Match report

Match Report:

Match 1: Droitwich B v LRFC B – 24.01.10 (Away)

Result: Droitwich “B”: 19 - Ledbury RFC “B”: 20.

Scorers for Ledbury:

Tries: Jonathon Evans (2), George Watson, Ed Fryer.

Team Sheet:

Owen Haymonds, Kieron Smith, George Watson, Myles Burrett-Newland, Oliver Jones, Barnabas Seager, Dan Clark, Jonathon Evens, Alex Seager, Henry Thomas, Stewart Martin, Amber Wilkins, Toby Cotton.

Replacements:

Ed Fryer, Dan Smith, Harry Harris, Rhodri Whittaker, Daniel Hamlin.

Ledbury kicked off with the sun in their eyes and after some early forward exchanges found themselves behind as Droitwich capitalised on some non-existent tackling to run the ball in from their own half. It looked at this point as though Ledbury were going to be in for a torrid time. Fortunately for the visitors Amber Wilkins was in fine form setting up two of Ledbury’s tries.

The first try, scored by relative newcomer Jonathon Evans was a beauty. Amber picked up loose ball well within Ledbury’s half and fed it quickly to the impressive scrum half to run in from fully 40metres out to touch down for the try of the match. Unfortunately Ledbury missed the conversion, a weakness throughout, and Droitwich retained a slender lead.

The second try was again created by Amber who demonstrated her speed when she picked up loose ball well within Ledbury’s 22 and outpaced any number of defenders before she ran out of space close to the home teams’ line. Ledbury won the resulting scrum and, following a number of phases, finally fed George Watson to cap off a fine individual performance with a close quarter try which again went unconverted.

Ledbury made several changes for the second half which started in much the same way as the first half ended with Droitwich pressing hard close to the visitors try line. Ledbury showed their resilience by winning a couple of defensive line-outs against the head before feeding Jonathon Evans to score his second try from long distance showing a very impressive turn of speed.

Ledbury were, by now, securing their share of possession through the pack with Dan Clark impressive at the base of the scrum allowing the backs, with Henry Thomas, Rhodri Whittaker and, in particular, Stewart Martin to shine. However, Droitwich were far from finished and they finally forced their way over for their third converted try following a period of sustained pressure.

Ledbury bounced back in this fluctuating contest to score their fourth unconverted try through Ed Fryer.

From the restart Droitwich pinned the visitors back inside their 22m line to score the inevitable third try with the last act of the absorbing match. The score, fortunately, went unconverted to ensure victory to Ledbury.

Match 2: Old Silhillions “A” v LRFC “A” – 24.01.10 (Away)

Result: Old Silhillions: 0 - Ledbury RFC “A”: 19.

Scorers for Ledbury:

Tries: Sam Seaborn, Rory Bateson, Sam Prestwich.

Conversion: Will Butler (2)

Team Sheet:

Ben Savidge, Sam Seaborn, Tom Kinsella, George Hemmingway, Benadict Shimwell, Cameron Hunter, Charlie Samwells, Will Butler, Sam Prestwich, Toby Hiram, Hugh Smith, Rory Bateson, Marcus Ballinger.

Replacements:

Myles Burret Newland

Ledbury kicked off deep into the “home” sides’ half and immediately applied pressure on the their defence pinning them within their 22m line for most of the first half. Old Silhillions displayed impressive resilience holding Ledbury for most of the first half.

The defence finally cracked when a desperate clearance kick was deftly caught by Marcus Ballinger who promptly ran back into the Old Sil’s 22 to set up Sam Seaborn to crash over for Ledbury’s first try.

Will Butler, as reliable as ever with the boot, duly converted to give Ledbury a deserved, and perhaps overdue, lead.

Old Sil’s found themselves under pressure straight from the restart as Ledbury sought to capitalise on their lead by running the ball, with no little handling skill, back at their opponents. This policy soon bore fruit with Rory Bateson and Sam Prestwich combining well to set up Rory for his try which was again duly converted by Will Butler.

Ledbury went in at half time with a well deserved 14 point lead.

The second half proved to be a much more even contest with Old Sil’s finally hitting their straps and managing to put Ledbury under considerable pressure, which they managed to withstand.

After an opening period where Ledbury found themselves under considerable pressure the ball was finally cleared with the visitors forcing their way up to the Old Sils line where they conceded a penalty. Ledbury decided to run the ball and demonstrated considerable ball skills to ship the ball to the Sam & Rory double act with Sam Prestwich this time being the beneficiary scoring a well deserved unconverted try to seal the result for Ledbury.

 Match 3: Droitwich “A” v LRFC “A” – 24.01.10 (Away)

Result: Droitwich “A”: 0 - Ledbury RFC “A”: 5.

Scorers for Ledbury:

Try: George Hemmingway.

Team Sheet:

Ben Savidge, Sam Seaborn, Tom Kinsella, George Hemmingway, Benadict Shimwell, Cameron Hunter, Charlie Samwells, Will Butler, Sam Prestwich, Toby Hiram, Huw Smith, Rory Bateson, Marcus Ballinger.

Replacements:

Myles Burret-Newland

This match proved to be a classic “game of two halves” with the opening half spent exclusively in the home teams’ 22. Droitwich held firm in defence despite rarely having the ball and Ledbury, for all their possession and pack dominance were unable to break the home sides’ line and the half ended without a score.

The second half started well for Ledbury who received the restart and immediately returned the ball with a searching defensive kick from the impressive Marcus Ballinger which was fumbled by the home sides’ full back allowing the chasing runners to put the Droitwich defence under huge pressure.

Droitwich were subsequently forced to concede a penalty close to their own try line when they strayed offside at the breakdown. Ledbury decided to run the ball which was fed rapidly to George Hemmingway who, despite having a quiet game by his standards, has the happy knack of scoring tries when most needed. A try was needed and he duly obliged crashing over in typical style from 5metres out.

Droitwich came back strongly after this setback and put the visitors under considerable pressure towards the end of the match and Ledbury only managed to hold on with sum desperate defensive work, exemplified by Rory Bateson who put in an excellent cover tackle to end the last move, and Droitwich’s final opportunity, of the match.

Ledbury held on to win a close and absorbing match, which on balance was a deserved result.

Once again Ledbury demonstrated that they not only have a fine first team but also possess considerable strength in depth with a number of “B” team players showing real desire and ability and pushing for first team consideration.