Medway RFC U17s

11 March 2007

Simon goes into the corner

Medway simply had too much pace and power for Old Alleynians on Sunday. The mobility of the pack, strong running with the ball and skillful offloading, along with indifferent tackling by the Old Alleynians, led to a field day for the forwards who scored eight out of nine of Medway's tries.

First on the scoresheet after just two minutes was hooker Simon Brooks. Involved twice in a move that swept from wing to wing, Brooks finished well in the corner after a popped pass from Richard Verrall.

Gavin breaks for his hat-trick try

Gavin Hyder forced his way down the blindside of a ruck a few minutes later and rolled out of the tackle to touch down. He got his second shortly afterwards when a break and inside pass from Tom Barnes left Hyder with a jog in under the posts.

Paul Pierce then produced a carbon copy of Hyder's first try with a blindside break from a ruck, and was able to beat the last defender to give Gill a conversion from in front of the posts.

Hyder's hat-trick try just before half-time was all his own work. Picking up from the base of a ruck near the half-way line he flattened the opposing fly-half before sprinting for the posts to make the score 29 - 0 at the break.

Steve sets up Aaron's try

Old Alleynians came back out with their heads up and they earned the majority of possession in the second half. They deserve great credit for never giving up on the game, but were just unable either to batter a way through the brick wall of Medway's defence or find acutting edge.

Medway, in contrast, injected pace and dynamism into the play when they had the ball, and were rewarded with four more tries.

Tom Barnes escaped from two tackles in a 20-metre run that ended under the posts and Richard Verrall at last got the backs on the scoresheet with a driving run from his own half that caught the opposing defence static, and converted it himself.

Aaron Dimmick scored from close range after good work by prop Steve Lowery to set up the try.

Ian Findlay then capped a fine display from the forwards, despite nearly having his head taken off on his run in from 15 metres. Gill converted the last try to end with a four from four kicking record in the match.