We travelled to Reigate on Sunday not really knowing what to expect as we were bringing together for the first time our U17s and 18s as a Colts Team for the first time.

We had agreed to play 3 x 20/25 minute sections with us being predominantly U18s in Period 1, largely U17s in period 2 and then a true mix in Period 3.

We started well with a series of rucks but then kicked forward at ruck 7 to allow them to have the ball. We then learned what Reigate’s strength was – forward based drives. They edged forward ruck after ruck despite some great tackles from George and Muadh before spinning the ball wide to score as we had become very narrow in defence. 7-0 Reigate.

However, despite the early score heads did not drop and we weathered the drives after the kick off and won a scrum. From that we set up a series of Rucks before we revealed our strength – our backs. Manu went on a run in heavy traffic and took out half the defence. From the resulting ruck we saw great drives from Javon, Jacob and Emmrich from which we scored. Tyree, playing full back very well although he hates it, kicked a fine conversion.

We were back in the game and our backs made us serious yardage before Lenny made a great run to get us in front of the posts before making an outrageous offload for Jacob to score. Our unstructured KBA style of play was caused Reigate big issues. Tyree again converted. 14-7 to us. We tired a little towards the end of quarter and again Reigate made their yards from repeated drives from their pods. Small 2/3 metre gains until our defence again became very narrow allowing them to spin a bit wider and crash over – 14-14.

We then began Period 2 with the U17s forming the core of our side. We were a little worried we might bet bullied as the U17s were a lot smaller than Reigate. We need not have worried We saw a great kick off make us yards, then a great scrum with Muadh at Loosehead prop (get used to it Muadh as it is were you are playing this season). We enter a real KBA phase of play with offloads everywhere and great runs from Manu and Callum before we scored again! And then we did it all again with loads of KBA offloads allowing us to carve the Reigate defence open to score again. 28-14. But Reigate were not done and again repeatedly drove forward for small gains through their forwards before crashing over for a try. Despite repeated tackles from Tommy, Michel, and Rhian – the lightest back row in Club history!

In the final Period we had a mixed team and began the quarter with some desperate defence with Charlie and Tommy prominent. However, we managed to break out through Manu and after a series of rucks and runs with off loads we crashed over for a converted try to lead 35-21. However the game was not done and Reigate responded with yet more forward drives and scored under the posts to make it 35-28. The game looked to be in the balance but our boys then took control from the kick-off which resulted in a scrum to us. We saw a series of rucks to create some space for the backs and over we went for another try. 42-28. The rest of the game was played in the Reigate half before the whistle went.

Lessons learned:

1. We have the makings of a good team with forwards and backs both capable of great play
2. We need to be more active in defence – our line speed was notable only by its absence – we will work on this during the week
3. We can’t count – our number matching was terrible and our drift defence was not brilliant
4. Sam Ohene could be a great inside centre
5. Callum is a feisty little genius but needs to pass before final contact
6. Harvey can run and has great feet – don’t try to bump the full back, beat him with speed
7. We have very good kickers – Harvey (Kick offs), George (Exits), Tyree (Conversions)
8. Jevon has the best footwork in the team if we can give him decent ball he will score loads
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Man of the Match – Tommy – (could have been Charlie or Manu)