Youth Rugby - U13 Fixtures & Reports

Old Reedonians 1st XV  13 – 12  Cobham 1st XV

Surrey League One

27 January  2008

Tries:  Galuccio (2)

Conversion: MccGwire

Cobham narrowly lose scrappy encounter to old rivals Reeds.

On a stunning day in Whitely village Cobham faced unbeaten Reeds in Surrey League Division One.  Reeds held the slope advantage in the first half.  First encounters were fiercely contested with Reeds just having edge in the breakdown with most of the action just inside the Cobham half.

Cobham defended well with strong tackling from both backs and forwards, however, Reeds pressure paid off when they went ahead with a well taken try after 12 minutes.  The try wasn’t converted and there followed a period of sustained pressure from Cobham.  After 16 minutes Cobham bounced back and worked their smooth running full back, Matias Galuccio, clear. Shifting into top gear he cruised by the covering tacklers to touch down and make the score 5-5.The try wasn’t converted. 

The penalty count against Cobham began to mount and they were unable to string any significant passages of play together. More pressure from Reeds before half time but the Cobham defence held firm and with the interval score level and the slope advantage in the second half it was an upbeat half time talk from the Cobham coaches.  Cobham initially held the territory at the start of the second half, but Reeds gradually gained the upper hand and then went ahead with another unconverted try to make the score 10-5.

Cobham bounced back and after 14 minutes a loose clearance from Reeds went straight into the arms of that man Galuccio who danced around the cover with his deceptively quick pace to touch down not far from the posts – and with Tom MccGwire making a good conversion it was now game on with Cobham leading 12-10. Cobham now looked in charge but whenever they began to dominate there appeared to be an offence committed giving a penalty to Reeds. 

With seven minutes remaining Reeds worked their way up field via a series of penalties and despite some very sound defence from Cobham they finally kicked one right in front of the Cobham posts to make it 13-12.  Cobham battled back but unfortunately couldn’t get their noses in front again.

Overall an excellent effort from Cobham on a frustrating day when eventually the high penalty count cost them the match. Inside centre James Manning said afterwards "This is a tough fixture and whilst we played well as a team we were all really disappointed with the final score. It was really close and some tough refereeing decisions went against us during the game which made the difference in the end"

Brian Sullivan