U15s come up short in Kent Cup

The U15s today managed to start poorly, fought their way back into the game and then conceded three soft tries after strong running by Medway B.

The afternoon started poorly with Denholm having to withdraw after he was injured in the warm up and Levon still asleep in his bed managed to turn up on the stroke of half time.

From the kick off Medway B started the strong and used their well drilled forwards to drive the ball up the middle of the park through ruck and maul. Gs all too often were guilty of watching allowing the opposition too much time to set up good ball. It still took 15 mins but was no surprise when Medway went over in front of the posts after Gs were guilty of firstly giving away a penalty in front of the posts and then not tackling a strong runner. The conversion scraped over after hitting the post (0-7).

Gs tried to get their way back into the game with first Josh and then George B making good runs down field. As Gs got close to the Medway line the pressure started to tell and as Medway fubled the ball George B was on hand to pick the ball up and drive over to reduce the deficit. Conversion missed (5-7).

Medway then scored a fine try out wide when once again the Gs defence were guilty of following the ball rather than marking their men. Conversion missed (5-12).

The arrival of Levon, Ben and Mide added some much needed impetus to the forwards and Gs had their best spell after the break. Gs started to ruck and maul like they can and Levon started to make forceful runs through Medway's defences. On one occasion Medway pulled down the maul and while everybody was waiting for the inevitable penalty Levon scooped the ball up and ran under the posts to score. George made the conversion and the scores were back level.

Just when it looked like Medway's efforts were starting to tell they dug deep and responded with three tries as Gs tackling was found wanting. Final score 29-12.

This was a game Gs could have one with a bit more commitment and aggression at the break down. That said there were some notable performances with some great tackles, none more so than the Callum M tackle in midfield which saw the centre go airborne.

Definitely more to work on but some real positives too