14th October 2007

Cobham U15 B 15 pts    Sutton & Epsom A17 pts

Following back to back promotions the B squad made their debut in Division Two of the Surrey leagues on Sunday, and what a game!

We knew that this would be a step up and knew also that Sutton would be well drilled. The early exchanges were fairly even although Sutton were slowly gaining the upper hand in the forwards as Cobham on a few occasions under committed at the breakdown. Some fine kicking from Seb Sharpe and Eddie Jones cleared danger on several occasions. Slowly the forward battle became more even and having won some clean ball we were able to bring the backs into play.

We moved the ball wide to Seb on the overlap and he looked like he would score. All credit to the Sutton full back for a good tackle but Seb popped the ball up for Matt Gillott to go over. 5-0

Sutton came back very strongly moving the ball wide to their dangerous winger and also driving very hard through their forwards. Having been stopped on a few occasions their blond flanker (a bit like JP Rive) crashed over. They converted to lead 7-5 at half time. The game ebbed and flowed in the second half with the tackling from both sides keeping the opposition at bay. Finally Cobham found themselves in the Sutton 22 and following a great line out catch from Cobham man of the match Max Peacock, Ryan Saunders managed to squeeze over to give Cobham a 10-7 lead.

The battle upfront continued and following a good scrum Sutton executed the backs move of the day and following a couple of fine passes found the very dangerous winger and his power and pace was too much for the covering defence. Cobham 10 - Sutton 12

The B Squad were not finished yet and led well by Matt Gillott and a great forward effort (not dissimilar to England ) we forced our way up field again. Moving the ball wide we created some space for Ivan Jones to use his pace. He looked all on to score but another good cover tackle forced him down. From the quick ruck ball Mat Gillott was gain able to scramble over. Cobham 15 - Sutton 12

Straight from the kick-off Sutton again showed their determination not to loose the game and forced Cobham back to their 22. Unfortunately we lost Andrew Matthews’ tackling in the centre due to injury. We looked like we would hold out and then with literally the final play of the game Sutton were able to move the ball along the line and the winger took a dangerous line, a couple of missed tackles and he was over. Sutton converted to win 19-15

Total disbelief on the boys’ faces. They had stepped up, played their hearts out and been pipped at the post. This really was a good game between two well matched sides. We will be better for the experience and know where we need to improve. Well done Sutton and good luck for the rest of the season.

Steve Heard