ANNAN U16 BOYS v RENFREWSHIRE RAIDERS U16 BOYS
WEST U16 PLATE/QUAICH/CHAIRMAN TROPHY
22ND JANUARY 2023
Match Report from: Coach Murdo Bruton
With the pitch inspection at Violetbank complete the last minute decision was taken for the U16 boys to play their fixture against Renfrewshire at the Everholm.
Many thanks to those who took the time out to help mark out the pitch and transport kit down to assist setting up.
As the game got underway it was clear that the Annan side were dominating the away side as they camped in their twenty-two for around 15 minutes.
The boys played with a cool head and moved the ball around creating different phases to break down the Renfrewshire defense, however they were repelled several times and a handling error was forced and this led to a Renfrewshire penalty.
After this penalty the game opened up and the visitors scored three tries and 2 conversions in quick succession, these were due to small errors in the tackling from Annan and the teams went into the break with the visitors leading 19-0.
After the break Annan upped the ante and put some strong pressure on the visitors with Rohan Cother turning the ball over at the breakdown and moving it out to Oban Nicholson who along with support runners Kellum Smith and James Glendinning made some hard yards with the ball in hand.
As the second half wore on the Annan scrumhalf Mason Gibb and his fly half Alistair Lockie seemed to take control and command the game to their advantage. From the strong partnership that had developed at the back of the breakdown the ball was shipped out and this saw Ollie Hamilton make a strong run taking the ball in to score from the twenty-two.
From this point on Annan developed major confidence and continued to pressurize the opposition forcing errors all over the field in both attack and defense. One of these errors was awarded with a penalty which saw Rohan Cother take a quick tap and go to score Annan’s second try of the day through a defense which hadn’t got back ten meters yet.
Unfortunately as the boys reset a little complacency set in and Annan lost another score as the visitors dotted down in the corner for their fourth of the day. Reset to go again the Annan boys took the kick and set to go again moving the ball through their hands well it was intercepted by the visitors and they scored a fifth try. At this point Alistair Lockie had to come off the pitch due to injury.
Down to thirteen men the Annan boys stood strong and made some fantastic tackles a few to mention from Danny Bell, Oban Nicholson and Jack Vievers these boys really made a dent in the attacking runners.
After an extremely hard fought game that saw some fantastic rugby from both sides Renfrewshire came away with the victory 31-12.
Well played lads.
Point scorers: Rohan Cother (1T, 1C), Ollie Hamilton (1T)
MULTIMEDIA
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Match was not filmed.