Cranleigh U15’s vs Rosslyn Park U15’s

Firstly, apologies for the slight delay due to a large mother’s day lunch then a ‘work’ trip to Cannes! 

Sunday finally found a happy group of English fans arrive with the glowing warmth of a great victory against Ireland the day before. Rob and Tarek were a little worse for wear from making it to Twickers and even Annelise was happy and gracious (OK the last bit is a total fabrication, “There was only one point in it you bloody English” in her South African world cup winning scarf…!). 

Anyway, onto the action and it was a big day with a grudge match against Rosslyn Park at home in the cup. Labelled ‘the big one’ by M-Dogg, and we quickly had to cross the road as the first team pitch was waterlogged. The ground was still muddy with drizzly conditions and not much wind. The visitors looked large and well organised and there were rumours that there were a couple of Cranleigh school ringers in the team. We were also without captain and engine room Hugo who was skiing in Scandinavia. A lovely photo of all the Mum’s on Mother’s Day (with calls of – no don’t get my daughter in the photo she certainly isn’t a mum yet!) and the big CRFC President Gareth steaming up in his Rover to park right by the pitch to ref the game. A nice motor that was to be moved after it was hit by one of Rory’s spiralling kicks later – perhaps a little harsh for an excellent game as a ref (does this sort of chat get me cheap Twickers tickets?!).

Kick-off and it was looking like it was going to be a tough match. Slippery conditions and a few knock on’s from either side that were to be and some nice tackles by Dante and Henry. Will S was on form with a nice run and a penalty that put us in a good position. Good kicks from Bert to get us some attacking line-out. Drop ball from a clearing kick and a couple of handling mistakes and in a flash we went from their line to deep in our 22. Fortunately, they were also guilty of some knock on’s and mistakes and we managed to clear our lines. We had a fantastic support today with not just the lovely mums and dads but siblings, mates, girlfriends, and grandparents – really lovely to see. On our side we managed to get all 4 grandparents out and I later used the M-Dogg tactic of showing my Dad where the bar was after the game. With cheers from the crowds there were good runs by Matt Matt and Zac and we were back in the right part of the pitch. 

Alas lost ball again and despite probably the tackle of the match by Dante and then a great rip by Matt Matt, the visitors kept comping back at us and they were super fast and excellent Jacklers stealing the ball regularly. Bert managed to clear our lines with a huge boot, but eventually after a fair bit of stalemate their big centre broke through our lines, a couple of missed tackles to score under the post. Easy kick made. 7-0 to Rosslyn. This was going to be tough.

Luke made up for an early fumble by catching a lovely Garry Owen (high kick) and running the ball back well. Joseph had moved to 2nd row which was proving a great combination with Henry and our scrum was looking dominant. A great bit of action before half time in fact, so good I was shouting too much with the masses and didn’t get much of it on the commentary! What I remember was Dom started it off with a huge run taking out half their pack and Will S did another one of his trademarks shimmies through a few tackles. We got a great head of steam up with good runs by Henry and Matt. Dylan then looked like he was over the line but unfortunately it was a double movement so no try.  7–0 down at half time. Shame but we were certainly still in the game.

Second half and Loken, Syd, Harley, Leo and Logan coming on for solid stints. After a solid match by Dylan with some good throws and scrums, Zack also came on at hooker and was to have a nice game. He also gets a mention for supporting England and not France in the Rugby (sorry Nord!). Despite bringing on the bomb squad, the opposition came straight at us with some good scrumming, but great ripping of the ball by Henry and Dante kept them away from the line.

A great kick out of all defence and run by Will, who kicked it on and looked for a moment like he was going to score, but then the opposition ran straight back at us. Quite a bit of offsides by the opposition, that was mentioned by their coach afterwards and picked up by Gareth who had some stern but professional words (Gareth, a nice corporate trip would be awesome…!). However we were still guilty of losing too much ball in the rucks and were missing Hugo’s work rate and the opposition were running some great lines. Dom however was having a great match and did another bullocking run and then passed out to the backs, with a nice run by Oscar D but another excellent tackle by the d of the opposition and they got the ball back again.

When Rosslyn weren’t off side they did an excellent impression of the England rush defence making it impenetrable even with some nice runs from Bert, Rory and Will. 

When they attacked their strong centres were beginning to find some holes. This one is going down to the wire…

In the last 15 minutes and we had a good attacking platform with a good run from Leo in the centre and we were pushing to get the try we needed. Rory was sensibly using the boot more in the slippery conditions, but his lovely little chips unfortunately came to no avail. The opposition kicked through themselves after a dropped catch followed it up with a grubber and chase and scored, but was there a knock on just before the line? 

Expert refereeing by Gareth asking the line judge to confirm all was good and try given. A very impressive kick from corner by the opposition and we were 14-0 down with 10 minutes to play. Potentially game over.

Credit to our guys the heads didn’t go down and we stuck with it. Helped by the fans still giving their support (one saying ‘do it for England – I assumed that wasn’t Annelise…!)  Some big hits by Henry, Will and Matt Matt and a bit of turnaround on the bench and we kept pushing hard.  Then I heard one of the quotes of the year by Heidi ‘There have been three fights and Carlo wasn’t part of any of them. Oh hang on… (Queue Carlo who had had a nice game deciding to have a close ‘chat’ with an apposing number).  Syd was also making some big tackles for a small frame and Zac had another strong game at scrum half.  Despite putting pressure on their line again with some great running by Will S they got the ball into touch and game over 14–0.

It had been a close game, but just maybe too many mistakes and turnovers our side, and possibly trying to do too much in the mud. We certainly pushed and tried hard and there was a load to commend the guys on. Rosslyn had been very good with super strong defence, rucks and runners. Man of the match Will S, great bacon baps for afters and nice speeches by both coaches. Pulled Dad off the bar and back for a lovely Mothering Sunday. Onwards and upwards!