An excited Weston Youth team were ready to make their debut on Sunday at
Cheshunt RFC. We travelled with a 16-man squad for the first foray into U14s rugby
and were excited for the new challenges that are part of this age grade rugby of full
size pitches, 15 a side, uncontested lineouts and conversions!
Cheshunt won the toss and kicked off the match, Weston making a solid catch and
return into Cheshunt’s half and kept the ball moving with some beautiful passing
from the back and great support from the pack. This continued with Weston looking
strong and kept Cheshunt pinned in their own half, until an overturned ruck and a
good kick chase from the opposition wing saw Cheshunt opening the scoring.
Weston reset and came back just as hard and kept pushing for the line, even being
held up over the line. Despite the dominance being shown by Weston and playing
the majority in the opposition’s half, a few clever kick chases from Cheshunt meant
Weston went into the half 19 points down.
The second half began with the same determination and courage from Weston that
kept Cheshunt pinned in their half, with the work rate of the pack finally paying off
with a fantastic bulldozing run from Lee, playing the newly added position of Flanker
cross the line and put Weston’s first points on the board, with Harry adding the extra
points for a well kicked conversion. The second half continued in the same fashion
with Weston dominating the play, with the forwards working tirelessly in the rucks
and mauls then feeding the ball to the backs who continued to push the opposition
back, this continuous pressure allowed another devastating run from Lee to cross
the line again. Harry once again added the extra points to bring the score to 19-14.
As the game drew closer to the end Cheshunt’s lack of discipline resulted in a red
card for the host and reduced to 14 men, which stoked the fire in the Weston youths
who relentlessly pushed forward with some huge carries from Jack, Jonah and
Daniel in particular, Cheshunt kept giving away penalties and Weston kept piling on
the pressure. The game unfortunately ended rather ignominiously with a Cheshunt
player purposely throwing the ball into touch, which should have resulted in a penalty
to Weston 6m out, but the ref made the decision to end the game for “safety”, but we
don’t want to sound bitter so wont dwell on this questionable call and taint what was
otherwise an amazing first game of the season. The Weston youth walked off that
pitch with their heads held high and a real fire in their bellies for the next game, and
we can’t wait.
Man of the Match was an extremely hard call this week as every player on that pitch
put their all in and bled Weston Blue, but in the end a decision was made and the
award(s) went to Jamie and Jack, Jamie for a brilliant performance as inside centre,
carrying and distributing the ball like a pro, and Jack for his outstanding show in the
forwards, making great yards but also counter rucking and disrupting Cheshunt’s set
pieces constantly, showing his exceptional leadership skills.
Next weekend sees us welcome Royston to The Fortress for the team’s first home
game
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