Mad Dogs Keep Guard To Win U11s Kent Shield

Following an impressive away performance against a big, strong Canterbury team in early March, the Gravesend team approached the Kent Cup qualifiers with some optimism; hoping if not to get into the Cup play offs, but into the Bowl and thus enjoy their most successful season in the competition.

Unfortunately the preliminary competition draw was unkind to the ‘Mad Dogs’, landing them in a ‘group of death’ scenario with Old Elthamians, Ashford, Sevenoaks and Edenbridge. Furthermore, an opening match against the impressively drilled and organised Elthamians seemed to have the effect of knocking the wind out of the boys’ sails. Subsequently, with only a win against Edenbridge on the day, Gravesend had to be content with a bye into the finals of the Shield; a competition they had previously won as under 9s.

Having bounced back from their qualifying disappointment, the ‘Mad Dogs’ performed well in tour matches against Redingensians Rams, Reading and Bracknell over Easter. Subsequently they arrived in Aylesford in a confident and determined mood.

First up for Gravesend were Folkestone and the boys immediately showed that they meant business by asserting themselves in the forwards and bossing the rucks and set pieces. Standing out with his usual levels of solid determination was hooker Ben Cooper who consistently made progress up the field followed by his props, Thanusian Vithyakaran and Henry Bowler and locks, Owen Hinks and Patrick Murray. The entire pack worked admirably to secure lots of clean ball for scrum half Ben Stelfox to move out to the backs throughout the first half. The first try was a delightful solo effort by outside centre Ben Hope who collected the ball in his own half before cutting outside, beating two defenders and running in from 30 metres out to score.

You will seldom see the Martin twins (fly half) Charles and (inside centre) Henry without a ball in their hands and this was clearly evident for the second try with Charles drawing two defenders left before neatly popping the ball up on the inside for his brother to run home. The final try of the half was scored by left wing Harry Tasker after a lovely passage of play that saw the ball pass through the hands of the back line and then a great decision by Charles Martin to exploit the overlap that had been created. Half-Time 3-0.

The second half brought a number of replacements and while the ‘Gees’ never looked under threat, the breakdown became much more of a messy affair and subsequently Ben Stelfox had less opportunity to get quality ball out to his backs. To be fair to Folkestone they stuck at it and contested hard for the ball, but considering that the rugby in the first half was up there with the best the boys had played all season, there was some sense of the team ‘taking its foot off of the gas’. The score at the end of the match remained 3-0 and during the post-match debrief, Head Coach Nev Hope and his coaching team turned on the ‘hair dryer’ ever so slightly to ensure that any complacency did not sink in.

Next up was a Sittingbourne/Sheppey side playing in the navy blue and gold colours of Sittingbourne. Unfortunately, not all clubs are blessed with the numbers Gravesend has across all of its mini-rugby age groups hence why these two clubs have combined resources at U11s and in turn that they only had 10 players; two short of a complete U11 team.

Nonetheless, they had not pulled out of the competition which in itself makes them a credit to the spirit of our great sport. Better to turn up short and take a ‘tonking’ than to pull a fixture. However, with only 9 players (player 10 was yet to arrive) the Sittingbourne lads had managed to beat Folkestone 4-3 in their first match of the day. The ‘Mad Dogs’ had only run three past Folkestone, so Sittingbourne were clearly not a side to underestimate.

A try by match captain Patrick Murray opened Gravesend’s account with a demonstration of typical Gees’ forward grit and determination to see off a number of challenges for the ball and drive home from 5 metres out. This lead was soon doubled by in-form centre Ben Hope who, after seemingly not backing himself to finish down the left flank, set up a move that ultimately led to him scoring down the right. Next up to score was Henry Martin, again fed well by brother Charles and finally Henry Bowler closed the half with the joyful sight of the front row crossing over the white line to see the ‘Mad Dogs’ go into the half-time break 4-0 up.

Despite valiant efforts by the Sittingbourne players in defence, Gravesend continued to dominate and exploit the two man advantage. Pretty much from the restart versatile hooker/full back, Billy Webster increased the Gees’ margin to five before Ben Hope scored again to complete a 6-0 win.

With Dartfordians also having beaten Folkestone and Sittingbourne, the third match became a de facto cup final; although a draw would see the ‘Mad Dogs’ take the Shield back to Rectory Field based on number of tries scored.

So, this was it; the final 14 minutes of the season and after a big squeeze and shouts of “Who are we?” in the huddle, the U11s stepped onto the pitch looking noticeably ‘up for it’. However, Dartfordians were up for it too, and while Gravesend always looked sharper in attack, it took another prop in Thanusian Vithyakaran to finally get the ball over the line and break the deadlock. Both teams fought hard for the remainder of the game, with the Gees forced to shuffle personnel around at half time following injuries to both specialist scrum halves Freddie Barrett and Ben Stelfox, but this tense and compelling encounter remained at 1-0 when the referee blew for full time.

After a chorus of celebrations and the spraying of each other and their coaches with water, the boys were presented with the Shield by former England women’s captain Catherine Spencer.

Head Coach Nev made clear his delight at the defensive clean sheets the boys had kept all day and on reflection, winning another piece of silverware to add to the Shield won at the Medway festival back in October 2013, was the least that this talented squad deserved at the end of a season in which they have made huge progress. At its best, the ball moving quickly through the hands of the Martin twins, Ben H, Harry T and Robert H; the grit in the tackle and composure under the high ball of the ‘mighty atoms’, Billy W, Adam Oake and Owen Webster; the graft in the forwards from Thanusian, Henry B, Patrick, Owen H, Finlay Pavey and Ben C; and the chat and quick ball from Ben S and Freddie has all been an absolute joy to behold.

Fortunately, the ‘Mad Dogs’ are blessed with enough talent to potentially field two 13-a-side under 12s teams next season so it is very much hoped that the Mad Dogs’ best days are still to come. Watch this space!