Under 14s' Success Continues at Old Albanians

As the Under 14s contine to make progress, their abilities have been further recognised by Middx County who have now added Hayden to the ranks of the London & South Rugby Academy Developing Player Pathway. He joins Cian, David and Donnie (pictured) who are already in the programme.

Meanwhile back on the field....

Old Albanians B (5) Enfield Ignatians (36)

SQUAD GAMES from Rob ‘Hold The Back Page’ Painter in St Albans

With an unbeaten run since September our Under 14’s approached their latest league game away to Old Albanians B with confidence. And the boys delivered a performance as impressive as the Old Albanians smart set up in a handsome 5-36 victory.

Pre kick off much of the sideline chatter had been about the ‘squad’. This year the under 14’s have bolstered their squad numbers to 35 with 9 new players. Great news for the club, bigger numbers for Thursday night training and better equipped to cope with this years injury list. But it also presented a challenge to the coaches. One that Alfie and Corky have dealt with incredibly well. More friendly matches have been organised, parallel training sessions run, player rotation and tricky squad selections have been made. The net result have been decent game time for everyone and an engaged as well as enlarged group of lads.

The squad was also going to be tested at OA’s by the absence of many quality players through injury, aggravated by late pull outs due to illness and injury. However the squad pulled through again with additional players (Isaac & Harry D-L) being called up at very short notice. Coach Corky expressed his thanks to the parents who gave the heads up and those that had to respond at short notice.

So how did the squad respond at a windy OA’s? Pretty well indeed between the 6th and 50th minutes. Because the first 5 minutes were characterized by this reporters completely blank notepad. Literally nothing happened!

Then with six mins on the clock a solid scrum and sharp passes from 9 (George) and 10 (Ollie H) led to the opening try from Ollie G. He did what he does best and that’s timing a run and finding an angle through gaps in the 12/13 channels. Patrick converted for 7-0.

We then saw some enterprising play. A low cross field kick from George to Patrick, the first of several powerful runs from our forwards with David being turned over when very close to the line as well as a drive from Hayden. From the opposition we also saw the first 50:22 of the season! The territory pressure from that kick led to the ball going loose ball within our backs. Two phases later OA’s scored an unconverted try from short range. 7-5 on 18’mins.

That setback was against the run of play and we needed some good defensive work on half way in the next phase of play featuring good tackling and drift defence (well led Ollie S) to force OA’s into touch. Five minutes later we scored the team try of the day. First our pack, which dominated throughout, won the scrum against the head. Patrick was set off on a characteristic mazy run, then two efficient re cycles of the ball in midfield meant that the OA’s defence were sucked in towards the ball. Seeing this our 9 and 10 combined quickly to release Jeremiah away from the mass of players, he ran with ball in hand before offloading to Ciaran to finish out wide. That team try brought us to the champagne moment of the game… Patrick’s conversion from an acute angle, directly into the wind was a thing of beauty. The Enfield parents let out a surprised and delighted roar of approval. 14-5 half time.

If the first half saw some good back play mixed with some catch and pass errors, the second half was mainly about forward power.
Given the wind, it was a good day for direct running. One guy who does burst straight forward (though he did run backwards at one point on Sunday!) is Chenitha. A dropped ball from OA’s was kicked through by George. Chenitha picked up and never looked back to score from the 22. Patrick brilliantly converted (and ‘won’ a new x-box from dad…tbc..) . 21-5. 30mins. On the next phase some superb tackling from the boys forced another knock on. The result was the same, Chenitha picking up and scoring after another direct run. 26-5 32mins.

The forwards were now bossing it. Hayden produced a new dummy, this time a fake kick. Then David produced a run with more disco turns than Travolta, pulling men left right and centre but he just fell short of the line. However he wasn’t to be denied when he scored from close range after several phases. 31-5 44mins.

David also scored our final try on 48mins after a dynamic run from Ollie G, fending off opponents in the process of making serious metres. The ball was ripped backwards by OA. David picked it up, barrelled over the line and just got enough downward pressure on his placement for the try to be awarded. 36-5, which remained the final score in a terrific day for the whole squad.

Lastly, thanks to our hosts who played their part in good spirit and a special mention to ‘sir’ who had some lovely words to say about our boys and who was himself called on to officiate at short notice. It’s a squad game.