Under 11's V Dunvant 24.01.10

24th January 2010

Dunvant 14 - South Gower 63

Tries: Tom Mogridge (3), Owen Renowden, Luke Davies, Jack Bates, Ethan Smith (2), Kieran Charles.

Conversions: Kieran Charles (7), Jack Bates.

A lovely day at Dunvant saw our 1st game for over a month. Having had our pitches at South Gower out of action for all of December the boys had 1 proper training session on Wednesday, so i was expecting rustiness. How wrong was I ?

The session we did have wednesday was good and showed some very encouraging signs. The boys, thankfully carried on where they left off today with an outstanding performance against a strong Dunvant side.

The game started as we kicked to Dunvant, we soon turned over the ball with good tackling and rucking and Moggy picked up and went. Tom was held up metres short of the line but after our forwards driving Tom over the line, he managed to ground it for our 1st try. This was converted by Kieran Charles.
Next up was Owen Renowden. After a Dunvant scrum, which George Heard won against the head, some good work from our backs, broke the line and was tackled around 10 yards out. From the ruck Owen picked up and smashed his way through Dunvant's defence to score a well taken try. Kieran converted.
Next was contender for try of the day. We had a scrum on the half way on the far side of the pitch. Heardy hooked clean ball, Moggy fed Kieran who did a dummy switch with Callum and straightened up. He drew his man, fed Luke Davies and Luke cut back inside past a few Dunvant players to score a very well worked try. Kieran converted.
Dunvant then replied with an excellent try by their scrum half. Dunvant won their lineout and the scrum half went around the back of the lineout and darted through for a well taken try which was converted.
Straight from kick off we put Dunvant under pressure. Our defence was superb at times and our back line did not give Dunvant an inch. We turned them over in their 22 after great rucking from our forwards and Jack Bates peeled off the back and around the blindside to smash through tackles to score. Kieran converted.
Again, Dunvant came back at us and lack of tackling around the legs and some good mauling from Dunvant, they scored in the corner which was converted.
There was still more time in the half for another. This time lovely hand in the back and especially Kieran Charles who dummied past one then released his back got the ball to Cameron Barker. Cam was tackled and offloaded to Tom Mogridge. Moggy seemed to do the impossible and kept going blind turning, spinning and ducking out of at least 4 tackles to score in the corner. Great try that Kieran converted.

Half time:
Dunvant 14 - South Gower 35

Subs were made at half time so every one of our 15 players played.
We started where we left off with the second contender for try of the day. After gathering the Dunvant restart, Moggy caught the ball and made for the opposition. Some good rucking ensured clean ball. The ball was passed to Kieran who ghosted past his man, drew the centre, passed to Callum Carson, who drew his man and popped to Ethan Smith on the wing who darted up the touchline to score a great team try. Kieran converted. This was an excellent example of our back line keeping its shape and staying wide to let the ball do the work. On top of this, the boys were taking the ball at pace which created an excellent try.
Next up was Ethan again. I cant comment on the try as i was tending to an injured Owen Renowden who superbly cleared the ball from his own try line but to be tackled in the process and injure his knee. Anyway, as i didn't see it, i will make it up :-) Good chasing saw us turnover the ball and then the ball passed through every team members hands for Ethan to score. Kieran converted.
To keep rotating the team, Callum came off and was replaced by Cameron who moved to outside half and Kieran in the centre. We won the ball in the scrum, fed Cameron who made a break past his opposite number. Cam was tackled 7 metres from the line only to pop to the oncoming steam train (Kieran Charles) who smashed his was through to score a good try. Kieran converted.
The ref signalled last play and South Gower gained a penalty on the halfway line by the touchline. As i was barking orders to put it through the hands, Moggy had tapped, unaware to everyone except for him and the ref, he darted down the line to score an unopposed try. Great quick thinking from the Mogman ! Jack Bates stepped up and converted.

Final Score :

Dunvant 14 - South Gower 63



This was simply an outstanding team performance. Our forwards competed in the tight and often came out best and our backs angles of running and passing was a joy to watch. Maybe no training works ey ?


Players to Mention:

Tom Mogridge : A couple of wrong decisions made when going blind instead of releasing our backs but this kid is like a slippery eel. He wriggles his way out of everything, tackled everything and delivered the ball well and deserved his 3 tries today. Excellent Game Moggy !

Kieran Charles : Commanded his back line superbly today. A couple of loose miss passes didn't put him off as he constantly broke the dunvant gain line and intelligently distributed at the right time. In my opinion, his best game in an all blacks shirt. Well done Charlo !

Owen Renowden : Hit the rucks with aggression, strong and direct in his running, even making superb clearing kicks from his own line summed up an excellent performance from Owen which he rounded off with a try. Well done O !


Ethan Smith : Came on as sub in the second half and finished his 2 tries superbly. Tackled well and put pressure on the opposition every time they had possession. Another great performance from Ethan !

Jack Bates : I thought Jack had a very good game today. His tackling was great along with his rucking and mauling. He took his try very well but his intelligence to know Moggy was taken in and to ship the ball out to Kieran was shown on several occasions. Great game Bates !

As i said, this was most probably our best performance of the season and i hope to keep the momentum going into training and for Bryncoch at home next week, who we know are a strong team.

Well done lads, I am extremely proud of all of you after today's performance.