For the second successive year, Northampton’s under 16s contested the league semi final, and for the second successive year a great effort was just not quite enough.
Incredibly, despite having 21 players unavailable (three injured, three at Sheffield and 15 on holiday) Northampton were still able to put out a sixteen man squad. Perhaps more incredibly, Birmingham had only three of their regular twenty five man squad away (do Birmingham have different school holidays?!) so ran a full twenty man squad and loaned a couple to Northampton.
As the came started, with Northampton playing downhill on a deceptive slope, Birmingham were fast reconsidering those player loans! Northampton’s fast defensive line cut down the giant Bulldogs forwards, and their ability to offload meant they could gain territory. It was only five minutes before Jamie Rowe could open the scoring in the right corner, cleverly swerving through the line.
On the very next set, captain Glyn Roff broke from acting half on the halfway line right touchline, and raced down the touchline, easily outpacing the opposition fullback and went under the posts, enabling Northampton to take a seventh minute ten-nil lead.
Birmingham were doing all they could at this point just trying to maintain their composure. Some marginal calls from the referee let them gain ground, and on the thirteenth minute, they got their first try of the game.
Both teams worked up down and across the pitch for the next quarter hour. A Josh Dawes intercept and offload nearly gave Northampton another score but was intercepted. It wasn’t until the 28th minute, when fullback Dawes made one of his trademark two yard sidesteps, wrong footing the entire Birmingham defence, and scored under the posts.
This was to be the last scoring of the second half, putting the score at 16-4 to Northampton.
The second half began with a quick Birmingham score from a run, followed by a second from a well worked move through a kick from a scrum. Injuries to Wade Colson and Adam Love left a couple of holes in the Northampton team, and whilst the replacements acquitted themselves well, players of that quality are hard to replace. Birmingham took a four point lead at eight minutes into the second half and a ten point lead after 12 minutes.
Northampton kept fighting back and frequently pressed the Bulldogs line but were unable to open up their opposition.
When Paul Barrett, Rory Sarjeant and Sam Mobley needed breaks for treatment, this proved too much for Northampton to be able to deal with. Birmingham kept the momentum up, and extended their lead to sixteen points after 21 minutes. A three try gap was far from unassailable, and a comeback looked to be on the cards as Joel Lewis went for a gap in the corner, only to be pushed out into the corner flag.
Northampton seemed to have the better of the chances during this period, but just could not score. Birmingham finally put the game out of reach on the thirty minute mark, when their lead extended to twenty points. However Northampton never gave up and Alex Gore crashed through the line for a 33rd minute consolation try.
The scoring finished at Birmingham Bulldogs 42, Northampton 22.
Coach Richard Heighton commented “The players present put in a really great effort today. We seemed to have the opposition really rattled for long periods, and were close to putting them away in the first half. Lack of numbers proved to be our ultimate undoing, but their can be no criticism of those players who were on the field today. I’d like to praise especially the Dawes brothers, Paul Barrett, Rory, Alex, Essad and captain Glyn Roff, who were all exceptional”
Squad:
Josh Dawes, Dan Jones, Jamie Rowe, Sam Dawes, Paul Barrett, Alex Gore, Adam Love, Wade Colson, Glyn Roff, Sam Mobley, Rory Sargeant, Jake Siddons, Essad Al-Zubeidi, Joel Lewis, Ben Sharp, Will Thornton
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