SWF U15 v Old Brentwoods U15

On Sunday 15th November 2015 the South Woodham Ferrers U15s team welcomed the Old Brentwoods U15 team to Saltcoats for cup match. The weather was sunny and there were strong winds making the conditions a little bit difficult. The ground was soft after recent downpours of rain.

Last year the U15s (then the U14s) were comprehensively beaten by Old Brentwoods in a friendly match. Both Joe August and George Murtha were unavailable to play on 15th November 2015. The team welcomed back Archie Maile who had been absent for the start of the season due an an injury.

Old Brentwoods kicked off the match and after 2 minutes of play the inside centre from Old Brentwoods broke through and scored a try. This was converted. After conceding such an early try there were concerns that the SWF heads would drop. From the restart SWF secured possession of the ball and unleashed Martin Bowers, playing at inside centre, to run deep in to the Old Brentwoods half. A line out was won against the head by SWF on the Old Brentwoods 10m line. During the break down the SWF secured possession of the ball and Arda Gyunesh, playing at prop, picked up the ball from the back of a ruck and drove over the line to score after 4 minutes. Nathan Markham missed the conversion.

After some open play SWF were awarded a penalty and several phases of forwards play rucking the ball allowed the ball to be passed out via Nathan Whittle, playing at scrum half, to the backs. Ben Plank, playing at fly half, Nathan Markham, at inside centre, and Martin Bowers made ground. In the breakdown Arda Gyunesh again ran further in to the Old Brentwoods half and after breaking a number of tackles the ball went to the ground. Angelo Kyriacou, who played at blind side flanker, was able to pick the ball up off of the floor and score a try. Ben Plank was unable to convert the try.

SWF u15s now looked like the more comfortable team. At a scrum won by SWF Ethan Burrell, playing at number 8, was able to pick up the ball and run at the Old Brentwoods backs. Although Ethan Burrell was tackled he was able to pass the ball out to Nathan Markham who was perfectly positioned in support to then score in the corner. The wind continued to cause problems for Ben Plank in his attempts to convert tries.

After 15 minutes the SWF U15s were really in control of the game. The forwards were dominating play with Owen Pamphilon, playing at second row, and Aaron Taylor, playing at prop, making crunching tackles and driving Old Brentwoods off of the ball when it went to the floor. After plucking the ball from the rear of a ruck Nathan Whittle passed the ball out to Ben Plank. The backs used their pace and after supporting his players Ben Plank received the ball on the wing and was able to score a try under the posts. Ben Plank kicked the conversion.

Old Brentwoods kicked the ball back to SWF and after some more joined up team play where the forwards secured the ball and passed it out to the backs Lewis Anderson, playing on the wing, was able to use his speed and agility to score another try. Nathan Markham was able to convert this try.

At times Old Brentwoods did look dangerous in open play. The inside centre for Old Brentwoods was very quick and tackles from players such as Dan Crees and Martin Bowers often stopped the backs from Old Brentwoods.

After 20 minutes of play Ethan Burrell was able to run with the ball at the Old Brentwoods backs. After breaking through the game line Ethan Burrell was able to shrug off two attempts to tackle him in order to score a try under the posts. This try was converted by Ben Plank.

After 23 minutes of play George Phelps-Knights, hooker, came off the pitch and was replaced by Jack Boland.

Old Brentwoods played with spirit and their number 8 continued to lead his pack despite the score line. After 25 minutes Old Brentwoods secured the ball by driving SWF off of the ball during a ruck and they were able to move the ball 10m to our try line to score their second try. Old Brentwoods were unable to convert this try.

Jimmy Anderson, playing at full back, was often called upon to deal with kicks from Old Brentwoods who fired the ball down the pitch when the wind gave them the advantage.

Just before the end of the first half SWF were awarded a penalty and Arda Gyunesh was given the task of taking the ball and running at the Old Brentwoods pack. SWF retained possession of the ball during the next phases of play and after a maul collapsed Arda Gyunesh collected the ball and drove the final 5m to score another try. Ben Plank converted this try.

At half time SWF were winning with a score of 43 against Old Brentwoods score of 12.

SWF restarted the game by kicking the ball to Old Brentwoods. Ryan Galvin chased the ball, as he always does, and after a handling error from Old Brentwoods the ball bobbled over their try line and Ryan Galvin dived on top of the ball to secure a try in the opening moments of the second half. Ben Plank was unable to convert this try.

Old Brentwoods kicked the ball back to SWF and after Lewis Anderson received the ball on the wing he ran deep in to the Old Brentwoods half. Angelo Kyriacou collected the ball from the floor and stormed up the pitch towards the Old Brentwoods try line. Angelo was able to pas the ball to Arda Gyunesh as Angelo was tackled allowing Arda Gyunesh to score another try. Ben Plank converted this try.

After 35 minutes of play SWF knocked on the ball and following the scrum SWF were penalised for not releasing the ball on the ground. Old Brentwoods were clever enough to take the penalty quickly and scored whilst SWF were still half asleep. This try was not converted.

An injury to one of the Old Brentwoods players meant that Old Brentwoods were then playing without a full team. In the spirit of fairness SWF then played with less players but this seemed to disrupt the SWF team. SWF were awarded a scrum near to the half way line but Old Brentwoods won the scrum against the head and when they kicked the ball they chased it and scored a try. They were unable to convert this try.

Messy play came from both sides for the next 15 minutes but after 52 minutes SWF regained their composure. Ben Plank was able to score another try by using his speed on the wing. Ben was able to convert this try.

The SWF team continued to work hard. Josh Maxfield, playing at second row, and Jack Boland, prop, worked tirelessly at the breakdowns.

After 54 minutes of play Lewis Anderson came off of the pitch was was replaced by Archie Maile on the wing.

During the open play SWF were awarded a penalty on the Old Brentwoods 22 line. Nathan Whittle quickly passed the ball out to the backs who had substantial overlap on the left hand side of the pitch and Ben Plank scored his third try of the match. Ben Plank converted this try.

The game finished with SWF U15s scoring 69 points and Old Brentwoods scoring 22.

This was a very good team performance by the SWF team. The forwards were able to dominate the Old Brentwoods pack for much of the game. The SWF backs had an extremely good game today showing that when they are in possession of the ball they can be very dangerous.

Ben Plank was the Man of the Match, not because he scored three tries, but because he was central to the team as a play maker, tackler and support player.