U14's v Hadleigh - SuffolkPlate

Match Report:
Stowmarket v. Hadleigh at home 15.11.15
Stowmarket was fielding a team of 12 against Hadleigh, also fielding 12 players plus 1 reserve. A number of Stowmarket players were playing out of position – Martin moved up to the front row, Ollie was playing out on the wing and Cameron was at centre. Both teams played without a back row.
Following a strong team-talk in the changing prior to kick-off, Stowmarket came out very strong dominating play in Hadleigh’s 22 in the first minutes of the game. Unfortunately, Hadleigh created a turnover and passed the ball out to one of their 2 or 3 good runners to score the first try of the match.
Hadleigh capitalised on the lapse of concentration and scored a further 2 tries, all in under 5 minutes. Despite valiant attempts to regain ground and domination at the scrums (Stowmarket did not lose any of their own scrums and won several against the head), Hadleigh continued to exploit holes in the Stowmarket defence, scoring a further 4 tries in the first half.
In the final minutes of the first half, Stowmarket’s luck changed briefly with a good try from Freddie, playing at prop. Score at the end of the first half was 5 – 47.
Coming out in the 2nd half, Stowmarket dominated the play in the first minutes once again. Things started falling into place, and Stowmarket managed to slow down Hadleigh. Despite Hadleigh scoring 3 more tries, Stowmarket showed moments of brilliance with 2 converted tries from Ollie and Cameron (converted by Jack C.) and a good run from Jake, who unfortunately was unable to ground the ball.
All-in-all, an enjoyable game considering the Stowmarket team was made up predominantly of forwards.
Final score: Stowmarket 19 – 64 Hadleigh.

By Kevin P. (Ed’s dad)