On Sunday 5th Feb, Sandbach U14s played Leek away. A squad of 21 warmed up focusing on safe ball in hand, with an eye to the potential impact of the extreme slope. A couple of key positional changes were implemented for this game, with Toby Bywater starting at scrum half, and Dan Bayes moving out to 10, a combination which worked well throughout the game.
The game started brightly. Sandbach, perhaps learning from the play of the previous week’s opposition, Newport, made a series of nice moves, with the ball moving smoothly from wing to wing, while the forwards concentrated on good rucking to give the backs quick ball to play with. From one of these rucks, just inside the Leek half, the ball swiftly moved to Isaac Chennels, who outstripped the opposition for pace and scored under the posts. The try remained unconverted, leaving the score at 0-5.
Leek immediately counterattacked, following an excellent short, high drop kick. This allowed the Leek forwards to compete for possession from the kick-off, which they won before a series of blind-side runs allowed them to crash the ball up the Sandbach left wing. Excellent recycling from the ruck allowed them to make ground and eventually score in the conre level the score at 5-5.
A period of play in midfield ensued, with neither side able to retain possession or make ground. Eventually, Leek turned to the boot – a tactic they were to employ well throughout the game – giving Sandbach a lineout in their own 22. Unfortunately they were unable to retain possession from the throw-in, as the throw was deemed crooked. From the resulting Leek lineout, The big Leek pack demonstrated impressive power and aggression to drive over from 5-metres out, and take the score to 10-5.
From the kick-off Sandbach applied pressure, and gained possession on halfway. Showing better ball retention, they were able to play attractive football, again moving the ball quickly through the hands to provide space outside the defending line. Pressure built on the Leek 22, but sadly, possession was lost as Sandbach conceded a breakdown penalty. Leek cleared long, but great Sandbach defence prevented them from gaining ground much beyond the halfway line, and eventually led to Sandbach gaining possession. Great rucking led to a period of quick Sandbach recycling, putting pressure on the Leek defence, and eventually Ru Morgan was able to make a penetrating run through the Leek backs, and then chip the fullback, gathering the ball to score under the posts. Again the try remained unconverted, levelling the score at 10-10.
The pendulum quickly swung back in Leek’s direction as the ball was knocked on from the restart. A number 8 pickup from the ensuing scrum allowed Leek to maraud towards the Sandbach line and again score under the posts. This one was converted, taking the score to 17-10.
Sandbach seemed spurred on by this, and put great pressure on the restart, leading to a maul which Leek eventually managed to recycle the ball from, but under pressure conceding a ruck penalty. This was taken quickly, and moved wide where Charley Pollock’s direct running and confident offload gave Matt Hall room to romp into the corner.
The restart following this score did not go 10, giving Sandbach a scrum on the centre spot. The Leek scrum put pressure on, which resulted in the first scrappy ball from a Sandbach scrum, which was leapt on by the Leek scrum-half. The fired-up Sandbach back-row put excellent pressure on the Leek narrow-side and eventually turned over possession, but the scrappy play continued with Leek turning over a Sandbach ruck in short order. Again, turning to the boot, the Leek scrum half launched the ball down field, where it was fielded by Will Gordon, whose aggressive running brought the ball back to the gain-line. Leek infringed in the ensuing ruck, and Toby Bywater took the quick penalty and Sandbach moved the ball down the line to Angus Walker. With Matt Hall outside him, Goose, clearly inspired by Stuart Hogg’s performance the previous day, fixed the last man, who committed to tackling Matt while Angus stepped inside him to score. Again the try was unconverted, allowing Sandbach to go in leading 17-20 at half time.
Leek kicked off deep to the Sandbach right wing, making the most of the slope, and were able to put immediate pressure on Sandbach possession. This pressure eventually led to a Sandbach infringement, and Leek opted for the lineout on the 5-metre line. Again aggressive powerful play from Leek allowed them to maul over in the corner, and bring the score to 22-20.
A period of scrappy play ensued as both sides adjusted to numerous substitutions, with fly-hacks pinball being the name of the game in the middle third of the pitch. Eventually the large Leek fullback gained possession on his left wing, and built up a head of steam crashing through Sandbach tackles. A galliant last-ditch attempt from Tom Smith did stop him, but at heavy cost as Tom received a heavy concussion in the process – well done Tom, and get well soon!
There followed a period of closely contested play with several runovers, again largely restricted to the middle third of the pitch. Eventually Leek gained a scrum, and from the resulting play, the Leek fly half noticed that our Fullback had joined the line, leaving space behind, which he duly kicked into. He gathered the ball and was able to go over to take the Leek lead to 29-20 with only minutes left to go.
Sandbach showed fantastic never say die spirit and went fully into attack mode. Putting pressure on from the restart, Sandbach eventually gained possession, and Toby Bywater broke through the first line of defence. Leek showed great coverage in reachin Toby (AKA Twinkletoes) as he charged down the left touchline, and nearly tackled him into touch, but Toby, despite at one moment having both feet in the air over the touchline, managed to stay in play, and score. Again, no conversion, but the gap narrowed to 27-27.
Leek were now really fired up, thinking that they’d tackled Toby into touch, and rushed forward from the restart, eventually gaining possession. With a bit of a rush of blood, the Leek winger chipped, when surely the better option was to keep the ball in hand, and the ball went dead in goal. Leek knocked on from the 22 drop-out, but put immense pressure on Sandbach possession, eventually pushing them back to their goal line. After a couple of scrappy rucks failed to move Sandbach away from the line, the ball eventually fell to Ru Morgan, who was able to carry the ball to halfway before, for the fourth time in three games, chipping the fullback and regaining possession to score under the posts. Again, no luck with the boot, but Sandbach had the lead – 29-34 with surely only seconds left on the clock.
From the restart, under pressure, Sandbach failed to gather cleanly, and the referee eventually bough play back to the Sandbach 10-metre line for a Leek scrum. From the scrum Leek made ground downhill towards the corner, before Sandbach infringed in the ruck to give Leek a penalty. Predictably, Leek turned to their most powerful weapon, and kicked for touch in the corner. Predictably again, they mauled over to score from the resulting linout to level the scores at 34-34 with the conversion attempt to come. With the last kick of the game, and certainly the best place-kick of the game, the ball sailed between the posts to give Leek the victory 34-36, ending a thoroughly entertaining game, with great performances throughout the Sandbach squad. Even if the result wasn’t what we’d have liked, a performance to be proud of.
Man of the Match
Leek awarded man of the match to Ru Morgan. However, the Sandbach coaches were unanimous in choosing a player whose name doesn’t appear in the match report above. Working from first whistle to last, tackling, rucking, mauling this player had a huge impact on Sandbach’s ability to compete with a very heavy and aggressive Leek pack. Carrying the ball, his ability to break the first-line of the Leek defence and supply quickly recycled ball also gave the Sandbach team an attacking edge in the backs. This week’s coaches Man of the Match is Sam Vale. Well done Sam!