Old Cats Under 14 Vs Reigate

Old Cats Under 14 took to the road and were playing Reigate in a fixture which we knew was going to be tough. After the disappointment of playing OA where they should have won, every single team member wanted to put the record straight in the only way they knew how, upping their game yet again to beat a very talented Reigate team.

It was a good start, all 19 team members turned up early eager to get out of the gates. Warm up was great, no handling errors, despite the freezing conditions on the hands. Kick off and it was all Old Cats. Forwards first to the rucks, securing the ball, with Harrison getting quick balls out to the backs. Old Cats backs moves started to dazzle Reigate, stretching them out and Old Cats finding the holes to make the valuable territory deep into Reigate’s half. Then complacency set in on Old Cats, a turn over ball and with a couple of missed tackles sent Reigate straight up the field and over the try line. Everyone now knew, that they had to do their job and do it well, otherwise this quick and talented Reigate team would punish them.

Restart and Wills was like a whippet up the field, secured the ball rest of team came into support Charlie took on the task of bulldozing his way up the field, Reigate were the back foot with a quick recycled ball passed to Josh D to finish off a good team try.

Old Cats were ready at the restart, keen not to make the same mistakes as earlier in the match. I lost count of the number of ‘try saving tackles’ coming from Old Cats and all from different players. Drew, Paddy, Seb, Ross, Lawrence (and I know I have missed others) all on top of their game, putting their bodies on the line making those last ditch tackles and keeping Reigate on their toes. However the pressure built and it was Reigate who was next over the try line. Old Cats heads never went down, it only made them more determined to wrestle the match back and in another well worked team effort, Chris finished the move off to go over the try line.
Half time and it was 12-12. Still all to play for, but who wanted victory most?

A daft question, Old Cats sniffed victory and set about as a team to drive this home. However if the first two tries came from sterling team effort, the last two came from individual brilliance. First from Harrison picking the ball up from within Old Cats half, with a little ‘shimmy’ and then outpacing the Reigate’s full back to go over the line. Next was Josh D again picking up the ball from within Old Cats half, pinning his ears back, rode out two separate last ditch tackles from Reigate and went over in the corner. Reigate did come back with a try late in the match but it was too late and Old Cats won 24-17.

Pleasing aspects to this game was Old Cats line speed, not letting the opposition to get into their stride. Also our tackling, not letting Reigate break through our lines.

As always some individual performances to pick out:
Alex A – Superb under the high ball, nailing his catches and quick hands to keep the ball alive.
Lawrence – All the unseen work in the middle of the park, first to the breakdown, securing the ball. Not letting Reigate pass him with great tackles.
Callum – he kept the Reigate’s speed merchant quite, very quick reactions tackling and then getting up to compete for the ball again.
Man of the match has to go to Charlie. Bulldozing his way through Reigate via ‘route 1’. Got a knock, but only made him more determined to keep going.
Still work to do, but this team is really progressing and giving the spectators some really entertaining rugby on the way.
Tries: Josh D x 2; Chris; Harrison
Conversions x 2 Ross