Match report

MATCH REPORT

20th April 2008

Ledbury U10s

Luctonians Festival

LEDBURY U10s Win 2, Draw 1, Lose 1, in Close Run Tournament Group

The Ledbury squad of 16 eager players assembled early on a damp grey Sunday morning at the Luctonians ground, ready to face their opponents. As it turned out it was to be an overall closely fought contest between six clubs in the group (Ledbury were not drawn to play Luctonians) that had not been played against previously, as both Hereford and Bromyard were drawn in a separate group.

Game 1                          Ledbury 10     Pentrych 15

The first game opened in a light drizzle and both sides seemed cautious of each other as they got the measure of each others respective merits. The Ledbury pack of George Hemingway, George Humphris and Ben Stevens soon stamped their authority in that department, convincingly winning the first set piece and providing good linking distribution. The Welsh side were experienced enough to adjust and counter their apparent weakness with some faster and more accurate passing when they did gain possession.  The game was so finely balanced though that half time came with one score each, the Ledbury try coming from a great cut back inside by Sam Prestwich out on the wing.   

Pentrych came out in the second half seemingly more determined and were able to gain more possession than they had in the first half and looked like using it. Ledbury were pushed back on the defensive more and more and, but for some good tackling defence, would have conceded more than the two tries they did early in this half. The Ledbury backs seemed unable to feed good clean ball down the line as Pentrych were so quick up on them and forced errors. However George Hemingway in particular was not going to go down without a fight and made one of his determined charges for the line after wrestling the ball from the loose. Unfortunately it was too late for Ledbury to then come back for another, which could so easily have happened as they had regained the upper hand by the end.

Game 2            Ledbury 40     Anselmians 0

With a change of some personnel Ledbury took to the field for their second game looking to impose themselves immediately and avoid the prospect of being pipped at the post once more. Right from the kick off Dan Clark in the forwards was fed the ball and ran straight through the defence to score within seconds of the kick off. It was soon apparent that Anselmians, who had travelled down from the Wirral, were not the same calibre as Pentrych and Ledbury were able to totally dominate the game. A second try soon came from another forward, Sam Seaborn, followed almost at once by three tries from the wingers Rory Bateson and Sam Prestwich (2).

Going into half time 5 scores down could have knocked the stuffing out of them but the Anselmians kept their heads up and had a couple of chances to come back. They were not able to penetrate the Ledbury defence though and conceded three further scores, two through forward drives by Sam Seaborn and George Humphris, and one to George Wallis-Smith in the backs.

Compared to the first game this contest was much more a mismatch of experience but the key thing that Anselmians could take back north was that they never gave up trying and with more training and guidance will develop into a far stronger side.    

Game 3            Ledbury 10     Builth 5

This game was preceded by the unusual occurrence of three Ledbury players and a Ledbury coach giving the Builth team a crash course in contested scrums as they are not used to playing to the same rules. Given that Ledbury appeared to have a distinct advantage in that case it was all credit to Builth that they held the game to such a tight outcome.

With Sam Prestwich looking to notch up further scores to his name it was no surprise to see him add two by half time against the one score to Builth. It was not easy though and Builth soon learnt to overcome their disadvantage in the set pieces.

The second half became an exercise in containing the Builth backs who had obvious talent and were faster at distributing the ball on the run. But for some strong tackles from Toby Hiram, Benedict Shimwell, Hugh Smith and Sam Prestwich the result could easily have slipped the other way. In fact both sides were equally strong in defence and effectively thwarted each others attacks to result in a nil-nil draw for the half.   

Game 4            Ledbury 5       Stourbridge 5

This match was crucial for Ledbury to go through to the knock out stages, heightened by the fact that, prior to kick off, Stourbridge led the group with three wins to their name.

Galvanised by the sense of occasion Ledbury came out in strength and looked to have set their minds to causing the upset of the morning. The play flowed from end to end as each side looked for that crack. The Stourbridge defence held good and resisted the pressure well, only to capitalise on a Ledbury mistake against the overall run of play to score from a run from their own half.

So it was one score down at half time and all to play for. The Ledbury pack battled to make ground and set up a good attacking platform but were unable to use even George Hemingway to break through and he soon had to retire injured. It took an inspired weaving run from Benedict Shimwell to finally make the breakthrough and even the scores.

With time running out fast it looked as though Ledbury might just win through as the ball came down the line on the half way mark leaving Rory Bateson on the wing with a long run to the line. It was not to be though as he was brought down by a last ditch Stourbridge tackle with a yard to go. Ledbury could take some comfort from the fact that they were the only team not to concede to Stourbridge.  

Ultimately it was Stourbridge and Pentrych to go through on 10 points each with Ledbury tying for third place with Luctonians on 7 in the group. But for one try more in either the first or fourth game it could well have been Ledbury going through. So close, yet so far, but the squad can take great pride in some excellent team play and a fine example of well played rugby and of course congratulations to Sam Prestwich for a fine tally of 5 tries!

Try Scorers:

Sam Prestwich (5)

Sam Seaborn (2)

Rory Bateson

Dan Clark

George Hemingway

George Humphris

Benedict Shimwell

George Wallis-Smith