Away to Billericay

A sunny but windy day greeted SWF U15’s as they traveled to Billericay for a league encounter.

Billericay started the first half the stronger, and with some slick passing, powered over for the first score. Billericay then continued to pressure the Woodham defense and then punished some unfortunate mistakes with 3 more tries before halftime, with Woodham still trying to get going offensively, struggling against a strong headwind, Billericay went into halftime 24-0.

With a honest and constructive halftime team talk between the coaches and players, Woodham started the second half in complete contrast to the first, and were on the front foot straight away with some powerful power running and solid rucking, with Billericay under pressure, and starting to miss their tackles, Joe McClure was able to power over the try line for a well deserved score in the corner. James Skelt was very unfortunate not to add the conversion from a difficult kick from the side line, hitting the post.

With Woodham now playing with a increased intensity, Billericay struggled to make any headway with some massive tackles, and started making mistakes which resulted in several penalties. The penalties resulted in several scums, which were a massive strong point for woodham, securing excellent possession and massively pressuring Billericay at every set piece. Another Billericay error while deep in the Woodham half resulted in another solid scum for woodham to get quick ball, with two quick passes from scum half George Tickner and fly half James Skelt, Joe McClure was able to find a gap down the blindside and run three quarters of the pitch for a sensational score. Unfortunately James Skelt was unable to add a conversion, but the score was now 24-10.

Billericay then managed to string together some passes to respond with a score themselves, before another flowing Billericay attack which looked a certain try, was brilliantly stopped by a last ditch try saving tackle by Ewan Carter, who also managed to win possession back in the process. Ewan then produced another great piece of play, receiving a high ball superbly and chasing his own high kick, only to unfortunately knock on when attempting to catch the ball.

Unfortunately for Woodham, with fatigue setting in from such a high work rate, and with a couple of accidental head injuries causing them to go down to 14 players, Billericay finished the game stronger and run in two more tries, with the full time score being 41-10 to Billericay.

There will be plenty of positives for Woodham to take away, with the line out progressing extremely well, and the scum performing exceptionally, it’ll be back to training to improve on todays positives. After a conversation between the coaches, Ewan Carter was selected for man of the match for a absolutely brilliant second half performance.