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U14s and U17s play in the snow

U14s and U17s play in the snow

Peter Barron25 Mar 2018 - 14:17
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Games on despite the weather

Crawley U14s 5-Lewes U14s 40
Brighton U17s 50-Lewes U17s 5

The U14s played a friendly away at Crawley a fortnight ago in conditions better suited to the winter Olympics. The pitch was so covered in snow on arrival that it looked as if someone had taken the piste. The mood in the changing room before the game was understandably subdued. But the display on the pitch was the complete opposite.

Crawley were pinned back in their own half for the first 20 minutes by an energetic and switched-on Lewes side whose rucking and recycling were ruthless. It was only the home side’s determined tackling that kept the visitors at bay. But Lewes were retaining possession so efficiently and mixing tactics so effectively that eventually something had to give. Exploiting quick ball off the back of the ruck fly half Brad Andersen went blind and winger Myles Govus skated over in the corner. It was Brad’s turn next, selling an audacious dummy that completely wrong-footed the home side’s defence and went flying in to score under the posts. The first half ended with the score at 0-19 when Teddy Groves, who had been a constant menace at the breakdown, forced his way over the line for his first try in a Lewes shirt.

After the break Lewes lost some intensity and shape and Crawley threatened to come back. But Lewes weathered the storm and Geordie Gwynn increased his points tally with a nicely-taken try. Although Crawley responded with a well-worked score in the corner, their revival was short lived and Lewes struck back three times. Gwynn floated an inch-perfect cross-field kick from a penalty that Jude Littlewood leapt high to catch then burst across the whitewash. A fierce Tom Waters then outpaced the defence to touch down whilst minutes later another hard-fought ruck enabled Jack Billin to scamper in unopposed.

This was another impressive performance by an U14s squad that keeps improving every game. Man of the match Blake Irlam made some devastating carries and topped the tackle count with some massive hits, one of which could probably be heard back in Lewes. Crawley nominated Man of the match Franco was not far behind Irlam on the tackle count, whilst Alex Brydon showed a renewed appetite for the physical side of the game including a brilliant try-saving tackle. John Weir put in another big shift charging through the Crawley pack almost from half-way at one point only to be dragged down with metres to go.

Despite the adverse weather every single player made a huge contribution, building on the intensity and physicality of the previous weeks win against Shoreham. Lewes dominated the breakdown and the handling was extraordinarily sharp in such freezing conditions. At one point hooker Robbie Stoner was spotted chipping ice off the ball before a line out. The squad might have been frozen, but this this emphatic win confirms that the cold never bothered them anyway.

Tries: Myles Govus, Bradleigh Andersen, Teddy Groves, Jude Littlewood, Tom Waters, Jack Billin. Conversions: Geordie Gwynn (3)

In horrible conditions similar to those suffered by the U14s, there was a practice match at Brighton for next season's Colts made up of U16s and U17s (above). Brighton won 55-5 with a Lewes try by U17 Theo Wrench.

Further reading