Windsor U15's v Twickenham
5th December 2004by Clive Lewis
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Windsor scrum down against Twickenham.
After losing to Twickenham in an exciting and keenly fought match in the Windsor tournament, this fixture was eagerly anticipated by both sides. Twickenham had some last minute drop outs and county calls and were not as strong as they had been in early October. For their part, Windsor had a large squad of 30 players, all wanting to play and with county training for ten boys (which must be a club record) in the afternoon, they chose to put their emphasis on developing the squad.
As it turned out, it was a hugely entertaining game, in which all of the boys got to play. In the opening skirmishes, Windsor were reminded of the power of the Twickenham pack and it was ten minutes before Number 8, Ed Clemance powered his way over. Jonny Whitehead converted. By this time Windsor had squandered a few chances, with individuals, forwards and backs, holding onto the ball for too long. Twickenham came back strongly and scored five minutes later. This was the wake up call Windsor needed. They started to let the ball do the work. Powerful drives by the Windsor pack, followed by a quick release of the ball to their speedy and talented backs. Ross Cumplen saw half a gap and accelerated through it, running over half the length of the pitch to score beneath the posts. Again Whitehead converted.
The third Windsor try, just before half time, was a gem. Quick ball from the forwards, a lovely, long pass from scrum half Peter Lewis, which was taken at speed by fly half Jonny Whitehead. Seeing that Twickenham were stretched, he released the ball immediately to new inside centre, Ollie Soundy, who ran hard at the Twickenham centres, before slipping a beautifully timed pass to Ross Cumplen who cantered home for his second try, again converted by Whitehead. A simple game, rugby, and when it is played like this, a pure pleasure to watch.
At half time Windsor made a lot of changes, so that everyone got a chance to play. Twickenham sensed that Windsor's second half team was not quite as powerful and started very strongly, with a surge down the right, that resulted in an immediate try, followed eight minutes later by another one.
Suddenly the score was 21 - 15 and the home side was looking vulnerable. Again, some Windsor players were holding on to the ball for too long and paying the price, on one occasion with a clear overlap. However to their credit, they didn't panic. Their two outstanding flankers, Rehman Grewal and Laurence Alder took charge and their new lock Jack Lucker, caught the eye with some surging runs. Eventually the backs started playing the sort of rugby they are capable of, with Tom Newman getting on the end of one beautifully flowing move, in which centres, Tom Bouch and Andy Pedder, fixed their opposite numbers before putting the outside player into space. The final conversion was missed and, although the last ten minutes saw more good rugby from both sides, there were no more scores. Jack Lucker was Man of the Match and the side can look forward to the visit of Effingham in a couple of weeks time with some confidence.
RESULT
Windsor 26 - Twickenham 15
Scorers:
Trys: Clemance, Cumplen (2), Newman
Conversions: Whitehead (3)