Droitwich under 15’s beaten at the quarter-final stage of the North Midlands Cup by Hereford

Sunday 24th February 2008

Droitwich played hosts to Hereford for this quarter final tie, on a blustery morning both teams eagerly took the field and commenced to test each other out. The first fifteen minutes of the half was a very evenly matched affair with both teams probing and pressurising each other trying to find the opportunity to open the scoring. Hereford after some persistent pressure finally broke through the Droitwich try line diving over to score and also completed the conversion. The rest of the half saw both teams pressing with Droitwich narrowly missing a penalty and some dogged defence by both teams, the half finished Droitwich 0 Hereford 7.

The second half started much the same way as the first half finished with both teams pressing in attack and defence to score or defend their try line. Droitwich were nearly rewarded for excellent defensive play when Sam Cave intercepted a pass only to be judged to have knocked it on. The game continued to follow a clearly defined pattern with both teams pressing and defending in numbers. Hereford continued to have the better run of the ball, and not being penalised for; flooding the breakdown area and persistent knock-on’s maintained pressure on the Droitwich defence. Hereford used this to their advantage scoring their second try in the corner which was not converted. Hereford pressed home their point’s advantage to run in two more tries in the corner after some effective scrimmaging, but without converting either. The final try of the game came after Hereford turned over a Droitwich line out and dived through to score in the corner, this try was converted.

Special mentions must go to Alex Moore for some excellent distribution and passing; Sam O’Brien for a captain’s performance.

Overall this was an improved performance from Droitwich, in which the score did not reflect the pattern of the game. There were a number of instances in the game where if not only a referee but two official linesmen were in attendance perhaps the result would have been a lot closer.

The final score: Droitwich 0 - Hereford 29.

Sponsor’s (The “Smithsteel”) man of the match: There were two player who stood out in this match Jack Knight of Droitwich and Charlie Bird of Hereford. Well done to both of you.

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