News & EventsLatest NewsCalendar
First league games for Under 12s and 13s

First league games for Under 12s and 13s

Peter Barron15 Nov 2017 - 11:25
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.lewesrugby.com/new

The first outing in the Waterfall league format for the youngest juniors

Lewes U12s 10-Heathfield and Waldron 25
The U12s' first waterfall match started with a strong Lewes side comprising of a solid 12 experienced players, with four developers as substitutes. The game was hotly contested by both sides from the very start, with both sides rarely giving away possession. The first break went to Lewes. Heathfield and Waldron pulled back soon after to level the score. Again, for the next 8-10 minutes the game was tight and hard fought with both teams giving it everything they had, and playing some fantastic rugby. Heathfield gained a free pass 5m out from the Lewes try line, and whilst Lewes were still re-positioning, the visitors were quick thinking and simply ran through an open five metres to score an easy try. Lewes didn’t hold back though, and within a few minutes were back on level terms at 10-10.

In the second half Lewes picked up a few injuries in quick succession, resulting in the loss of a couple of experienced players, but this meant they had the opportunity to give the subs a good runout; and they played their hearts out, giving it everything they had. Coach Justin Brown commented that "they were thrown in the deep end, and they certainly did more than stay just afloat!" Combining the injuries with a couple of unlucky offside calls not given, and Lewes having two tries refused, Heathfield managed to get another three tries. The result ending as a 10-25 win to Heathfield. Brown concluded this was "certainly not a score line giving a true reflection of the game. This was a tight, very hard fought, great game of rugby from both sides, leaving me immensely proud of all the boys today. Onwards and upwards to the next one!"

Worthing U13s 45-Lewes U13s 0
The U13s' fixture was against a strong Worthing side and 17 proud Lewes players donned the 'new' shirts for their first official league match. Lewes' scrum stood up to the pressure well but their forwards were fewer in number and size than the hosts, so by the second half Lewes were not winning so many scrums and were struggling to compete at the breakdowns. Their centres and backs did not get the opportunities they would have liked to attack the open spaces but more often found themselves involved in scramble defence.

However Coach Bob Lockyer commented that "if this had been a premiership match the statistics would show that we had a decent percentage of possession and spent a good amount of time in their territory but we failed to convert that into tries. That being said we did get over the Worthing try line twice but were judged to be held up on both occasions, we also had a few other good try scoring efforts that were foiled close to the Worthing line.

At the end of the match both the referee and Worthing coaches said that the scoreline flattered Worthing and did not reflect how hard fought the match had been, they said that the spirited performance by Lewes deserved a try or two in compensation."

Further reading