Match Reports
Under 12s Report
Winchester Emerging Squad Tournament Winners
It was eventually a bright, clear, sunny morning in Winchester after the sun had burnt off the early mist, that greeted the U12 Tadley Tigers, who are sponsored by Dads Shop in Mortimer and Odyssey Consulting Engineers, as they took to the field to try to defend their title in the Emerging Squad Rugby competition on Sunday 20th November 2011. It was quite a daunting prospect to see so many big clubs present, all with so many players to pick from. Tadley only have 19 U12 players in the entire squad, so were expecting to have to work very hard to stand any chance of defending their hard won trophy from the previous year. The Tigers were drawn in Pool A with matches against Winchester, Eastleigh and Wimborne, three teams Tadley have only played on rare occassions before. First up was Winchester and after a nervous first few minutes where the boys struggled to get going, Tadley ran in 5 unopposed tries, two coming from Seth Grieve and one each from Sean Robinson, Leo Webb and Matthew Bilella. The stand out players being Sean Robinson doing some magnificent runs from Full Back and several try saving tackles as our last line of defence and James Crawford (a new player in the last month) who did some great runs from number 8 and was unlucky not to score.
The second game was against Eastleigh and was a much tighter affair, Tadley scored first with a well worked try by
Tom B in the backs, the Tigers dropped their concentration in the final two minutes of the game allowing Eastleigh to
score from their backs and take a well earned point from what was a fabulous game of junior rugby. Stand out performances
in this game were from Seth Grieve who seemed to be everywhere and still be able to make every tackle and Ethan Janes and
Henry Boakes in the forwards who both dominated the breakdowns recovering the ball and giving the backs their best chance
to attack from well set-up second phase ball, a trend that continued from both players for the remaining games on the day.
The final pool game which Tadley knew needed to be won to make the Semi's was against Wimbourne, by this time the Tigers were really warmed up and completely up for the game ahead, Tadley knew what needed to be done and against a side who were little known to the Tigers. A nervy game played out with Tadley coming out on top by one try to nil. This put the boys into the Semi finals as Pool A group winners and set up a match against Alton who had finished 2nd in group B. The Tadley try being scored by Sean Robinson, with stand out performances from Elliot Jones in the forwards and Josh Redding in the backs, Josh making a number of important tackles and working with Jamie Marker, both wingers defended their spaces manfully keeping a determined Wimborne side at bay.
The Semi-Final game was a real cracker, with both teams playing great rugby and seeming to have great fun doing so, the forwards seemed to be at every breakdown just that little bit sooner than the Alton boys, some great rucking, quick hands from Dan Kinsella at Scrum Half and some great runs from two very new boys in James Crawford and Morgan Messenger-Roberts saw five tries scored (two from Matthew Bilella and one each from Seth Grieve, Leo Webb and Billy James) and a place in the final was booked. Stand out players in this game were George Coker and Tom Cuthbertson both players working tirelessly in the forwards, especially in the scrums, with new boy Morgan Messenger-Roberts in the backs nearly scoring in the corner, but denied by a high tackle just shy of the try line, Billy James driving through from the resulting penalty to claim the scoring honours.
By this time it was nearly two o'clock and as the day was turning much more overcast and cool, the thirteen young Tigers took to the field for one last time to defend their title against Wimborne, who Tadley had played in the group stages and who had played exceptionally well in their Semi final game to beat Basingstoke (the Pool B winners) to make the final themselves. The final was a very tight game as expected. Mid way through the first half, Max Wynn made a scorching run down the side line and was very unlucky to be pushed into touch five meters short of the try line, moments later in a very similar move, Matthew Bilella followed an almost identical path and the powerful 2nd row, who was having a very special day, drove over for the first try of the final with some five minutes played. The rest of the half was uneventful except for a try saving tackle by Tyler Nash (who is Tadley's newest player having only just started playing rugby this season), when he brought down a powerful Wimborne forward as he drove past half way. The second half continued as the first had with Wimborne having the lions share of possession, ferocious tackles from a number of Tigers including Josh Redding and Jamie Clapham prevented Wimborne scoring and midway through the second half Matthew Bilella received the ball ten yards out on the run and powered through to score the second try of the final and his fifth of the day. A tense final two minutes were played out before the final whistle brought a magnificent festival of junior rugby to a close. The lads came off the field battered and bruised having to a man given their all to the cause. As Coaches we could not have been prouder of the performance and following the presentations and many photographs and as the sun started to set on the day, the young cubs left Winchester proud of their performance and really looking forward to the rest of the season ahead. The squad want to thank their sponsors for the generous support in making this win possible.
While the whole squad played exceptionally well and all deserve the credits received on the day, Man of the Match trophies were awarded to Leo Webb, Seth Grieve, Sean Robinson and Matthew Bilella, with special mention also being made of the performances from our brand new players Morgan Messenger-Roberts, James Crawford and Tyler Nash all of whom have only been playing for a few weeks.
