Under 13's - Winners of Surrey League Division 6

Congratulations to our Under 13 side who have been declared winners of their Surrey League Division 6

A great effort in our first season of junior rugby as the side progressed through the season unbeaten in their league campaign.

For U13 League 6 click on this link and follow the instructions below.

Click on UNDER 13 – This opens a new page with title Surrey Youth League Competition.

Click on the arrow to the left of U13 League 6.

Well done all.

Author: Terry Baxter

U13's Warriors (53) v Sutton & Epsom (12)

Match Report: Sutton & Epsom feel the Wrath of the Warriors

Last Sunday saw the top of the table clash between our selves and Sutton & Epsom both teams unbeaten in the league. With Sutton & Epsom boasting impressive results it was to be the Warriors toughest test to date. Having been top of the table most of the season Sutton & Epsom had overtaken us to take the number 1 spot.

Sutton & Epsom arrived early with a full squad and clearly meant business as they ran through their warm up with some focus. Our Warriors arrived at the allotted time and began their preparations. It was clear the boys had been talking about this match beforehand and they all showed a steely determination to do themselves justice.

From the kick off the Warriors tore into the opposition with a ferocity that seemed to surprise the Sutton & Epsom team. This gave us early possession and from literally his first run captain Lucas O'Toole Smith broke tackles and showed pace to score the Warriors first try. This was to become a pattern for the game as the Warriors tackled well and competed for the ball against a bigger Sutton & Epsom pack. The Sutton & Epsom forwards rucked well giving their backs ball but our defence held strong and any possession we gained was put to good use by our backs who soon ran in a second try. As in earlier matches this season the pace and power of our backs caused mayhem in the opposition defence.

Not to be outdone by our back division our pack raised their game and where a constant challenge to the Sutton & Epsom forwards. This was epitomised by a storming kick off return run by Sean Thornton as he broke tackles and outpaced the quick Sutton & Epsom full back to score a try under the posts. A great effort! Number 8 Michael Shevalov was unplayable at the back of the scrum with tries coming from his pick up and go, from the halfway line!

Any attacks Sutton & Epsom launched were met by resolute tackling with players backing each other up in the tackle and providing great support to each other when in possession. Our backline contined to cause problems with tries from Huw Green and our flying winger Ursher Wrightman

Sutton & Epsom did not lie down however and scored from a close range penalty run by one of their big props. This just proved to spur the Warriors on as they continued to move the ball well scoring literally at will. With forwards and backs running with the ball Sutton & Epsom fully capitulated and the mercy rule was applied to end the game early as the Warriors moved over the 50 point mark.

I must congratulate each and every member of the squad not only for this result but for previous games and also the spirit and purpose that has built up between the boys over the season.

So well done all and on to our next challenge. Thanks also to all the parents for your continued support.

Snap shots of the game.

Author: Terry Baxter

U13's Warriors (41) v Rosslyn Park (12)

Match Report

Party in the Park as The Warriors Roll On

Sunday saw the Warriors play their latest league match against Rosslyn Park in Richmond Park.

Having won their previous league matches the Warriors gathered oozing confidence at facing a Park side containing some familiar faces from Wimbledon College to add some fizz to the fixture.

With coach Matt Bell looking as delicate as some of the early blue bells he quietly gathered the troops for some match preparation running through some moves with the backs.  With some scrum and line out practise the Warriors went to kick off with a well laid match plan to follow.

From the kick off it was clear that the Park side were well drilled and hungry with the break downs being very competitive both sides winning possession in the early stages. However it was the Warriors who made the first breakthrough after winning possession and moving the ball well through the backs for winger Ursher Wrightman to use his pace to out flank the defence and race under the posts for the Warriors first try.

The Park side were not to give in however and continued to compete well, winning ball allowing their three quarters to run at us. Our tackling was ferocious with Ettienne Cousin and Thomas Quinn in particular putting in great defensive displays. With some indifferent refereeing the Warriors pack seemed put out and Park continued to pressure scoring the first of their tries. They converted for a 7-5 lead.

From the restart Park again came forward and but for a try saving tackle by captain Lucas O'Toole Smith Park would have gone further ahead.

The Warrior pack however raised their game with Daniel Baxter releasing Ettienne Cousin with a well timed pass to accelerate away from the defence to score the Warriors second try, 7-12 at half time.

The second half saw the Warriors play to their full potential with forwards Rob Gardner and Jack O'Neil putting in strong runs and good work in the loose. In the back row Joe Bell, Rushad Dommasia and Daniel Baxter foraged well stealing possession in marginal situations. Park kept trying and managed a second try with the Park line judge using his imagination to persuade the Park ref that the ball was grounded.

With Callum Hearty,Freddie Johnston Bailey and Shem Reid winning the front row battle our backs were receiving good ball. This led to fast attacks from our centres with Lucas O'Toole Smith running a great line to glide in under the posts and Declan Thompson putting in a tackle busting run to score theatrically under the posts.

We now seemed to have the upper hand up front and the Park challenge subsided allowing Ursher Wrightman to go over for his second try.

Well done to Sam Powell who took over kicking duties from marathon man Huw Green. Not an easy kicking day with the strong winds.

Well done to all the boys for a solid performance and thanks as always to all the parents for their support.

Snap shots of the game.

Author: Terry Baxter

U13's Warriors (35) v Harlequins (7)

Match Report

After a convincing home win over Quins earlier in the season, Sunday saw the return fixture with them at their ground in Teddington.

With that in mind the Warriors arrived confident and raring to go with the added luxury of a substitute on the sidelines for the first time this season.

After some warm up drills, the match kicked off with the Warriors tearing into the Quins right from the off. Winning early possession the Warrior forwards recycled the ball well through several phases driving straight and sucking in the Quins defence before unleashing our pacy powerful back division to move the ball well enabling Ursher Wrightman to come on to the ball at pace before accelerating round his man to score the first of his 3 tries under the posts.

The Warrior pack continued to play at a high tempo with Bell and Baxter in the back row hassling and harrying well causing several handling errors in the Quins backs.

Loose ball was pounced on and with plenty of possession the backs ran riot with captain Lucas smashing through tackles in the mid field to score under the post

With Ewan Parker back in the scrum half berth Declan Thompson found freedom to express himself at outside centre as he chipped ahead collecting his own kick with a brilliant low pick up at speed to score under the posts.

With everyone wanting to run 50 yards and score the Warriors started to loose their discipline giving Quins more possession and also giving away several silly penalties one of which led to a Quins try just before half time.

In the second half the Quins with their confidence up started to compete better and their tackling was much improved. This seemed to surprise the Warrior players who struggled to play with the same level of team work they had showed in the first half. This meant poor possession and to much sideways running cutting down the size of the pitch and not allowing space for our backs to run.

This was the pattern for the rest of the second half before the final whistle and 7-35 victory for the Warriors.

Well, done to all the players and thanks as always to the parents for their support.

Snap shots of the game.

Author: Terry Baxter

U13's Warriors (63) v Mitcham Mids (0)

Match Report (League Match) - Big win for the Warriors!!!

On Sunday morning with the prevailing wind clearing any cob webs the Warriors took to the field against an unpredictable Mitcham side.

Mitcham were a man short from the start against a keen 15 Warriors. It was an ominous sign of what was to come for Mitcham!

From the kick off Mitcham failed to kick 10 metres so the Warriors went for a scrum on halfway. From this our number 8, new recruit M Shevlenko picked up and ran powerfully, breaking a couple of tackles to score the first of his three tries under the posts.  A great debut!

This set the tone for the first half as Warriors ran freely recycling ball and supporting ball carriers to produce some good flowing periods of rugby.  Many of these passages led to tries with strong running from all the forwards.  Especially noticeable were Jack O'Neil who made several charging runs up the wing Rob Gardner and Sean Thornton making good progress.

Behind the pack Declan Thompson did a great job of feeding ball out to our pace’ back line who seemed to be able to score at will with Huw Greene, Usher Wrightman and captain Lucas O'Toole Smith all showing their pace to run in tries.  All the backs had their share of the ball with Sam Powell and Rushad Doomesia also showing their running skills.

By half time we were over 40 points up and after running in some second half tries the referee finally put Mitcham out of their misery by blowing up early.  In boxing terms, it was a k.o.

The final score was 67-0. Please forgive us if we haven't been mentioned all the tries scored but our pen ran out of ink. It was a thorough performance against a side who struggled to contain our Warriors who will move on to tougher challenges against their next league opposition Rosslyn Park.  Well done to all the players and thanks as always to all the parents for their support.

Author: Terry Baxter

U13's Warriors (15) v Old Ruts B (5)

Match Report

After an enforced lay off due to the big freeze the Warriors band wagon was back on the road for our second league fixture against the self-proclaimed 'mighty Ruts'.

Ruts arrived with a full squad looking and sounding confident with a couple of players looking big enough to play adult rugby let alone Under 13. This was a slight worry as we were a man short due to several players being unavailable.

After losing the toss the Warriors received possession from the kick off and started well with the forwards driving in and retaining possession well. After a few minutes of good possession the ball found its way to captain Lucas O'Toole-Smith in the centres who broke a couple of tackles before turning on the after burners to scorch over the line to score the Warriors first try. Everybody was delirious apart from kicker Huw Green who insisted Lucas should have made it under the posts to make his conversion attempt easier!

Old Ruts kicked off again to the hungry Warriors who again kept possession well in break down after break down moving the bigger Ruts pack around the pitch. With good possession the back line was running and passing freely leading to winger Usher Wrightman using his pace to find space to score Warriors second try. This led to 2 things: 1. Huw Green again grumbling that Usher could have scored closer to the posts and 2. more amusingly, Mike Stallard the Old Ruts supremo going into apoplectic shock at the Ruts tackling.

The Ruts did start to bring the game to the Warriors, mostly by their big lads winning line-out ball and driving forwards. The Warriors forwards struggled to bring the big Ruts lad to ground but the Warriors proved to have a defensive edge as they held out for a 10-0 half time lead.

After an encouraging half time talk from Coach Matt Bell the Warrior restarted with his instruction of better tackling ringing in their ears. The Warriors continued to bring the game to Ruts with a period of pressure resulting in Huw Green scoring under the posts. He remarked that was where he wanted the tries scored- under the posts.

As Ruts used their subs and our 14 players began to tire our defence was again tested but our defence held  with some ferocious tackling epitomised by Freddie Johnson-Bailey who put in a bone crunching tackle of the day on one of their big lads who was in full flight from a penalty.

With time ebbing away Ruts got a consolation try from a pass interception when it looked like the Warriors were going to finish with a final try. However it was not to be and the game finished with a deserved 15-5 victory for the Warriors.

Snap shots of the game.

Author: Terry Baxter

U13's Warriors (57) v Old Reigations B (0)

Match Report

This was the first league match played by the Warriors U13's and they walk away with a fantastic win.

Snap shots of the game