Match Reports - First Team / Colts / Under 15s / Under 13s
Verulamians First Team vs Watford
Verulamians first XV made a return to local rivals Watford RFC which coincidentally was their final game of the 2019/20 season which saw The Vees suffering a semi-final defeat in the cup. The game was shaped up to be a great pre-season fixture on a glorious day, hopefully laying foundations for a successful season ahead.
A new exuberant team filled with some familiar faces and a plethora of debutants was named by first team Coach George Harding and captained by Callum Porter.
Both teams in the early stages struggled to play into their structures with the last 18 month off. Evidently a clear mixture of sheer excitement to be back on the pitch in blue & gold, alongside dusting the cobwebs from the boots and brains of most players led to a few mistakes early on by Verulamians. Watford scoring three early from wide positions and slight lack of organisation from the Vee’s placed the boys in an unfavourable position however did not set the tone for the remainder of the game.
Andre Fourie making his debut for the Vee’s stepped in as an experimental fly-half from his conventional position as an outside centre, established a sense of control of the game after Watford’s early pressure wore off. Both teams battled well in the second half of the first 40 mins with Vee’s close to scoring, alongside some fantastic defence shown by the Vees.
Half time saw the Vee’s down 33 points
After a clear and concise message at halftime and a few changes in the squad, on came the second half resulting to a better start by the Vee’s. With the attack looking more fluid, an added aggression to the style of play, some penalties and line breaks lead to the first score of the half by debutant Andre Fourie, back in his usual position of 13, crashing over after cutting a great line. Watford came back strong and scored two more tries of their own.
However again The Vee’s were not fazed by the points on the board by Watford and finished strong with Josh Lawrence making a great break to burst over the line and score with the Watford defence tiring. Shortly after the referee wrapped up what was a great day of rugby, although not the dream start for the boys after the hard work put into pre-season, it was evident that passion and talent is in abundance within the team and no doubt they will hit the new season running, with the first game being played away at Ealing on the 2nd October.
Verulamians Colts 51 v Harrow RFC 5
For the newly formed Colts team this was our first competitive game of the season away to Harrow, coming away with an emphatic 51 points to 5 win.
Some excellent performances all around too many to mention, great team work and spirit in the team. Also very pleasing to see the lads showing a lot of maturity and focus managing their own pre-match warm up, preparations, team/position selections and substitutions.
WELL DONE BOYS!
Under 15s - Verulamians 5 v Old Albanians 21
This game marked the first match of the combined Verulamians and Welwyn under 15’s side who have merged following a shortage of playing numbers on both sides.
The new players from Welwyn added great defensive strength to the Vees team, with some absolute crunching tackles by the lads from Welwyn. This only added to the normal defensive strength of the Vees with their normal strong tackling, rucking and mauling.
The score line flattered OAs slightly as it was quite an even match, although with much of the game played in Vees territory, but with a strong Vees defensive line, however resistance eventually broke and 3 tries scored by OAs and successful conversions.
Alfie broke free towards the end of the first half, with a great try scored sprinting past the opposition, and putting the ball just short of the posts. With the conversion, Alfie struck the ball well and unluckily narrowly missed the posts from the angle.
Well done to the whole team including the players travelling from Welwyn, for a great performance and making it a really fiercely competitive game!
Well done all!
Under 13s - Verulamians 6 v Tring 2
We welcomed Tring to Cotlandswick on Sunday morning, and their coaching team were a pleasure to do a joint scrum coaching session with before the match. The game followed this training session with a hard fought first half with both sides scoring good tries, through good teamwork, demonstrating good support play and hard work. In the second half The Vees showed great rucking, counter rucking with the lads putting into practice what they have been training on. Towards the end, as the opposition were tiring, the Vees fitness showed and ran in some fantastic tries from Bodie, Max, and Arthur.
We look forward to the return fixture and Tring later on in the year.
Well done all!