Hard Fought Victory for Alton U14s

Due to illness and school holidays, it was a depleted Alton squad that visited Trojans. Having only 1 substitute available, the boys knew they would have to put in a full shift for the whole match.

A strong start from Alton’s pack saw them dominate the scrums putting huge pressure on Trojans, this, coupled with great line speed from the backs, meant anything Trojans had by way of attacking threat was quickly shut down.

Some fabulous recycling and support play saw the ball pass through both forwards and backs to progress from inside the Alton half before finally releasing James Richardson to speed through a gap in the opponents 22 and touch down under the posts for the opening score. Roman Gardner slotted the conversion.

A second try wasn’t long in coming, from broken play on the wide right; Matthew Smoothy picked up and broke through some weak tackling to drive over the line.

The strong start and 12 – 0 lead was then thrown away by Alton, taking their collective foot off the gas they let complacency get the better of them and strong attacking play from Trojans saw them go into the half time break 14 – 12 ahead.

The wakeup call was heeded and strong half time talk amongst the boys saw them start the second half with the same attitude they started the first. Strong scrummaging, solid aggressive mauling and rucking from Alton’s forwards saw Finlay Hendren score 2 tries in quick succession. One being converted by Roman Gardner with James Richardson very unlucky as his conversion hit the posts.

With the score now at 14 – 24 Trojans really came back at Alton. Despite their being no further score the most impressive part of the match was yet to come.

The final 10 minutes saw Alton pinned in their own 22 as wave after wave of Trojan attacks were repelled. It looked a certainty that Trojans would score but a superb defensive effort from Alton kept them at bay with great drift defence and strong tackling from Freddy Millar and James Beeston (now playing in the unfamiliar position of outside centre due to an injury to – captain for the day – Jamie Gilley, who had come off before half time) in particular.

A cracking game played in great spirit by both teams.