Stroud U15’s bury Berry Hill

Berry Hill were unfortunately short of a couple of players but, with the large Stroud squad of around 23 available, several of the Stroud lads sportingly agreed to switch sides. This allowed both teams to field a full contingent of 15 which also enabled all the players to gain plenty of match time. With Berry Hill winning the toss and electing to play the first half with the benefit of both the strong wind from behind their backs and also the slight downhill run of the pitch, it looked like the first half would be a good test of the Stroud lads rugby skills and also of their fitness.
From the off Stroud gathered the ball just inside the 10m line and tried to make headway, however, their opponents made it obvious that they weren’t there just to make up the numbers. Loose ball and several tackles lead to a scrum on the Stroud 22m line, the ball eventually running into touch for a Stroud lineout around 10mtrs out. Stroud’s pack retained possession from the throw and quickly formed a driving maul, powering forwards a good distance, before Joe broke free from the back of the maul and quickly brought the backs into play with a short, accurate pass to Myles who, in turn, off loaded to Dougie who, it seemed, had obviously brought his running legs with him today as he took off down the left wing like a bullet, before being tackled well into the opponents half. Despite the pace of Dougie’s run the Stroud forwards were still there immediately when he was finally tackled and ensured that the ball was secured.
The ball was passed out of the ruck to Ryan who carried for several metres before finally being brought down, the forwards again were very quick to the breakdown and cleared out strongly. Quick ball to Callum who carried past the gain line before off-loading to Myles who rounded several opposing players before the ball was stripped on the Berry Hill 22. Further strong tackling and quick arrival at the rucks regained possession for Stroud. The ball went quickly from Joe to Finn who put in a long, accurate pass out to the right where Myles was waiting. From the resulting ruck a quick succession of passes, from Brook to Dougie, to Freddie, to Rhys and then onto Finn, who provided the final pass to Archie who was scorching down the left wing, allowing him to virtually reach the try line before being strongly tackled, however, his momentum was such that it carried him and the tackler over the line for him to touch down for the first try of the morning. With the try having been scored right in the corner, and with the strong headwind blowing into Myles’ face, converting the try was a big ask and, unfortunately, his accurate kick fell just inches short. 5 – 0 Stroud.
Berry Hill fought back quickly and camped on the Stroud 22 for a few minutes, after several penalties were awarded against the home side, for both high tackles and offsides, the visitors won a lineout on the Stroud 5m line, quick ball out and good hands allowed the backs to pass along the line and score a try under the posts. This was converted and the visitors led 5 – 7, game on.
From the restart the visitors gathered the ball just behind the 10m line, but several strong tackles and excellent rucking from the Stroud lads pushed them back to their own 22. After a penalty was awarded to Stroud for a high tackle Dougie found touch with an excellent kick right to the 5m line. From the lineout Stroud formed a driving maul and quickly got the ball back into the safe hands of Ryan at the rear of the maul, the Stroud forwards demonstrated the power they possess by driving forwards towards the try line with some speed. As the maul started to break down Ryan charged forward, carrying the ball straight through the centre of what remained of it, to power over the line for Stroud’s second try of the morning. Myles demonstrated his prowess as a kicker by converting from only 3m in from touch with an excellent kick to bring the score to 12 – 7 to Stroud.
Stroud were now well into the game and starting to take charge of all aspects of it with good passing, strong tackling and real pace and strength at the breakdown, the cohesion between the forwards and backs was almost seamless and they were beginning to look a force to be reckoned with. Because of this the third try wasn’t long in coming and from a Stroud scrummage Brook passed the ball to Dougie who went on one of his now familiar pacey runs, gaining around 30m before finally being stopped by the Berry Hill tackler. Dougie’s part in this phase of the attack wasn’t over however, as he made a clever pop pass to Jacob who had been following him closely on his run. Jacob handed the ball off to Finn who used his rocket ship pace to once again take Stroud down to the Berry Hill 5m line. From the resulting ruck Brook passed the ball out wide to Jonty on the right wing who, when tackled, popped the ball to Dougie once more. Unfortunately, the ball was lost at the next ruck but, with the referee already playing advantage to Stroud after the opponents had strayed offside, Evan took a quick tap and go penalty and ran straight past three of the visiting players to score a try between the posts. After the position of the first two conversions Myles must have been grateful to his teammate for giving him a reasonably straightforward one and he slotted home to make the score 19 – 7 to Stroud.
Stroud retained possession from the restart and a great kick from Dougie saw Stroud back in the opponent’s half of the field where they spent several minutes going through the phases. A penalty eventually gave Berry Hill the opportunity to clear their lines and the kick to touch went to around the halfway mark. Stroud were then faced with a period of sustained pressure in their own half of the field but some excellent defensive work, and an awesome tap tackle by Jonty that, if missed, would have seen the opponents score for sure, kept the scores the same.
Eventually, Stroud turned over a ruck and made good ground, with Ryan in possession, before he was tackled. From the ruck another excellent piece of play resulted with Brook quickly getting the ball out to Freddie, then onto Myles and finally to Evan who went on a powerful run, leaving several stricken opponents in his wake, to score Stroud’s fourth try between the posts. Again, the ever-reliable right foot belonging to Myles converted to bring the score to 26 – 7 to Stroud. After a few more minutes of even play between the two sides the referee signalled the end of an excellent first half of rugby.
After the break, the second half got underway, and so did the rain! With Stroud now benefitting from the advantage of the wind and the slope, the watching crowd should, and probably did, expect the home side to have piled on even more points to add to their tally, but this was really not the case as this was to be a game of two contrasting halves! The players that stood in for the opposition in the first half swapped back to the familiar Blue and White of Stroud and were replaced by several others that went the other way. With several additional changes made to the Stroud line-up for the second half, to give all players at least half a game, this may have had an impact on the cohesiveness of the home side, at least for a short time anyway, until they’d started to gel once more.
The second half started well enough, after Stroud’s kick to restart, with the visitors winning a scrum and kicking upfield, only for the ball gathering Finn to pass to Dougie who went on an incredible run of around 75 metres, dodging every challenge and obstacle placed in his path, to finally run in under the posts unchallenged to score Stroud’s fourth try of the game. With Myles deciding that the appearance of the kicking ‘T’ was taking far too long he dropped kicked the conversion for the extra two points. Score 33 – 7 Stroud.
Following the half time changes, during this point of the game Stroud’s scrum wasn’t looking as invincible as it did previously, and, after Stroud were adjudged to have knocked the ball on, the resulting scrum on the Stroud 5m line was won by the visitors and enabled them to score their second try of the match. The conversion was missed, and the score stood at 33 – 12 Stroud.
Stroud gathered a loose ball from the restart and Myles kicked down to the Berry Hill 22m line. The visitors gathered the ball and at the tackle Stroud contested fiercely to try and effect a turnover. With the Berry Hill defence being driven backwards, the ball came out to one of the opponent’s players but he was quickly tackled by ‘The Beast’ (Rhys), and was driven back over his own try line, the heavy impact resulted in him dropping the ball and Beast quickly spotted the opportunity to dive on the ball to score his first, and Stroud’s fifth, try of the morning. Again, Myles converted to take the score to 40 – 12 Stroud.
An injury to one of the visitor’s props, and having no replacement, meant that the rest of the game would be played under the uncontested scrum rule. With four Stroud players in their ranks the opposition were beginning to play ‘keepball’ and Stroud found themselves camped in their own 22, without ball, for long periods of time. This led to a string of penalties being awarded against Stroud for offsides and other offences and, after several warnings, the referee’s patience finally ran out, with Ryan becoming the beneficiary of his yellow card after failing to retreat 10m and then tackling the opposition player who had taken a quick tap and go penalty. With less than ten minutes left on the clock Ryan would have the rest of the game to sit and ponder the error of his ways!
After strong defensive work Stroud eventually cleared their lines with a kick to the halfway mark. Berry Hill won their lineout and put together a string of good running and passing rugby to take the ball quickly back down to Stroud’s 5m line. Making good use of their extra player they took another quick tap and go penalty, going over in the corner for their third try. This wasn’t converted and the referee’s whistle brought proceedings to an end.