U12 Boys WCup R5 Away v Sutton & Epsom 10-40 WIN
With a disrupted warm up as the motorway was shut due to an accident, Chobham Crusaders kick off was delayed by 10 minutes by an accommodating Sutton and Epsom. The game started well with Chobham looking dangerous in attack, Fin Hooper making excellent ground when returning the kick off. Excellent game management by the referee meant that we were able to retain the ball by committing less players to the ruck, helping to create overlaps out wide. Fin G took the chance to repeatedly snipe from the back and he repeatedly made excellent ground (as did Joe W when he came on) before offloading to Freddie M (awesome in attack) for a cheeky show and go, before handing on to Rhys B who stepped inside, he managed to evade 5 tacklers before eventually scoring the try. A pattern that was repeated throughout with him looking dangerous in attack and mighty in defence on his way to a hattrick and a shared MoM performance. S&E couldn’t really live with us and we were too strong and fast all over the field. This resulted in 3 penalties before Jamie E went on a rampaging run from a free kick and smashed through the defence from 10 meters out to score his first competitive try.
We continued to dominate and whenever the opposition did get their hands on the ball they were smashed backwards, Finn N was faultless in defence drawing on his judo experience to wrestle their biggest and strongest players to the ground with ease over and over again. Ben K showed great strength and awesome enthusiasm in defence making 16 tackles throughout the game and sharing the MoM honours. Chobham made substitutions but if S&E expected things to get easier they were in for a shock, every player throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the game, a feature of all Crusaders games this season and a big factor in the team’s success.
There was no respite for the opposition after the break and Henry H (playing at hooker) was a menace in the scrums throughout, disrupting opposition ball and showing his opposite number who was boss.
Edward C was powerful in attack, scoring a long distance try but not just crashing the ball up, hitting the line and offloading with Fin H joining in from fullback and looking dangerous and deceptively strong throughout and Josh A getting his hands on the ball and making good ground. Finn N showed strength and skill with the ball in hand to break the line repeatedly.
This can go down as the team’s best performance of the season, with great hands throughout and some nice little pops off the floor gaining applause from the opposition supporters.
Freddie P had his best game for the team and the opposition players were scared stiff as he ran at them, carrying the ball 5 times in 7 minutes. Will D, Ben J and Lawrence slipped seamlessly in and worked hard in attack and defence.
Oli R, Albert and Ben C dominated as usual and built the foundations for other players.
The referee and opposition coach were very complimentary after the game. Highlighting Freddie M, Fin G, Edward C and Fin H as natural leaders who talked their team mates through the game – enabling less experienced team mates to do their best. They said we were the most dangerous and well organised team they have played all year (and better than Old Ruts) and thanked us for our good sportsmanship.
All in all a great game.
Andy Carroll, U12 Coach