On a lovely sunny spring afternoon, the unbeaten Sevenoaks u16B team came up against a huge Beccs squad - both physically and number-wise as Beccs brought a squad of 25 players. Playing with the wind in their backs, Sevenoaks received the kick-off and it was straight away clear that Sevenoaks were meaning business as Fionn Daly caught the ball before beating seven defenders and finally getting dragged down on the Beccs 40m line. Sevenoaks won a penalty from the ensuing ruck and kicked for the lineout, which they won and this time it was Will Tarry who made loads of meters before another infringement from Beccs gave Sevenoaks another penalty. Again, Sevenoaks kicked for a lineout which was 5 meters from the Beccs try line. The lineout ball went over the hands of the jumper but Fin Thomas caught the ball at the back of the lineout and charged over for the try. Freddie Rudd missed the conversion but Sevenoaks in the lead 5-0. From the kick-off, Sevenoaks continued to make yards into the Beccs half and then won a scrum. The ball was swung wide and Chris Barrett went over for the try, which Freddie converted. 12-0 to Sevenoaks. Again, from the kick-off, Sevenoaks played constructive rugby to get into the Beccs half of the field and this time it was Will Francombe who sliced through and side-stepped numerous players to score under the posts, with Freddie adding the extras. 19-0 to Sevenoaks within 10 minutes and it was very clear that although Beccs had very keen players, they had no answer to the excellent and organised rugby dished up by Sevenoaks. After some more clever rugby, Will Tarry picked up the ball from the back of the scrum and when he was finally tackled 5 meters from the try line, he popped the ball to Alex Holden who charged through for his first try of the match. Playing in his old boots and kicking with a Beccs kicking tee, Freddie was in excellent form and converted the try to move the score to 26-0. It wasn't long before Sevenoaks were back in the Beccs half and this time Max Gilbey set off with the ball, beating numerous defenders to score out wide. Freddie just missed the conversion to make it 31-0. From the kick-off, Sevenoaks gave away a penalty and Beccs kicked for the corner. From a clever lineout their massive pack charged forward to score and their kicker added the extras. 31-7 and that brought about half time.
With Sevenoaks in full swing and playing champagne rugby off structured foundations, they played from side to side with Alex Holden scoring an excellent team try out wide. The conversion was missed but Sevenoaks leading 36-7. Not long thereafter Holden caught a wayward kick from Beccs and sliced through the defence to score close to the posts, bringing up his hat-trick, with Freddie adding the extras to make it 43-7. With the game opening up and Sevenoaks tiring, due to playing against fresh players while not having many subs themselves, it took a while before Sevenoaks scored again and this time it was Sam Keenor going over from the cleverly worked overlap. The conversion was missed but the score moved to 48-7. With 15 minutes left to play but league rules requiring games to be stopped when 50 points were reached, the referee discussed the situation with both team's coaches and it was agreed that the official score for the match would be recorded as 48-7, with Sevenoaks scoring 8 tries to 1.
Both teams were keen to continue playing, even if it was only for the enjoyment of being able to play rugby, and so the match continued 'unofficially'. With Sevenoaks now throwing the ball around like barbarians, it wasn't long before Will Tarry finally capped a great performance by scoring a deserved try. 53-7 to Sevenoaks. Beccs then decided to play only with their massive forwards and they managed to make yards after yards and finally one of their units broke through for the try which was even cheered by the Sevenoaks supporters. The conversion was missed, making the score 53-12. Then in the space of 10 minutes came two magical moments - firstly, from the Sevenoaks kick-off, Fionn Daly plucked the ball out of the air in front of the Beccs players eyes and swerved passed a few players to score under the posts, making Hansen's try for Ireland against France in the 6 Nations look easy. With the team deciding that the try scorer should take the conversion, Daly converted his own try to make it 60-12. Not long thereafter Fin Thomas went on a charge to cap his excellent performance with a 20m try under the posts, which he duly converted to make the score 67-12. With Beccs deciding to have the last say in the match, came the second moment of magic with the Beccs forwards breaking through the Sevenoaks defence. The ball was passed to a massive 18 stone unit who charged through the Sevenoaks line at full pace and with all the defenders beaten other than the Sevenoaks full back, Alex Holden, it looked like a certain try. Imagine a rhino on full charge with only a honey badger in front of him - but this is not any player and the brave Alex Holden executed a technically perfect tackle around the ankles to bring the big man crashing down to the roars of all the supporters and his Sevenoaks teammates. The final whistle went soon thereafter and although the opposition was clearly not in the same league as Sevenoaks, the boys gave a master class of playing rugby using the newly taught structures as the base for launching attacks and running their opposition off their feet. Too many amazing contributions from the entire team to name but man of the match award must go to Alex Holden for his three tries and 'stupidly brave' try saving tackle. Onwards and upwards towards the trophy!!!
Squad: Nic McLean, Charlie Andrews, Fin Thomas (VC), Max Gilbey, Fionn Daly, Conrad Sykes, Kam Satrettin, Will Tarry, Louis Parker, Will Francombe (C), Joe D'Alessio, Freddie Rudd, Chris Barrett, Sam Keenor, Alex Holden (VC), James Fry, Alex Blackmore, Tom Flann
