Sandy’s Seven’s Tournament Rugby Report
[Written by Ian Henderson] The U12 team started the tournament very well with a very convincing win against the Somersfield B team. Tenacious tackling by Jacob Robb, Johnny Page and Jonathan Hodgkins resulted in frequent turnovers by the other team that was capitalized on by our outside backs Logan Ball and Sam Mckittrick
In the second game against the Somerfield A team the boys fell behind in the first half by a score of three tries to 1. After an intense halftime discussion the boys showed their character by pressuring the Somersfield players into mistakes. Again quick counter attacks and some elusive running by Jonathan Hodgkins and Sam Mckittrick result in three unanswered tries and a confidence building 20 to 15 win.
Sandys U12 were up next. They clearly had larger faster players and prior to the game the Warwick U12 were nervous. The pregame discussions revolved around defense and not allowing the other team to get space and making the tackles count. The instructions clearly sank in as from the very first kickoff Jacob Robb smashed the Sandy’s receiver who spilled the ball which Johnny page picked up and quickly scored.
Soon after Warwick scored again with a nice passing interchange between Marco McGavick and Britten Mosley resulting in a debut try for newcomer Britten Mosley to take the lead to 10-0. Following this a momentary loss of concentration by Warwick one of the Sandy’s speedsters ran around a staggered Warwick defense to score in the corner. Warwick went into halftime with a 10 to 5 lead.
The courage and determination award must go out to Johnny Page. During the first half he was accidently stepped on by a player with metal cleats, although visibly shaken he refused to come off at half time. Instead, he lead the Warwick team into the second half where the they again put the defensive pressure on the opposition with notable performances by Andrew Blee and Caleb Hamilton. Warwick scored two more tries and Sandy’s scored one for a final result of 20 to 10.
For the finals Warwick found themselves facing the Somersfield team they came from behind to beat during the round robin. The match took on a familiar sequence with a solid start by Somersfield producing two tries taking them into a 10-0 lead at half time. Once again the Warwick player huddled together and convinced themselves they could take back the game.
Following the restart Warwick applied pressure to the Somersfield team and were rewarded with an early try. Warwick continued to attack but the Somersfield defense was resilient until the last play of regular time when the Warwick team passed the ball down the line to Mathew Meszoly who was on the wing. He was immediately gang tackled by three Somersfield players and even under intense pressure had the presence of mind to throw the ball in field before stepping out of bounds, knowing full well that time was up.
His pass was caught by Jacob Robb who in turn passed to Caleb Hamilton who passed to Sam Mckittrick who then sprinted for the corner and just before he was tackled passed to Logan ball who dove over the line to tie the game. The momentum had definitely shifted to the Warwick team and sudden death over time was in order. Warwick kicked off to Somersfield and immediately pinned them back near the goal line.
After a series of attacking plays the Warwick team passed the ball down the line into the hands of Marco McGavick who dove over the try line to win the tournament for the Warwick U12 team. It should be mentioned that Marco played the whole tournament with an injury but stepped up for his team mates to help secure the tournament win.
