Day 13

On the burst, originally uploaded by simongman.

Match Day was an earlier start than previous occasions with the U15XV kicking off at 10.30am on the first cool and cloudy day of this tour. From the very start the boys realised that they were up against the strongest side that they have faced so far in South Africa. Kirkham made some good thrusts into the opposition’s half but to no avail in the opening ten minutes of the game. It was Graham College that scored the first try with their open style of play from their fast backs orchestrated by their large inside centre. This seemed to be the pattern of play for the first half with the College leading by three tries and three conversions at half time. In the second half Kirkham seemed to quell this open play as they scored a well worked forward try with Matthew Bennett breaking from a maul to cross the line. Graham College hit back with two more tries with a final score of 28-5. A tough encounter that the score line did not reflect the compatibility of the two sides. Our boys found the open style of play a little too much at times. They will learn from this encounter.

The U16XV like the younger team played a match on a hard pitch with spectator stands on both sides over looked by a fantastic club house. The home side had some good support as their team trotted onto the pitch. Like the junior side they knew that they had to step up a gear against a well drilled side. It was the home side that scored from a penalty on the 9th minute followed by try shortly after. Throughout the half Kirkham’s pack were dominant but were given no quarter by a referee who allowed the home side to infringe and handle on the ground. Our boys stuck at it and were finally rewarded a penalty that Richard de Carpentier calmly slotted between the posts, followed by another just on half time. Half time score 8-6. The second half went well to start with, with our forwards working well but all that hard work came to nothing as Graham College scored a break away try (off side) from a Kirkham line out 5m from Graham’s try line. It was all up hill from here with penalty after penalty going to the opposition. Again Kirkham made a mistake and Graham College pounced on the bouncing ball and scored. The finally score of 18-6 did not reflect the game.

Both sides have a lot to think about and hopefully raise their final game against Nico Milan on Tuesday. All boys are fit and at the time of writing about to go out for their evening meal and watch a movie.