Shaking off the hangover of our earlier January fixture the U14A team were determined to prove themselves. Proudly they manned up against a well-ordered side who were a close match, but lacked the finish we could bring to bear.

A powerful burst across the line from Chris Lipczynski yielding us an early try gave the boys a boost of much needed confidence against a very 'combined' pack and a few useful running backs. After this foundation score we endured a phase of 15 or so minutes where Wimbledon held all the possession and we had the unenviable task of defending wave after wave of a renewed attack. They were good and able to keep regulating their attack being organised in the forwards and linked well with the backs but they were not quite good enough and our defending resolve proved too strong. We were lucky in certain aspects as their rucking was superior and they worked well as a front eight in overcoming our efforts. In the loose overall however we were still stronger and several of our boys tackling prowess today was the best we've witnessed to date.

Harvey Cutmore proved that his aim with boot was true with some great examples of kick-chase ball putting plenty of pressure on the opposition's deep defence. We were able to exploit some of these opportunities with some coursing runs from Glenmore Haydon, Chris Bell and latterly Harry Fisher on the wings and Liam Sullivan at full back. Tom Sullivan at scrum half controlled the ball from the set piece with precision, delivering good ball for the midfield and harrying well around the scrum.

Our scrummaging today was on top form with lots of well struck and won quick ball from Paddy and some good shove from Oliver Leake, Matt Barnett and latterly a strong effort from Dinil Kodituwakku. Tom Cribbens played his usual blend of solid serving lock with some pacey attack in the loose. Christian and Toby flanked well and kept up some good defensive cover while getting up in attack when there was space. Max Robertson picked up some sneaky ball from the back of the scrum at number 8 and made some striking runs which included two second half tries to his credit. Paddy Mallows also made a try by a combination of seizing loose ball opportunities and his voracious appetite for taking full advantage of the smallest gap. Louis Quarendon received a short pass on the wing and also make great ground by running up the wing almost unchallenged to place under the posts.

This was a performance today that put us back at the top of our game. We were stronger and more connected than we’ve been for many weeks. Our heads came up and the boys showed that they have the appetite to want the ball, and the guts to finish. There is still a journey to travel with some our fiercest games yet to play. Some handling improvements are critical and more discipline for the pack arriving as an eight in the loose to hoover up will pay us well. However we were immensely proud today of some excellent rugby and our best performance to date.

Tries: Chris Lip, Max, Paddy, Louis, Ollie
Conv: Harvey

Back of the match: Harvey Cutmore
Forward of the match: Max Robertson