Youth Rugby - U13 Fixtures & Reports

Dorking 1stXV 5 - 24 Cobham 1stXV   

Tries:  White, Sexton, Sullivan, MccGwire
Conversions: MccGwire (2)

Strong second half performance by Cobham gave them a convincing away victory over Dorking on a sloping pitch at Box Hill.  Cobham started with the slope advantage and the talented Cobham backs created an early opportunity with some excellent handling and tactical kicking which led to a try for Tom White in the corner.  It was all one-way traffic with Cobham capitalising on some poor Dorking handling and constantly putting intense pressure on the Dorking line without being able to increase their lead. 

Cobham line out was again an area of strength with the boys winning all of the Dorking ball as well as most of their own although rucks and malls needed improvement in the first half.  Against the run of play and just before half-time the Dorking full back collected a Cobham kick ahead on his own 22 metre line and some poor cover tackling allowed him to run the length of the pitch to score and make it 5-5 at halftime.

The sizeable crowd anticipated a tough second period for Cobham as the slope advantage was now in Dorking's favour and this is exactly what happened with Cobham pinned in around their own 22 for the first ten minutes.  They held out though with some solid defensive work by both forwards and backs and then Simon Sexton broke away from within the Cobham half and against the run of play to touch down under the posts. Tom MccGwire converted and this led to a prolonged period of pressure from Cobham who were awarded a penalty midway through the half following a Dorking defender failing to release the ball after being tackled near to his own line. From the penalty Tom Sullivan crashed over the line giving Cobham a 17-5 lead. 

The floodgates now opened and it was all Cobham with some excellent ball created by the forwards who were now rucking and mauling with confidence and with some good midfield work by the backs. Cobham were now clearly on top, unfortunately several opportunities were wasted when the ball carrier chose to go inside for glory with an overlap and certain try beckoning on the outside.  Following more pressure and just before the end Tom MccGwire made it through and converted himself to give the boys a deserved 24-5 victory.  

After the game Tom Sullivan, number 8, said " I thought the forwards played well with rucking and mauling good in the second half.  The kicking and tactical moves from the backs were great. We remained focussed and all gave 100% effort and deserved our win".

Backs coach Kieran Mitchell said afterwards:  "I thought the final 20 mins were the best rugby the boys have played this season.  They were stuck down in the corner close to the line early in the second half and could have easily folded, but they all got stuck in, tackled hard and worked their way up the field leading to three scores"

Brian Sullivan