Youth Rugby - U13 Fixtures & Reports

Cobham 1st XV  36 – 7  Chobham 1st XV

Surrey League One

16 March 2008

Tries:  Galuccio (3), Davis, Burne, Sullivan

Conversions: Mitchell (3)

On a wet day at “Fortress Fairmile” a powerful display by Cobham swept Chobham away.

A very competitive first ten minutes with Cobham getting the better of the early exchanges both in terms of possession and territory.  After 11 minutes Cobham finally broke through when some excellent handling by the backs put Matias Galuccio clear and he cruised round the defence to touch down near the posts.  James Mitchell duly converted. 

From the Chobham kick off the crowd thought they were watching an action replay as Galuccio was worked clear again and the “Argentine Express” touched down for a second time in two minutes. James Mitchell converted again and suddenly Cobham were comfortable 14-0 leaders.

Cobham were now in total control, putting Chobham under pressure in every area of the game and with some good tactical kicking Cobham dominated the territory as well.  The odd Chobham incursion was swiftly dealt with by the Cobham defence, particularly backs Robert Hickman and Chris Holloway who had excellent games. 

Just before the break Cobham won a scrum 15 metres out from the Chobham line, the ball was neatly shipped along the line and that man Galuccio touched down again. James “dead eye” Mitchell converted and Cobham cruised into halftime with a 21-0 lead.

Chobham made a nightmare start to the second half as a thumping tackle from Chris Holloway dislodged the ball from what had been a promising attack.  Tom MccGwire hacked on and back row forward Joe Davis followed up by picking up the awkwardly bouncing ball and charging 20 metres to touch down. Not converted. 

This now began a sustained period of Cobham pressure and Conrad Burne was worked clear, used the space well and sprinted for the line for another unconverted try. 

At 31-0 it looked like the floodgates would really open, unfortunately they didn’t and despite a considerable amount of territory and possession Cobham couldn’t add to the score.  Chobham remained game and five minutes from time they eventually worked their way near to the Cobham line and managed to crash over for a converted try to make it 31-7.  Cobham weren’t quite done and Jack Bownes, under pressure, managed to slip the ball to Tom Sullivan who charged up the field before unloading to Will Campbell, from the resultant maul Tom regained the ball and skillfully avoiding ref Chris Dean touched down to make the final score 36 – 7. 

Overall a great performance by the improving Cobham who displayed some superb handling in the wet conditions and who if they could have avoided the occasional  “white line fever” would have won by a bigger margin.

After the match Chris Holloway said:

“We got the result we deserved and everyone played their best game.  The pack was strong and the backs passed the ball well.  We were a much stronger team.  It was a good win!”