A hard fought draw that felt like a win…

On a bright but windy spring morning the U14s travelled to Chigwell to play a strong Woodford side that always provide a stiff test. But the U14s were clearly ready for the challenge today and decided instead that they were going to test Woodford. They started brightly straight from the kick off and although Woodford scored two converted trys in the first half this didn’t tell the whole story. Romford were working well together, each player had been given a job to do and they were working extremely hard for each other and this began to tell. Romford spent most of the second period of the first half camped in Woodfords end as their rucking and tackling kept forcing Woodford to defend. This pressure was eventually turned into points as Michael Courtney managed to score Romford’s first try which was duly converted by Sam Slatford. Michael may have dotted the ball down but every player on the team should take credit for a superb piece of passing and pressure that saw virtually every boy involved in the build up to this try.

HT: Woodford 14-7 RGP

The second half began and Romford continued to pile on the pressure. A misunderstanding from the referees instructions allowed Woodford score another try from a quickly taken penalty but this confusion seemed to spur the boys on even more. Woodford were tiring from the continual defending that Romford were forcing onto them. Another well worked team try from the back of a strong maul that moved Romford a third of the way down the pitch was scored by Michael Courtney who found the gap and side stepped though to score. And it wasn’t long before the continual pressure in the middle of the park allowed some swift passing to the wing for Tom O’Meara to race down the and score Romford’s third fabulous try, which Sam Slatford duly converted to tie the game.

The boys should be incredibly proud of themselves this morning they put in a huge amount of effort and were rewarded with an excellent draw. Well done boys!

Final score:

Woodford 19
RGP 19

Tries: Michael Courtney (2), Tom O’Meara
Conversions: Sam Slatford (2)

Squad: L. Metcalf (c), C. Hardy, L. Potter, H. Runham, M. Courtney, J. Rawana, R. Pooley, S. Kerr, B. Watts, R. Page, O. Flower, B. Walton, J. Mimms, M. Sultana, T. O’Meara, T. Polius, L. Harris, S. Slatford, R. Blinkhorne, N. Fragjaj.