Bedford Under 14’s A team – Bishop’s Stortford Under 14's A Team

One observation is the variety of try scorers.

The first game of the New Year saw Bishop’s Stortford away to a committed Bedford team that put in a spirited performance against the league leaders. The opening exchanges saw the forwards of both teams battle to gain supremacy. The set pieces saw the Bedford team initially stand up well against the Stortford’s forwards. However the forwards with strong drives and good continuity began to exert pressure, they were well supported by the backs, who followed up quick as a line to press their opponents who could not make any progress. The first score came as a result of a good scrum won in the opposition’s twenty two. The ball was spun out to Lilley a dummy switch with Keen saw the ball released to Perry in space who ran in under the post. A second score quickly followed when after good play by Etherington sent Forbes away on a break who recycled the ball to the supporting Crowhurst who went over the line in the corner. By now Stortford were putting together some good phases’ of play. The forwards make good progress with some pick up’s a drive which enabled the ball to be passed along the line with Bennet going over for third try with ease. The final score of the half, securing the bonus point came after some loose play by both teams in the middle of the park. The ball was collected by Wells in broken play and his speed saw him pull away from the Bedford defence and go in under the post. This score was converted and at H/T the score was 0-22.

The second half saw the strength in depth of the squad when all the replacements were used and the scoring maintained. Good field position was obtained when the kick off was chased down and a penalty conceded by Bedford. After some driving by the forwards the ball was moved down the length of the backs and Etherington was in acres of space to score. The second try of the half commenced with an accurate kick into space by Lilley which was chased down by Shannon who put in a big tackle and the resulting spilt ball was picked up by the supporting Civil who was never going to be caught and he ran in under the posts. The try was converted and the score was now 0-34. To their credit Bedford never gave up and got a good field position, 5 metres out from the Stortford line. They won the scrum and scored going down the blind side.

Stortford immediately hit back with Wells winning a line out, then going straight through the Bedford defence to score his second try. Another conversion followed and the score was not 5-41. Two more tries were to follow. A good kick by Lilley was chased and possession secured by Civil who offloaded to Precious who forced his way over. The try was converted. The final try and his hat trick try saw Wells go from his own half through the defence and going in under the post s again. The last kick of the game saw Lilley convert the try. Final score 5-55.

Squad Bennet, Crafford, Civil, Crowhurst, Etherington, Ewan, James, Keen, Lilley, Forbes (capt),Juniper, Clarke-Scholes, Pearce, Perry, Willis, Shannon, Hopkinson, Radley, Stenhouse, Wells and Precious.