Under 19s/21s match reports

23rd October

Herts/Middlesex League

London Scottish Colts 8 London Irish Colts 19

The home side started with a much revamped team following numerous withdrawals following Wednesday nights Training session, this coupled with some late injuries/illnesses on Saturday night resulted in further reshuffling with No 8 Scott Cameron starting at centre and prop Abtin Oraki reprising the Habana role on the wing.

Scottish gave the Irish Exiles no time to settle. Straight from the kick off the home side stole early possession and pressed for an early advantage. The visitors were strong up front but Scottish had the best of early exchanges. Home pressure was repulsed and the Irish backs began to probe the Scottish back line but with the midfield solid Irish were struggling to penetrate resulting in them kicking downfield for yardage. With full back Oli Richardson looking to launch attacks from deep this was a risky tactic and so it proved from one such break the visitors were caught with their hands in the ruck. Harry Dunn slotted the resulting penalty which was just reward for a hard working pack.

Just when it looked like the home side were going to relax disaster struck when fly half Dunn had to leave the field resulting in a further shuffling of the back line with Hugh Jarman moving from centre to No 10 and debutant Nick Donnelly coming off the bench. With the changes taking time to gel Irish began to come more into the game and from one such attack they pinned Scottish into their 22. Irish won the resultant scrum and for once the Scottish tackling was not effective allowing Irish to score close to the posts with the kick being converted

Half Time 3 - 7

The second half started with Scottish failing to clear early kicks and from the resulting pressure Irish managed to drive a rolling maul over for a try wide out on the left. The conversion was missed. Scottish then began to drive using their big forwards to good effect. With forwards and backs pressing hard it looked like it was only a matter of time before Scottish were to score but it came down to one loose pass or good defence from the visitors. Then disaster again struck when on the blind side of the referee a helpful Irish hand retrieved a ball that was coming back on the Scottish side. The ball bounced up favourably for the Irish winger who managed to get behind the Scottish defence and scored behind the posts. At 3 - 19 it looked like the visitors may cut loose but Scottish were not to be outdone.

With the forwards getting the bit between their teeth several driving rucks gained good ground adavantage and with some hard straight running from Nick Donnelly a try seemed inevitable and when an outbreak of fighting started as Paul Webster was in the act of scoring it was a perplexing decision to disallow the try call the captains together for a chat and then award the penalty to Scottish.

Not long after Scott Cameron anticipated well and intercepted a loose Irish pass and looked destined to score close to the posts only for some desperate Irish tackling to save the day.

It mattered not. Scottish were not to be denied a try, and from another solid scrum, scrum half Al Cowie, having a very effective game decided to take the ball on with Orson Stadler offloading the ball back to his Scrum Half. Cowie then went on a mazy run with defending Irish players backing off waiting for the pass to the winger a pass which never came. Cowie dummied and moved effortlessly between two defenders to score out wide. The conversion kick by Oli Richardson from way out on the left dropped just short of the posts.

At 8 -19 the home side ran out of time but for one "try" that was scored but not given the final 10 minute run in would have been a lot closer.

A great effort with lots of good things being seen by new coaches Brian & Ben and the opportunity for the players to take things forward on the training paddock.

Team
15. Oli Richardson; 14. Daniel Heath; 13. Scott Cameron; 12. Hugh Jarman; ( Nick Donnelly after 15 mins); 11. Abtin Oraki; 10. Harry Dunn (Hugh Jarman after 15 mins); 9. Al Cowie; 1. Ben Johnson; 2. Jonny Goldie; 3 Paul Webster; 4. Calum Harper (Captain); 5 Josh Henry; 6. Sam Johnson; 7. Damien Powell; 8. Orson Stadler:

Wilf Harper

7th October

Herts/Middlesex League

London Scottish Colts 17 Hitchin 0

London Scottish fronted up to their first home match, a Herts Middlesex League encounter v Hitchin Colts, looking for their first win in three starts. Kick off 1.30pm Weather: Dry and overcast.

Scottish kicked off down the hill and penned Hitchin into their 22 putting early pressure on the away side. Hitchin started more aggressively and looked like soaking up some early Scottish pressure breaking out from their half with some probing runs from their back line. The Scottish line held strong with some good defensive tackling and clearing out allowing quick ball away from the rucks and enabling Modu to probe the home sides defensive line wide out on the right. An early penalty chance to Scottish was narrowly missed by Dunn who had little chance to redeem this miss ending up on the wrong side of some heavy tackling from the Hitchin back row resulting in him having to leave the fray after 10 minutes.

Scottish had to reorganise with full back Poulton moving forward to take the No 10 shirt and Oli Richardson coming off the bench and slotting in at full back. The loss of their No 10 galvanised the Scottish pack and with the forwards beginning to impose themselves Poulton’s mazy runs and astute release of the ball allowed his backs the opportunity to probe weaknesses in their opponents backline. With the line out working well jumpers Powell and Henry got plenty of clean ball enabling Scottish to pressure the opponents 22 consistently. Further stellar work from the pack created a series of chances enabling the backs to attack their opponents with Modu eventually crashing over to soothe the frayed nerves of the home support. Despite territorial advantage the Scots spurned a few overlap situations which enabled the visiting team to stay in contention. It took some good defensive cover to ensure the slender lead was protected but protected it was.

Half Time 5 – 0

The second half started with the Scottish forwards taking on their opponents with some good aggressive rucking tying in their forward counterparts but lax passing was almost punished by a quick break out of defence. Powell had been very effective in the line out winning a lot of good quality ball at the rear of the lineout . A change in the back row saw Musgrove replacing Powell and Scottish obtained an immediate impact with Musgrove putting in a big hit. The Scottish pack were beginning to show a bit more confidence and looked more assured at set pieces as the game wore on. Despite this their opponents occasionally looked threatening on breakaways, again the backs defended well and with the forwards covering a lot of ground to set up a solid defensive line their opponents were repelled again. It was from such a position the backs launched an attack and with Jarman looking sharp he finished off an attack up the left hand . From the resultant kick off the forwards gathered the high ball and quick ball from the half backs saw Modu releasing Jarman again and the resulting injection of pace saw a half tackle broken and he outpaced the Hitchin defence sprinting 75 metres to score close to the posts. The conversion was slotted by Poulton.giving Scottish a lead of 17 points.

All twenty players contributed to a great result with recent coaching sessions from Brian & Ben beginning to pay off. This was team performance who on losing their Stand Off in the first 10 minutes knuckled down to some hard graft and eventually ran out convincing winners. With a bit more focus on fitness and the finer aspects of team work, the new season is set fair for some interesting matches.

Team
15. Scot Poulton ( Oli Richardson 10 mins), 14. Neil Constantine, 13.Hugh Jarman, 12.Chuku Modu, 11. Dean Frost (Daniel Heath 70 mins), 10 Harry Dunn (Scot Poulton 10 mins) , 9 Danny Stephenson, 1. Ben Johnson, 2 Kotaro Kagata, 3. Jean Luc Bacquenois, 4. Josh Henry, 5. Calum Harper (capt), 6.Jonny Goldie, 7. Damien Powell (George Musgrove 40 mins), 8. Scott Cameron, Subs: 17 Sam Johnson, 18 George Musgrove, 20 Alasdair Cowie, 21 Oli Richardson, 22 Daniel Heath,

Home Tries: Modu (1), Jarman 2 Conversions Poulton (1)

Wilf Harper

16 September

National Colts Cup

Gravesend Under 19s 29 London Scottish 0

Scottish failed to make an impression on a skilful Gravesend side, but having held them to a 3-0 lead for half an hour in the teeth of a stiff breeze, there was much credit to be taken from a spirited display.

With only two 18 year olds in what was otherwise an Under17/18 side, Scottish lacked the power to secure enough set piece ball - though the wind made the lineout a lottery for both throwers - and, despite a strong showing at the breakdown and typical Scottish rucking, the visitors were never able to develop second and third phase ball.

For 30 minutes the prospects looked different, though. Scottish had been welcomed by a Saltire flying from the club flagpole, and both sides were warmly received in the sunshine by a crowd upwards of 100. But from the off, Scottish were largely on the back foot and in their own half, with a warm breeze blowing from the south down the pitch and down the slope to their line. But they held out with reasonable ease, conceding only a drop goal to an increasingly frustrated Gravesend, who could see their first half advantage slipping away, especially after twice slicing through the visitors defence only for forward passes to deny them tries.

Then with five minutes to half-time, Scottish concentration slipped and two missed tackles cost a converted try, and then as pressure told, they quickly leaked two more, and a promising scoreline was suddenly transformed into 0-24: game over

The second half catch-up task was thus always going to be too much. Without set piece ball it was difficult to pursue the obvious tactic of playing the ball at the bottom of the hill, and the visitors struggled to create openings. In stoppage time a typical Scottish thrust broke down in the home 22, and a length of the field move took Gravesend up the other end for a fine final score.

Gravesend next face local rivals Sidcup, while Scottish now await the draw for the Plate, into which all 1st, 2nd and 3rd round losers are entered in December.

15. Alex Sutherland, 14. Scott Poulton (James Gaymer), 13. Hugh Jarman, 12. Chris Brown (Andrew Rostek), 11. Dean Frost, 10. Ali Cheyne, 9. Danny Stephenson (Rob McPherson-Smith), 1. Ben Johnson, 2. Kotaro Kagata, 3. Paul Webster, 4. Calum Harper (Scott Cameron), 5. Josh Henry, 6. Chuku Modu (Ruraidh MacDonald) , 7. Ross Grimstone, 8. Tom McFarland (C) (Jonny Goldie)