Match Report U14s Verulamians v Barnet
U14 Verulamians 24 vs Barnet 10
2nd October 2022
Vees hosted Barnet for their first league match of the season. Vees fly half, Dylan, kicked off to a well organised Barnet side and immediately the Vees pack felt the force of a well drilled and determined pack coming straight back at them. Captain James led from the front putting in some of the early tackles on a “well fed” opposition. There followed a scrappy passage of play while both teams settled into their stride, but Barnet were dominant in the initial exchanges. After some strong rucking, it was Barnet that pushed Vees back downhill to their own try line and opened the scoring 0-5.
Vees did not take this lying down. The Vees pack returned to the cause with renewed vigour and there followed some bone crunching tackling from both sides. Boris, who was the most formidable tackler of the game, stamped his defensive prowess on the game, stopping Barnet players in their tracks with his trade mark big hits. Vees started to retain possession, thanks to some awesome graft put in by Bodie at 2 nd row and Archie at Flanker, Harry P made a break to within 10m of the Barnet try line. and Dylan to unleashed the Vees back line. Quick hands through the backs delivered the ball to Jayden who ran to beat 5 defenders and score in the corner. Score 5-5.
Vees were looking even sharper from the re-start and competing strongly with a very tough Barnet pack, with Tom D at the heart of the Vees charge. After a knock on in the middle of the pitch, the packs scrummed down and proved fairly evenly matched, although Barnet managed to push the Vees pack back a step. This changed over the course of the match and towards the end of the 2 nd half, Vees were dominating in the scrum thanks to some excellent work from Eddie at prop, Arthur, Bodie. Henry R capitalised on the forwards being tied up in the middle of the park to exploit the space for the backs. Despite a very quick rush defence from Barnet, Dylan passed out to Seb who managed to step past his opposite number, pass on to Tom V, who passed out to Jayden who manage to beat the Barnet defence on the wing with his electrifying pace, ran for the corner and then beat the covering defender to dot down under the posts. Harry P duly added 2 points for the conversion. Score 12-5.
The following passage of play was gruelling rugby, with neither side holding onto possession for many phases and much of the rugby played in the middle of the park. Harry P and Bodie made incursions into the Barnet defence but were hauled down before their effort could be converted to points. Archie, Luke and James were relentless in the back row, competing for every ball and disrupting Barnet’s rucks. Henry R spotted an opportunity to move the ball away from the fray and spin it our again along the backs through Seb and Henry FZ, fed Jayden who picked a sublime line through the Barnet defence, beat 3 defenders with his change of pace, turned the full back inside out and completed his hattrick under the posts. Felix stepped up and converted for the extra 2 points. Score ate half time 19-5.
Barnet started the second half sharper and after some well worked phases of play, created an overlap on their left wing which their backs neatly executed to score a try in the corner. Score 19-10
Barnet now had their tails up and there followed some riveting rugby, characterised by ferocious tackling and brutal phases of play. Several Vees players came off injured, although some were able to return to the field after a break. Second half Captain, Felix, was a galvanising force in the middle of the fray driving his team onwards. During a particularly gruelling period, Barnet broke away down their left wing and conceding a try seemed inevitable, however, Manny, Vees lightning quick left winger chased down the Barnet player caught him and put in a monstrous tackle to stop him in his tracks. Vees managed to regroup 5 m out from their own try line and collectively guarded their try line with voracious pride. Seb put in the biggest tackle of the game, lifting and driving backwards one of the biggest players on the Barnet side. Boris was again in the thick of the defence, crunching attackers in half with hits you could hear from the side line. Eventually Vees cleared their lines and drove the play back down the pitch. Boris made a break with Manny in support and they nearly scored in the corner but for some superb covering tackles from Barnet. However, Boris was on fire and not to be kept off the score card all match. Following a dominant Vees scrum, with Mateusz and Eddie providing a solid platform for Felix to hook back to Luke, Harry B distributed the ball out to the wing where full back Boris came into the line and out paced 4 Barnet defenders to score in the corner. Final score 24-10.
Well done Vees, first league win under the belt. Thanks to Barnet who gave them a very tough game.