After a number of postponements, the Hampstead u14s finally had the chance to open their league account for the year. Having stepped up a division there was definitely a little bit of trepidation, especially after some of the very difficult matches the boys have recently, but the chance to test themselves at a similar level was really welcome. That was especially true on a sunny November morning, with slightly soft ground to cushion the impacts that were sure to happen.

After dodging the swarms of cars trying to park around the Saracens pitches we had a good warmup and actually managed to get kickoff ten mins early. The first few minutes were played mostly in midfield, but then Hampstead managed to build some phases and get across the line with a nice step at the end - an early lead. Unfortunately (as seems to happen in the pros as well), never as vulnerable as just after scoring. Some slightly slack defence allowed a Saracens line break, and pretty quickly the match was back level. That turned out to be a bit of a wake up call though, and the Hampstead team managed to score another couple of tries to lead 17-5. In a great position heading towards halftime, unfortunately another line break let Saracens in under the posts to bring the match back inside one score. Not a bad outcome though when at least some of the attacking breakdown work was a bit lacking, giving Saracens a bit more possession than they probably deserved.

The second half saw the boys starting to move the ball wider a bit faster, and getting some line breaks of their own, putting the Saracens defence under real pressure. A try from distance, and then a solid period of defence where the boys managed to absorb some pressure (some self inflicted with the penalty count getting a bit high). They slowly built territory though, until one of the front row forwards decided to impersonate Jonah Lomu, crashing though tackles and spinning over the line. At 29-12, the score was feeling a bit more comfortable, and the boys kept the pressure going, adding one more shortly before the end. The final act though was still to come - a Saracens line break on the left wing, that looked like he would make it over, but was somehow snagged around the 5m line. That started a goal line stand where the boys fought through about 6 phases without letting them across. The ref at some point spotted an infringement and awarded Saracens a penalty try with the final act, but the sheer effort the boys put in there was incredibly impressive. The match finished with a 15 point margin, and first win of the season in the bag.

A lot of good work today, though still a fair amount to work on, especially around getting support tighter to our runners and continuing to improve our team tackling. Very proud of them though.

Author: Andrew Honan