The excitement was quite high within the squad of Under 12’s Northampton Knight. Could they achieve another winning run to return from St Albans with their second trophy of the year, having won the East Midlands U12’s Festival trophy two weeks earlier.
Head Coach Patchett knew from last year, to go away to St Albans and play the Centurions, it would be a difficult task if we weren’t on top of our game when we took to the field.
However, on arrival disappointment was felt as there was only one other team that had put out a squad, that of the host town of St Albans. With our squad of 9 players, further frustration came with the fact that they were struggling to field a team, with them only having 6 players. The Knights were asked if they would like to even the sides up slightly and one player join their ranks? A resounding no was the reply from the youngsters. If the knight were going to win they wanted everyone in the squad to play as the team they had become over the past 18 months!!!
With there only being the two teams it was decided that they would play 3 x 20 minute matches, 10 minutes each way, in between the Under 14’s matches that were also taking part throughout the day. The lads took to the field and within 30 seconds the Knights had scored the first try, by Samuel Attfield, which brought an enthusiastic cheer from the travelling band of supporters, (Mums and Dads of course) and then the music struck up to the very apt tune of “The Boys are Back in Town” and from that moment on, it set the tune for the first match, as try after try rolled in so that by half time the score was 4 tries to one. However the only reason the Centurions were held to one try was some bone crunching tacks by the forwards Alex Pittaway, Connor Burgess, Dieter Kempa and Adam Pullen, all working well together with fast line speed and good communication. Tries where also scored by Dieter, Adam and Harry Demidiuk.
Then the second half kicked off with another try within the first minute, by a mainly solo effort by this years “Man of Steel” Samuel, taking the ball after a turn over and running round most of their players, only at the last minute to draw the last defender then pass out to Alex who had run in support most of the way. Then the Centurions started a slow comeback scoring try for try, with an eventual final score of 8 tries to 4 in favour of the Knights. The other tries were scored by Samuel x2 and Dieter.
This then brought a rest for both teams of about an hour, time for the team to sit down and cover all the points gained throughout the first match. Highlight the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses. Their strengths were most certainly within the two large forwards who it was clear could only be stopped my brute force and correct tackling skills and strength from stopping their momentum by use of our own line speed, something that the squad has been drill on throughout this season and it just seems to have all fallen into place over the past month.
Then the second encounter began!!! This time the Centurions had found an extra player so it was now a 7-a-side competition. That said the knight set about the Centurions in the same manner as they had in the first match, fast play of the ball was tearing the opposition apart and within two minutes the Knights were 2 tries up with strong runs from Adam and Dieter, which eventually set up Bradley Hirons and Harry. Then an excellent solo effort from the Halfback of the Centurions brought them straight back into the game, side stepping everyone and making the whole squad look slow and helpless. However, that said within a minute our very own Usain “Samuel” Bolt, out ran the whole of their squad starting at one corner of the field, running across the park and then up the field to score another try. So by half time the score was 4 tries to 2 in the knights favour. The other scored for the Knights was Connor.
A quiet word with the lads was needed to keep their heads out of the clouds, as they were showing signs of taking their foot of the gas and letting the Centurions back into the game. So with strong words of encouragement and reminding them “That at this age group it is more about the enjoyment of the sport than winning” they were sent back into “Battle” with the trophy within their grasp.
So with the kick off came a power struggle with no team completing a set of 6, nor a point scored, until a very strong run from Dieter set up a walk in for Alex. Further strong runs from all the backs, Kyle Draper, Connor, Dieter, Adam all punched holes in the Centurions defences but tries were not coming. Then in quick succession the opposition scored two tries, the score now 5 – 4 to the knights. Then the old drills taught over and over again, kicked in. Strong tackles from James Patchett, Connor, Samuel, Adam, Bradley in fact the whole squad, stopped the rot. Then it was our turn to turn the screw and with fine forward work playing a consistent set of 6 scoring off a great kick by Samuel and chase in the corner by Connor who never took his eyes off the ball, chased it down and scored, a great team try from start to finish. Then the final try of the match came again from a great platform of forward work, pounding the opposition then fast hands out to the wing for an easy try by Bradley.
After this second defeat, it was agreed by both Head Coaches, Shane Rampling of the Centurions and Gary Patchett of the Knights, that the third match wasn’t needed and that the Knights were worthy winners.
The team: Dieter Kempa, Connor Burgess, Adam Pullen, Alex Pittaway, Kyle Draper, James Patchett, Harry Demidiuk, Samuel Attfield, Bradley Hirons.
Photographs from the day can be found at :- www.my-fundraising-project.co.uk/gallery3/29th-August-2010-London-Rugby-League-Festival
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Afrosams dad said:
02-09-2010
16:07
Great effort by All the team. Well done lads for a great season. Dates for the day out at Thorpe Park will be emailed after the weekend.
John.