Salisbury Rugby Football Club

Under 12s Match Report

Bournemouth Festival 17th April 2011

Salisbury 3 V Swanage 1

Some of the opposition looked big enough to shave, however, Salisbury were not put off by size and applied lots of pressure in the first half particularly through the scrum. They were unlucky that this only resulted in a single try in the first half from Tom McFarland. Harry Burke very nearly got away for a try following a good kick from Josh Ellis.

In the 2nd half Swanage managed to get an early try from their biggest player although a few of the Salisbury team thought he had a foot in touch. From that point on Salisbury increased pressure and Jacob appeared to be over the line but perhaps not aware (red markings on the pitch weren't the clearest). Salisbury held position on the try line and Harry Burke was first to react to a loose ball touching down for Salisbury's second. Salisbury maintained the pace up to the end with Charlie getting a well deserved third.

Salisbury 1 V Launceston 0

Launceston looked a well organised side but Salisbury were focused from the start. A penalty was awarded to Salisbury for a high tackle and from the resulting play Daniel Harris took the ball over the line but was unable to ground it.

A few minutes later Salisbury went over again and did manage to get the ball down but unfortunately it was not seen by the referee. Salisbury kept spreading the ball out and some good passing resulted in a try by Ed Shanley. It got a little bit nervy as tackling dropped off in the second half but Salisbury held on.

Salisbury 2 V Brighton 0

A really good performance from Salisbury in this game. Again large opposition but really good tackling from the likes of Ben Richards and Tom Fawcett meant that Brighton couldn't get through. Salisbury also worked the ball well against larger and less mobile opponents opening them up and allowing Tom McFarland to run in both tries.

Salisbury 1 V Ruislip 0

A very stop start first half. Fairly even but Salisbury were unhappy about some unsporting treatment they received from their opponents - appeared that someone had tried to take a bite out of Charlie. A rattled Salisbury came out for the second half fired up, both Jacob and Charlie showing lots of aggression and taking on the whole side with powerful runs. This opened up the opposition who started to tire. Salisbury maintained momentum and on two occasions took the ball over the line but were unable to ground it. The winning try was an excellent move from Tom McFarland who came around the scrum to steal the ball from their scrum half and take it over the line.

Salisbury 0 V Porthcawl 6

This turned out to be a bit of a lesson for Salisbury. Porthcawl showed that size means nothing as their team had none of the giants that had been seen in other teams on the day. What they could do as a team was pass, move and run at speed and Salisbury found it difficult to handle. After holding off pressure in the first few minutes Salisbury lost their composure and Pothcawl took full advantage of some poor kicking and handling, running in three tries in the first half. It was more of the same in the second half, missed tackles allowing the opposition to gain speed and momentum, running in a further three. A few Salisbury players were complaining at the end that the Vaseline on the other teams legs made it difficult to tackle. It was a little bit more than that.

Salisbury 1 V Bournemouth 2

Good running from Josh and Salisbury nearly got away for an early try but for an unfortunate knock on. Daniel Harris got over the line but couldn't ground the ball. A high tackle (about eye brow level) against Salisbury was missed by the referee and whilst those supporting were busy moaning about it the lads on the pitch played on and Tom McFadden ran in a try. Good to see Salisbury playing to the whistle even if the parents weren't. Bournemouth managed to pull one back but Salisbury spent most of the 2nd half in their end of the pitch. Near the end of the match Bournemouth managed to get the ball upfield and a tired kick from Salisbury, that needed another 20 yards, was received by Bournemouth who ran in a try in the final move of the match.

Summary

A very hot day - not too much running in between matches to conserve energy. John and his bucket of cold water was well received in between games. Salisbury won every game in their group and meeting Porthcawl in the semi spoilt the script somewhat. Salisbury didn't really deserve to lose the final game, but perhaps the try conceded in the last second was a reflection of how long the day had been. Salisbury should be proud of making it to the semis. Last moment of the day was to say goodbye to Tom Fawcett who is moving to a new area - described by Hans as the 'pocket rocket' he certainly lived up to that description on the day with some great runs.