Match Reports
Under 16s - Luton 24 vs Vees 5
Vees come unstuck against a tough Luton side who took their chances in atrocious conditions
First half
Vees arrived at Luton with the planned pitch unplayable - decimated by the recent deluges. Fortunately the second team pitch was in better shape. Vees kicked off against the driving wind and Luton soon had the boys in blue pinned in the 22.
Luton’s pack are tenacious and with Vees not committing sufficient numbers of forwards to the breakdown to repel them, Luton were able to accumulate penalties and maintain the pressure.
The Vees showed solid defence on the whole with desperate, last ditch tackles needed at times.
The best action from Vees saw some a great clearing kick from Luka from our goal line following a brilliant and calm side-step under pressure.
The other standout moment saw a text book tackle from Harrison, following a line-out, as he wrapped up the legs and slid to the ankles to fell the runner.
Despite the defence, Luton struck first following a penalty which the put into touch for a 5m lineout. The powerful Luton pack secured the ball and drove over. A great kick from the 10 saw the match at 7-0 for the half.
Second half
Vees turned around with the wind at their backs but the conditions and Ref seemed to turn against Vees. The Ref missed huge a huge knock on by Luton and moments later their 10 chipped ahead and got the luck of the bounce to dribble the ball and touch down over the line. Try converted.
14-0
Vees attacked next with a line break made by Sam FB but the attempted switch didn’t go to Rhydian’s hands and Luton’s 10 punished the mishap with a 50m break. Olly P showed his pace and determination to chase down and make the tackle but with Will and Olly turning over the ball, the Ref gave a completely unwarranted penalty.
Luton scored next following another not straight lineout throw (only Vees got pinged on the day for this!). The 7 then jumped the tackle attempt (illegal and should have been a penalty to Vees) but the ref didn’t ping the clear infringement and awarded the try.
19-0
The kick off from Luke went deep but held up just short of the line. Vees forced a penalty which went wide to Jamie S to in turn feed Luka for a try in corner. Great vision and use of the 2 on 1. The conversion couldn’t be made by Luka who had assumed kicking duties on the day with Jamie F unavailable through illness.
19-5
From the kick off, Vees couldn’t handle the swirling ball and Luton won a lineout. From the lineout drive, they broke and despite a try saving tackle from Luka, their 9 was able to pick up quickly and dived over.
24-5
In bad conditions, Luton took their chances and Vees got a valuable lesson in needing to commit numbers to rucks in attack to maintain possession. Luton are a tough side and have 5 players in the Northampton Saints academy but with a bit more belief and application it could have been a win for the Vees.
Final Score
Luton 24-5 Vees (Try: Luka)
Players of the day
Alfie - has really stepped up of late coupling huge work rate with determination to make his tackles and greatly improved hands. Has really applied himself in training and taken on board feedback which is showing up in matches.
Luka - Vees have found their backup kicker as he showed great control with the boot effecting some great clearances and also creating his own try with an excellent kick off. Made a try saving tackle and scored a try so an all around display from the versatile scrum half.
u10’s Tabard vs Vees
Vee’s arrived to a beautiful sunny morning away to Tabard and quickly went through our paces in the warm up with good intensity. Our focus for the day was to show more aggression in the in the contact zones and play fast running rugby when the opportunity presented itself.
Tabard were also up for it and at home had Vee’s playing into the sun to start. A few easy tries on either side with one off runners and some stern words about tackle technique then turned onto a lovely game of rugby. Huge turnovers by Ellen and Matt at the breakdown with Gabriel making an absolute nuisance of himself in the tackle area. Sam, Aiden, Jamal, Indy and Arrifin held their width out wide and benefited from the available space scoring some clinical tries in the corners. Following a break, a confident Vee’s came out with Adam tackling everything that moved, Max making some huge runs through the middle and the quickly recycled ball let the pace players score in the corners again. Jack put in his biggest hit of the season against a player double his size whilst Joe was dancing through tackles and making a good few himself. All in all, two quite equally matched teams which lead to a great morning’s rugby in the sunshine.
It was one of those weeks where everyone could have earned a medal, but out 5 standout performers for the day were. Max, Matt, Ellen, Jamal and Gabriel.
