Guernsey RFC U13’s v Crawley RFC U13’s – 15th October 2022 Kick off 4pm. Match report by Paul Gibson.

Flying out from Gatwick on a temperate, dry, autumn Saturday morning, the playing squad, coaches and parents arrived in Guernsey for our second Channel Island trip in consecutive seasons.
Leaden skies broke to allow the sun to brighten up on a mild and perfect day for rugby. A short coach transfer from the airport to Footes Lane, Guernsey’s home ground and all in the party enjoyed the hospitality of our hosts, before the boys kitted up to provide a guard of honour with their opposition, for the Guernsey Raiders home National 2 East fixture with bottom of the table Westcliffe RFC. After watching the first half of the Senior’s match the Crawley coaches took the U13’s over for a warmup training session in preparation for the 4pm kick off.
With the senior’s home team comfortably winning their match, the home crowd were looking to their under 13’s to provide a similar display. The teams came out, led by Crawley Captain, Jack; and were given the full professional welcome of player’s tunnel and P.A. announcement, as they took the field to raucous applause from the partisan travelling support. After the centre spot handshakes and coin toss, Guernsey kicked off to Crawley and the match was under way. From early on Crawley played a fluid, pacy style, that was to set a tone for the afternoon. First breakdown after a knock on and Guernsey are awarded the first scrummage of the game, which is fed through quickly and passed out to a Guernsey centre who is immediately tackled by Jenson, running up to apply pressure on the advancing green line which causes the ball to be fumbled forward to win Crawley their first scrum on the halfway line. Leo at scrum half, fed the ball in for rookie hooker Fred to strike the ball back through the second-row tunnel and, Leo, like a whippet, passed the ball off the base, which is moved on flawlessly down the attacking Crawley backs line to Jack in the second centre position, who broke two tackles on his way to score the first try of the match. After the restart Crawley continued to exert their early dominance with powerful running and crunching tackles by Jack, Alfie Lane and Jensen. Tireless rucking and ball protection in the loose gave ample ball to feed out to the backs, orchestrated by Nate, to allow the Crawley wingers to go about their business. Eye catching running and tackle dodging by the ever-nimble Ellis kept Crawley on the front foot. Guernsey had great spells of pressure with ball in hand, but with constant interruptions by the way of hard tackling by Tommy, Alfie Bagshaw, Jensen and Jack causing turnovers and mayhem in the middle ground arm wrestle, complimented by pure granite like graft in the rucking cleaning out from the engine room of Oscar, Harrison, Fred and Taylor. With Captain Jack roving from breakdown to breakdown the entertained crowd was further bolstered by the attendance of both senior teams from Guernsey Raiders and Westcliffe, which showed real class from the older contemporaries.
After a penalty against Crawley inside our 22, Guernsey tapped, moved the ball quickly and squeezed in at the corner to register their reply and level the game at 5-5. After the re-start a fervent period of tackling back and forth resulted in another Crawley scrum on the halfway line. Guernsey fought hard and their own drive and pressure saw Crawley pinned back on their own 22, knocking on to give Guernsey the put in for a scrum in a good attacking position. Pushing Crawley back, the lads defended like lions and the tide against Crawley was broken by another crunching Alfie Lane tackle, the resulting loose ball was swooped up by Fred, who drove on through heavy traffic into the opposition half before finding Ellis as he cut in from the wing to dance his way from the far side of the pitch to find Cameron who took the ball at pace all the way to the line, only to be tripped up just short of scoring. The resulting penalty was carried into contact by Freddy, with the ever reliant Leo darting in to ship the ball with dead eyed accuracy to Nate, who used his support of Oscar and Taylor into contact and protect the ball for another phase, which this time found Alfie Lane, 5 yards out, who smashed his way in, taking two defenders with him to score Crawley’s second try, right on the brink of half time.
A breathless crowd eagerly awaited the second half and the stand attendance swelled with home supporters taking their seats out of the club house.
As Crawley kicked off the second half, their coaches directions for ‘more of the same’ and ‘keep the intensity’ ringing in their ears, Crawley kept the pressure on Guernsey. A series of penalties against Crawley resulted in them being pushed back to their own line as a Guernsey attacker knocks on a couple of metres short of the try line. Scrum to Crawley, again the quick pass out by Leo gave Alfie Bagshaw time to clear the lines with a hefty boot up the park which was chased up and won by Leo. Again, the mid pitch arm wrestle continued with fresh blood, by the way of Fran, Armani and Mervyn, heavily involved in the mix. After another scrum to Crawley, quick thinking by Nate shifted the ball back to Alfie Bagshaw who produced a fine kick out wide. Racing up on the near side, Mervyn got so close to scooping up the ball, which would have resulted in our third try, but unfortunately knocked on. The resulting scrum to Guernsey however was won against the head by the dominant Crawley front row. The ball went through the silky back line hands and Mervyn went close again. More penetrating carries by Fran and Jack were stoutly defended by Guernsey, but the cracks were starting to appear. A penalty to Guernsey resulted in a scrum on the Crawley 22 following a knock on. The resulting Guernsey scrum was again driven back by a powerhouse drive from Locks, Armani and Cameron; and panicked handling at the base of the Guernsey scrum was punished by the effervescent Leo, who smuggled the ball out to Jack who powerfully drove through the tattered home side defence to score his second and Crawley’s third try of the match.
After the restart, our forwards won a second win against the head after a scrum awarded to the opposition. More kudos for the Crawley pack and there was a swagger to the Crawley boys play now as they moved the ball left and right across the pitch. Guernsey fought hard all the way, but a fourth try was almost inevitable following a scrummage to Crawley on their 10-metre line. With ball secured, Leo popped the ball to Alfie Lane who crashed in again! With the game nearing its end there was still time for impressive aggressive carries from Harrison, Tommy, Jenson and Armani. The final whistle came, and foes became friends. Each player warmly shook hands, as the cheering, appreciative crowd took to their feet and applauded all on the field.
A fine display by all the Crawley boys, capped by a man of the match performance by Leo Jeffries and a brace each of tries by Alfie Lane and Captain Jack Padfield – Final score Guernsey RFC U13’s 5 Crawley RFC U13’s 20.