as he slid over the whitewash. Rupert secured his fourth and fifth shortly afterwards with KOE at a loss as to how he had again evaded so many tackles. The momentum had clearly shifted and with the forwards providing a solid platform and Rudy providing quick ball, Raph and Cameron were each able to beat defenders on the outside to secure a 50-30 win.
A special thanks goes to Daniel who put in a great performance on loan to KOE.
Forwards: Daniel, Emre, Gaston, Henry, Liam, Max, Mark, Kuzey, Patrick (c).
Backs: Rudy, Gregor, Cameron, Elliot, Seb, Raph, Rupert.
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