14's - Stowmarket v Haverhill

Stow U14 v Haverhill U14 / 18.10.15
Stowmarket welcomed Haverhill to Phoenix Park for their first arranged fixture of theseason; with fourteen players available (two of which were playing up an age level and a new recruit) Stowmarket U14s had at last all their players together.
This was an excellently contested match from start to finish although Stow were always behind on the score card; this was mainly due to playing too much rugby and not using the available areas to get the ball into.
It was the visitors who crossed the tryline to open the scoring after a strong Stowmarket surge was let down by some poor off loading that was picked up and ran in clear to score, try converted 0 -7.
Stowmarket responded well as they did all game and continued to pressure the visitors at the breakdown and the scrum and this led to a good score in the corner from some hard running by the forwards, try unconverted 5 – 7.
The match was being played at a good pace by both teams however it was Haverhill who looked after the ball a little better than their hosts and played the ball away from the breakdown along the back line to score their second converted try bringing up half time 5 -14.
The beginning of second half was almost dominated by the Stow pack, with a good scrum, a 50 / 50 lineout and some good clearout at the breakdown the home team had a lot of the ball. The forwards kept the ball and after some good breakdown play crossed the line for their second unconverted score, 10 – 14.
Haverhill were not undone and again played some good team rugby halfway through the second half that Stow were having trouble to stop due to their defensive line not stepping up and closing down the time and space of the Haverhill running backline, again with the ball in hand the visitors ran around the slow defence of Stow for a well worked unconverted try, 10 – 19.
The later stages of the game belonged to Stow and once again with good percentage of the ball, good scrummaging and pressure in the visitors half went over for their third unconverted score in the corner, 15 -19.
The home team pushed hard for the deciding score but were kept out by some good defence and some of their own poor handling, the match ended 15- 19 to the visitors and Stowmarket will count the cost of not using their backline to create attack and finish off some good rugby.
All the Haverhill players, coaches, parents/supporters were a credit to the game and their club, we look forward to seeing you all again. Coops.