Biggleswade RUFC

Royston U15 v Biggleswade U15s (Sponsored by BS Motors & KRB Installations)

Biggleswade Under 15s travelled in the wind and rain on Sunday to take on Royston Under 15s. Both squads were depleted by injuries and the pandemic over recent months, so agreed to play 11-a-side.

The Biggy boys took to the field just as the sun came out in time for kick off. Royston took advantage of the wind and the slope in the first half and put pressure on the Biggy scrum and regularly stole ball at the breakdown. If it wasn’t for great tackling from the back line - particularly Dylan Robinson, Donncha Blake and Josh Curson - then the hosts would surely have scored early on.

Biggy were awarded a penalty, with Ashton Rastrick taking the opportunity to gain ground into the wind with one of his trademark long kicks into touch. A mix-up at the resulting line-out saw Royston break down the blind side. Biggy scrambled back to make a tackle, but Royston had enough support to win the ball at a ruck and pass down the line for the winger to score. More of the same followed for the first half, with the hosts getting the upper hand when competing for the ball, then using the space out wide to run in a few more tries.

Good pressure from the Biggleswade backs allowed Donncha to do his Beauden Barrett impression and intercept a pass wide on the left, then show great pace and strength to shrug off defenders and run 40 metres up hill into the wind to score Biggleswade’s first try of the day. Dylan kicked over the conversion.

Biggleswade had played much of the first half without the ball and so the message at half time was all about looking after possession. The boys had a target of winning three phases in a row and, to their credit, this was achieved in the first two minutes.

Duncan Lewis and Alfie Tilley made their presence felt by supporting the ball carrier then driving the opposition back to win the ball. This made life a little easier for Thomas Forshaw, who was playing well in his first game of the season at scrum half.

Biggleswade made good ground from a charging run by Fin Taylor. He found support from his fellow front row Logan Williams who bulldozed his way through a couple of defenders. Harry Burke must have had his energy snack at half time because the scrum was now operating much better than in the first half.

Biggy were unlucky not to score on the right as Donncha put Aaron Crawley into space. Aaron made progress up the touch line but was stopped on the 5 metre line.

Royston attacked from deep and made good use of the space to score a number of tries in the second half. A few of these were conceded when the opposition passed the ball wide then cut back inside just as Biggy looked to have them covered. This is something to work on for next week’s match.

Biggy never gave up, and after a sustained period of pressure in the opposition 22, Josh Curson ripped the ball from the arms of a Royston forward, pushed a grubber kick in behind, then beat the full back to touch down for a try. Donncha converted to keep Biggy’s 100% conversion stats for the game.

Man of the match went to Aaron Crawley for his tireless energy in attack and defence. The three tackles in a row he made during the second half were inspirational.

This Sunday (7 Nov) the Under 15s travel to Cambridgeshire to take on St Ives.