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U13's - Report
Date: Sunday 8th January 2012 - Kick Off: 12:30
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| Brentwood | 55 | vs | 26 | Upper Clapton |
Brentwood Bulls U13 v Upper Clapton
Brentwood Bulls welcomed Upper Clapton to King George’s Playing Fields on an unseasonably warm January afternoon for their first competitive outing of 2012.
Brentwood are blessed with having a talented and extensive squad of players and the fixture against Upper Clapton provided an excellent opportunity to give those members of the squad who do not regularly feature in the league games valuable game time.
With the agreement of the Upper Clapton coaching team the development game was split into three 20 minute sessions to facilitate regular coaching interventions and player substitutions.
From the kick off Upper Clapton started with the clear intent to run the ball at all opportunities and had a powerful and well drilled pack of forwards intent on securing regular ball. It is clear that at the U13 level, league status is somewhat of an arbitrary level and that the better teams in all four divisions are strong, competitive units. The early exchanges demonstrated why Upper Clapton are undefeated in Division Three.
It was therefore somewhat against the run of play that Brentwood Bulls took the lead. Following good work by their forwards, the ball was sent along the Upper Clapton back line only to be intercepted in midfield by centre Lloyd Richards who showed the defence a clean pair of heels and ran half the length of the pitch to score under the posts. The try was converted by outside half Sam Bromiley. 7-0 to the Brentwood Bulls.
This try stirred the home team on and they immediately threw off the last vestiges of the Christmas break and started to compete on a more even basis at the breakdown.
The rest of the first period was very evenly contested with Upper Clapton having the dominance in the scrum and, with a few minute of the first period remaining, they scored close to the posts. The try was duly converted bringing the first period to a close at 7 -7.
Playing uphill in the second period, Brentwood showed a lot more inventiveness and started to move the ball with more purpose. It was therefore very unfortunate that centre Alec Parris, who had only just joined the game at the start of the second period, was immediately injured by what we have subsequently learned is a fractured ankle. Alec was replaced by Liam Batty who had an immediate impact with a couple of penetrating runs deep into the Upper Clapton defence. The breakthrough came after nine minutes when the ball was worked left to centre Lloyd Richards who offloaded in the tackle to send left wing Harry Tomsett free for the try. The conversion proved just out of range. Brentwood Bulls 12 Upper Clapton 7.
Upper Clapton then showed their quality and struck back with two tries in quick succession, the first scored out wide on the left by their winger to bring the scores level at 12-12 as the conversion was missed. This was followed up by a try under the posts by one of their forwards from close range. This was converted to give the visitors a 19-12 lead. Brentwood were put under more pressure for the last four minutes of the half when second row Adam Piggott, who had just been drafted into the action following an injury to Jake Barker, was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle following a general warning issued to both teams at the start of the period. To their credit, Brentwood with 14 players, held out for the rest of the period without conceding another point and should have scored at the whistle when, with a three man overlap on the right, five metres from the Upper Clapton line, the ball was not released and the chance went begging.
The final period started with Brentwood having the advantage of the slope and immediately took advantage of the topography by pushing the kick off deep into the Upper Clapton 22m, where their left winger knocked the ball on under the pressure of the Brentwood chasers. From the resulting scrum, the seven man Brentwood pack held firm to deliver clean ball to scrum half Sean Ryan who passed to outside half Sam Bromiley who cut back up the blind side to score a well worked individual try. The conversion proved just out of range, and so the score remained at Brentwood 17 Upper Clapton 19.
Brentwood hit back almost immediately when acting second row, Harry Swailes broke loose and scored near the post. The conversion was successfully from replacement centre Toby Tierney. Brentwood were now back in the lead 24-19.
The pivotal moments of the match happened within a 60 second period. Firstly, Adam Piggott returned to the play after his 10 minute touchline exile, only for an Upper Clapton player to be yellow carded for the same offence one minute later.
With the numerical superiority for most of the remaining period, Brentwood showed a clinical killer instinct and scored two tries in quick succession. The first was by centre Liam Batty which was not converted (29-19). This was followed by the second try for now restored No. 8, Harry Swailes. This was converted by Toby Tierney (36-19).
To their credit, Upper Clapton continued to compete and were rewarded with a converted try by their large second row (36-26).
With the minutes ticking away, both teams were restored to 15 players. Tiredness was beginning to show its hand now and Brentwood scored three back to back tries in the last two minutes of the period. The first was from second row Adam Piggott who broke through weak tackling and stormed over from the half way line. This was converted by Toby Tierney (43-26). This led to the best try of the game when the ball was taken at the restart by flanker Tom Penney who burst down the right hand side to make 15 metres before offloading to Toby Tierney who, after inter passing with his centre partner Liam Batty, set right wing Reece Jacobson over in the corner to score an unconverted try (48-26).
With the referee signalling last play from the following kick off, the ball found its way once again to second row Adam Piggott, who repeated his show of strength, pace and sheer determination to break through the Upper Clapton defence to score, again from long distance. Toby Tierney converted from in front of the posts to bring the game to a close at 55-26 to the Brentwood Bulls, a scoreline in all credit to their opponents that was not really reflective of the closeness of the contest during the first two periods of the game.
All in all a good hard run out to both sides, played in excellent spirit.
Finally it was good to see head coach John “JT” Tierney back on his pins again, albeit with the assistance of crutches. Best wishes are also sent from the whole squad and coached to Alec Parris following his ankle fracture for a speedy recovery.
Brentwood are blessed with having a talented and extensive squad of players and the fixture against Upper Clapton provided an excellent opportunity to give those members of the squad who do not regularly feature in the league games valuable game time.
With the agreement of the Upper Clapton coaching team the development game was split into three 20 minute sessions to facilitate regular coaching interventions and player substitutions.
From the kick off Upper Clapton started with the clear intent to run the ball at all opportunities and had a powerful and well drilled pack of forwards intent on securing regular ball. It is clear that at the U13 level, league status is somewhat of an arbitrary level and that the better teams in all four divisions are strong, competitive units. The early exchanges demonstrated why Upper Clapton are undefeated in Division Three.
It was therefore somewhat against the run of play that Brentwood Bulls took the lead. Following good work by their forwards, the ball was sent along the Upper Clapton back line only to be intercepted in midfield by centre Lloyd Richards who showed the defence a clean pair of heels and ran half the length of the pitch to score under the posts. The try was converted by outside half Sam Bromiley. 7-0 to the Brentwood Bulls.
This try stirred the home team on and they immediately threw off the last vestiges of the Christmas break and started to compete on a more even basis at the breakdown.
The rest of the first period was very evenly contested with Upper Clapton having the dominance in the scrum and, with a few minute of the first period remaining, they scored close to the posts. The try was duly converted bringing the first period to a close at 7 -7.
Playing uphill in the second period, Brentwood showed a lot more inventiveness and started to move the ball with more purpose. It was therefore very unfortunate that centre Alec Parris, who had only just joined the game at the start of the second period, was immediately injured by what we have subsequently learned is a fractured ankle. Alec was replaced by Liam Batty who had an immediate impact with a couple of penetrating runs deep into the Upper Clapton defence. The breakthrough came after nine minutes when the ball was worked left to centre Lloyd Richards who offloaded in the tackle to send left wing Harry Tomsett free for the try. The conversion proved just out of range. Brentwood Bulls 12 Upper Clapton 7.
Upper Clapton then showed their quality and struck back with two tries in quick succession, the first scored out wide on the left by their winger to bring the scores level at 12-12 as the conversion was missed. This was followed up by a try under the posts by one of their forwards from close range. This was converted to give the visitors a 19-12 lead. Brentwood were put under more pressure for the last four minutes of the half when second row Adam Piggott, who had just been drafted into the action following an injury to Jake Barker, was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle following a general warning issued to both teams at the start of the period. To their credit, Brentwood with 14 players, held out for the rest of the period without conceding another point and should have scored at the whistle when, with a three man overlap on the right, five metres from the Upper Clapton line, the ball was not released and the chance went begging.
The final period started with Brentwood having the advantage of the slope and immediately took advantage of the topography by pushing the kick off deep into the Upper Clapton 22m, where their left winger knocked the ball on under the pressure of the Brentwood chasers. From the resulting scrum, the seven man Brentwood pack held firm to deliver clean ball to scrum half Sean Ryan who passed to outside half Sam Bromiley who cut back up the blind side to score a well worked individual try. The conversion proved just out of range, and so the score remained at Brentwood 17 Upper Clapton 19.
Brentwood hit back almost immediately when acting second row, Harry Swailes broke loose and scored near the post. The conversion was successfully from replacement centre Toby Tierney. Brentwood were now back in the lead 24-19.
The pivotal moments of the match happened within a 60 second period. Firstly, Adam Piggott returned to the play after his 10 minute touchline exile, only for an Upper Clapton player to be yellow carded for the same offence one minute later.
With the numerical superiority for most of the remaining period, Brentwood showed a clinical killer instinct and scored two tries in quick succession. The first was by centre Liam Batty which was not converted (29-19). This was followed by the second try for now restored No. 8, Harry Swailes. This was converted by Toby Tierney (36-19).
To their credit, Upper Clapton continued to compete and were rewarded with a converted try by their large second row (36-26).
With the minutes ticking away, both teams were restored to 15 players. Tiredness was beginning to show its hand now and Brentwood scored three back to back tries in the last two minutes of the period. The first was from second row Adam Piggott who broke through weak tackling and stormed over from the half way line. This was converted by Toby Tierney (43-26). This led to the best try of the game when the ball was taken at the restart by flanker Tom Penney who burst down the right hand side to make 15 metres before offloading to Toby Tierney who, after inter passing with his centre partner Liam Batty, set right wing Reece Jacobson over in the corner to score an unconverted try (48-26).
With the referee signalling last play from the following kick off, the ball found its way once again to second row Adam Piggott, who repeated his show of strength, pace and sheer determination to break through the Upper Clapton defence to score, again from long distance. Toby Tierney converted from in front of the posts to bring the game to a close at 55-26 to the Brentwood Bulls, a scoreline in all credit to their opponents that was not really reflective of the closeness of the contest during the first two periods of the game.
All in all a good hard run out to both sides, played in excellent spirit.
Finally it was good to see head coach John “JT” Tierney back on his pins again, albeit with the assistance of crutches. Best wishes are also sent from the whole squad and coached to Alec Parris following his ankle fracture for a speedy recovery.
Player Of The Match
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