London & South East Regional Cup - First Round
Cobham U17 v Blackheath
Result: Cobham 30 pts Blackheath 3 pts
It may have rained all week in Cobham but nothing was going to dampen the spirit of the U17 side who played very well to beat a well drilled Blackheath side in this first regional round of the U17 National Cup tournament.
From the start the forwards were able to apply pressure leading to a penalty award in front of the posts that was converted by Powlson. Cobham then maintained a good tempo and set up several phases of play resulting in a line-out close to the Blackheath line following a good burst from Sharpe. It took a couple of attempts but a bouncing ball was collected by Mead who spun out of the tackle to score in the corner.
By now Cobham were playing a very disciplined game. The scrums were solid and we were controlling the line-out and ruck areas. The battle at half back was fascinating with 2 good scrum halves battling it out and the both sets of centres were trying to find the gaps. Burns at full back was solid under the high ball and the chasing of the Cobham side was proving effective. Cobham then produced a good flowing movement following a line break that resulted in a 5m scrum. A pick by Koep, a quick ruck and pass from McCallum resulted in Harty bursting over for the try with Powlson converting.
From the kick off return a release from Ross to Mead nearly provided another break away, but before half-time a long range penalty was converted by Powlson to leave the score at half time 18-0.
The second half started with Cobham conceding a penalty from a bit of sloppy play and Blackheath converting. Thereafter Cobham again played their way back into the Blackheath 22, and from a number of phases an overlap was created but the pass just did not work. The game then drifted into a holding operation from a Cobham perspective with the game being played between the 22m lines. But there was still time for a couple of good tries. The first involved good use of the blind side to release Flynn into space. He was able to run clear and score under the posts with Powlson converting. Then from the last play of the game Cobham were awarded a penalty in the Cobham 22. A neat cross kick from Bliss bounced into the sprinting arms of Flynn and he was again clear to round off an excellent all round game from the Cobham lads.
Firstly our thanks to a good Blackheath side that brought out the best in this Cobham team. Secondly our thanks to the ACS, especially their Director of Sport Dave Schucter, for providing such a good pitch following the appalling weather conditions and to Suzanne Whealing for making it happen.
In the Cobham side the team as a whole all played very well. The pack was strong throughout with Koep for his all round game and Ross for his scrum and restart work the stand outs. Harty did very well at Fly half and the pace of Flynn and Sharpe was always dangerous. My apologies to the lads on the bench, Williams, Swindell and Bolton, who did not get as much game time as hoped for.
Now we need to do it again in the next round...
NM
[And big thanks to Neil for dipping into his pocket for the new shirts]
