Rugby Lions U8s v Stratford U8s 

With only 9 players available the young Lions produced some of their best rugby of the season so far. The first game was very much end to end, fast flowing tag rugby. Both Adam Williams and Marcus Tarrant making some excellent breaks leading to tries for themselves, with Sam Moffitt making some great tags. Making her Lions debut was Hannah Middleton Smith who put in some good runs and a couple of tags. The final score was 8 -7 to the Lions.

The second game saw a totally new set of players from Stratford take to the field, this was very much a tighter encounter. Some excellent tagging from both teams kept the scoring down, Liam Green made some  good yards and released a pass to Ben Cooper to score a well worked try. From a restart in play saw a good run from Harry Atkinson who in turn released Solomon Cave to score. The final score was a 4 – 4 draw.

The last match saw a change in playing positions for the players, the result was outstanding. The players produced the best flowing rugby of the season so far, running lines of attack that Stratford could not handle. The young lions running in 9 tries to 3, to end the day with 2 wins and a draw.   

Game 1: Lions 0 Stratford 25

A strong and skilful Stratford team gave the Lions two tough games. In game one the power of the Stratford forwards caused Rugby problems with the majority of points being scored by the pack. The home team competed well at times but were unable to gain enough field position to consistently threaten the visitor’s line. The game was physically hard and the Lions knew they had been in a tough battle having to defend almost constantly. The front row of Liam Deery, Will Davis and Oliver O’Conner worked hard being under pressure at all set pieces and Liam Wardle and Tom Doherty as half backs worked with limited possession to try and set the backs free. Oliver Howes and Ross Smilie recovered well from injuries during the game to battle through to the final whistle.

Game 2: Lions 0 Stratford 15

The second match was more even and although Stratford won deservedly, the Lions started to work together to match there more experienced and powerful opponents. Rory Wagstaff who’d suffered a freak pre-match injury when being trodden on by one of his own teammates, worked well with Harry Turnock-Rogers who was outstanding in defence. Stratford passed the ball down the line well all game with the Lions centres Lewis Bloxam and Ed Hands with wingers Tom Smith and James Stewart constantly having to track and tackle well. Rory Campbell playing at fly half for the first time this season made some telling kicks to drive the Lions forward. A tough morning and results were not in our favour but everyone even with a few bruises enjoyed the experience and learned a little bit more about what is required to compete with quality opposition. Well done lads.

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Rugby Lions U13s 15 points v Stratford U13 0 points

The boys got off to a flying start with a try after only 4 minutes when prop, Jake Scott powered over the line. There were no conversions taken at this fixture so it was straight back into the fray. Lions continued to put the pressure on and were rewarded just 4minutes later with a second try by Alex Ray. The game then calmed down a little and Stratford managed to defend successfully for the rest of the first half despite several good runs by the Rugby backs.

Second half was an increasingly tough and hard fought battle with Rugby dominating possession and territory but failing to score due to a determined Stratford defence. Both Jack Taylor and Chris Easton came close to scoring but were denied just short of the line. In the dying seconds of the match, Charlie Smith scored a thrilling and well deserved try taking two Stratford players over the line with him to finish the game at 15 points to nil.

Thanks to Stratford for a great game and to the two Stratford players who donned Lions colours to make up numbers.

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Rugby Lions U14s 12 points v Stratford U14s 0 points

Rugby and Stratford contributed fully to an extremely physical and exciting confrontation that had everything you would wish to see in youth Rugby.  The match flowed from end to end and one crunching tackle followed another as two skillful and well organized outfits fought tooth and nail for ascendancy.  With the match deadlocked just before half time, Rugby’s forwards battered away at the Stratford line and then went wide for Zac Baldwin to score the opening try and kick the touchline conversion. 

The second half was an exact replica of the first and Zac Baldwin scored his second try but skewed the difficult conversion across the posts.  The final whistle blew as the appreciative crowd cheered both teams from the field and Rugby maintained their recent winning sequence.  All 36 players can take pride in the high standards displayed but even so, Rugby’s coaches could not choose a single man of the match – everybody deserved this cherished accolade.