Under 12's age group webpage
Head Coach Assistant Coaches
Kelly Monteith Darrell Hawkes
e. kellymonteith@blueyonder.co.uk John Cook
m. 07977 918591 Charlie O'Docherty
End of Season Prizegiving
We will be holding a team meeting and end of season prizegiving at Mark Shackles house on Sunday 18th May starting at 1pm. There will be a bouncy castle and swimming pool for the kids and Mark will be putting on a Bar BQ. The parents need to get together to discuss next season, tour, fixtures, kit etc etc. we will then have the kids prizegiving where all kids get medals.
Please bring something to drink, and something to sit on, plus your ideas to help us make next season even better than this one. Please email me kelly@monteithfamily.co.uk if you are not able to attend.
Directions Mark lives in Pilning. If approaching from Cribbs Causeway - head for Easter Compton, and drive through it until you reach Pilning. Turn right in into Northwick Road (opposite the Cross Hands pub) Take the first unmarked slip road on your left. Shackle’s shack is at the end of the road.
Click here for a map:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&cr=countryUK%7CcountryGB&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=cross+hands+pub&near=Pilning,+Bristol,+Avon&fb=1&sa=X&oi=local_group&resnum=1&ct=image Click below for photos
Clifton Festival Thornbury Keynsham Festival Keynsham Saracens
Nailsea and Backwell Hornets Keynsham and Clifton Wells
Guilford and Cirencester Llandaff Clifton Away Gordano Longlevens
Tralee Dursley Mumbles Barton Hill Cleve Festival Tour 7's
Unbeaten St. Marys share Mosely Festival Plate
Marys enjoyed most of the possession in all of the group games, and spent large amounts of time camped in the opponents half. However the pitches looked very small with twenty-six 12 year olds on, and space was difficult to find. This was not helped by the fact that we did not straighten the line quite as well as we have been doing in recent weeks.
When we did manage to run straight and suck in defences, too often we went narrow, and missed the space that had been created out wide – making it difficult to convert our advantage into points.
Our defence was at least as good as anyone else’s, forcing many teams to resort to kicking away possession against us in order to relieve the pressure.
Unbeaten and unbowed, Mary’s lost out on a place in the final to Worcester on the grounds that they scored one more try than us in the group stages.
This set up a ‘Plate final’ against Hereford U12s, who were winners of this year’s prestigious North Midlands Cup competition. Paddy ripped the ball from their winger to score a fine solo try, but Hereford fought back strongly, to score what was probably the try of the day (bearing in mind the strength of the opposition they were playing against).
As Kelly said at the end of the tournament, the team has had a fantastic season, and everyone can be proud of the contribution they have made.
For the record the scores on the doors were:
Woodrush 0 : 3 St. Marys
Worcester 1 : 1 St. Marys
Widnes 0 : 1 St. Marys
Hereford 1 : 1 St. Marys
Tour Headlines
- St Mary's enterred 2 teams "Kelly's Heros" and "Darrells Donughts", who shared the spoils at the Bideford 7s festival.
- Both teams remained unbeaten (again).
- When the two teams played each other the score was 19 : 19. (This was by far the best match of the tournament).
- Both teams had a points difference of +89.
- John Cook played for the victorious St Mary's dads, in what can only be described as "an unusual back line". He can now (and already has) claim to have played outside a scottish international.
Pictures to follow (of the game only). There will be no embarresing pictures of parents or coaches, please remember the old rugby rule and honoured tradition "what goes on tour, stays on tour".
Squad for Moseley
Thanks to all those who turned up last night for training, I was amazed at the turnout given the hard work everyone had put in last weekend. As we discussed last night from the players who are available it is virtually impossible for me to select a squad based on the normal 3 A's (Attitude, Attendance, Ability) as we have a squad of players who are outstanding on all counts.
I have therefore decided to give priority to players who have been with the squad the longest. The players have been selected based on how long they have been with the club (with a very small consideration to ensure we have players in all positions). This is our last ever festival and I want to reward players for their commitment to the club.
Squad is therefore:
Matt Taylor, James Shackle, Alan Gibson, Austin Davis, Wes Jones, Derry O'Doherty, Jake Polledri, Freddy Foley, Robbie Cesere, Harry Hawkes, Paddy Hodge, Rhys Summerville, Emma Evans, Charlie Cook, Dan Shackle, Luke Bishop, Matt Lee.
St Mary's Win Cleve Festival The headlines: 
· St. Mary’s U12 win the tournament
· Played 5, Won 4, Drawn 1, Lost 0
· Tries for 18
· Tries Against 0
· Arguments with referees – none
· Support from St. Mary’s massive – awesome
· Team performance – best so far
· and finally... hats off to Austen & Asst. Coach Arnie for turning up to cheer the team on
Llandaff 0 : 6 St. Mary’s
We were so good, one of the Llandaff coaches thought we had 14 players on the pitch. Unfortunately not – we just played like it.
Swindon 0 : 8 St. Mary’s
7 minutes each way – works out at over one try every 2 minutes – not bad!
Clifton 0 : 1 St. Marys Man of the match must go to James Shackle, for throwing himself in front of ‘Big James’ at least 4 times. Twice he got hold of him, twice he slowed him down enough for someone else to get hold of him.
A close match was decided by a great bit of anticipation from Matt Taylor with a well judged tackle / interception which he then ran in for a well deserved try.
Cleve 0 : 3 St. Mary’s
St. Mary’s built on the good performances from the previous three games, and took their game to another level against Cleve, especially in the first half. The forwards were outstanding against a strong pack, and won quick ball which Freddy used intelligently to release the back line. Luke Bishop scored 2 tries, including a fantastic try using a move that Kelly has been flogging like a proverbial dead horse all year.
Keynsham 0 : 0 St. Mary’s
With the tournament already won, we lacked some of the intensity we had shown in the earlier matches, but we still played some good rugby. The scrum did fantastically well against a large and powerful Keynsham pack.
I thought Mary’s probably played the slightly better rugby – but Keynsham certainly had their chances. Jake Polledri was outstanding, and made a fantastic match saving tackle to protect our unbeaten run & zero tries conceded record.
St. Marys 84 : 0 Barton Hill
The U12s provided the pre-match entertainment for the firsts with a convincing victory against Barton Hill. Barton Hill had a simply massive pack - but Mary's fitness levels, passing and handling skills were exceptional. Well done to Barton Hill playing with great spirit, and for keeping playing until the end.
St Marys 45 : 0 Frampton
No photos today I'm afraid, just good rugby and some great tries scored.
Frampton really took it to us with a very strong pack and ensured Marys had to comptete for every ball, but when we managed to get the ball out to the backs we ran at the space and scored some good tries. We had a few players playing out of position today which made for an interesting game.
I thought Rhys was one of the best players on the park today, he looked strong in the centre in the first half and really injected some pace when he moved to scrum half in the second. Jake linked well from fly half today and provided good support to the forwards.
Other highlights were Max running with the ball, Charlie hitting some great tackles, and Luke running through the Frampton defense at will. Just the festivals to go now, so we need to be on top of our game to make this a season to remember.
St Marys 7 : 0 Mumbles
On a heavy pitch Mumbles made Marys work extremely hard, and could probably count themselves unlucky not to have come away with a draw in the first match.
We asked Jake to hang back a bit at the breakdown, which led to a finely balanced first match. Mumbles probably edged it in the forwards, and secured some good ball with great counter rucking. Freddie was often feeding off scraps of possession – but exploited the extra space available on the full size pitch to make some great sniping runs.
If Mumbles edged it in the forwards, then Mary’s edged it in the backs. Jake, Robbie, Harry, Matt Lee, Luke, and Charlie all made good use of limited ball to make some powerful runs on a heavy pitch.
Paddy had another really solid game – and is technically one of our best players. He made all his tackles, dived on every lose ball, drew the opponent before passing and recycled the ball really well when forced to take the ball into contact.
Mumbles showed they have been paying attention to the Welsh national side – and won great territory with some quickly taken penalties, and intelligent kicking from the restart. Hopefully we will learn from the experience and make sure we are back 10m and have a defensive line readyin the future.
St Marys 20 : 0 Mumbles
Due to the late kick-off, several of the Mary’s players had to leave early to attend a prior engagement. Mumbles very generously leant us four of their players.
I think the late nights on tour, the day spent travelling, the heavy pitch, the additional effort required to play on a full size pitch, and the quality of the payers that Mumbles leant us, all took their toll. This allowed the Marys / Mumbles barbarians team to take control of the second match – and play some great 15 man rugby.
The back row combination of Jake, Matt Lee and Harry looked particularly good on a large pitch. Their tackling, running, support play and offloading were excellent. Enormous thanks to Mumbles for being such gracious visitors. They gave two of our players a lift back from Minehead so they could play in the game. Their coaching staff and parents had a great attitude, and they leant us some quality players for the second match. They finished off a great day’s rugby with a good old fashioned sing-song in the bar.
St. Marys 35 : 0 Dursley 
St. Marys 20 : 0 Dursley
St. Marys proved they don’t have to be slow off the mark with a sensational display in the first match. The forwards avoided getting dragged into a wrestling match with a large pack by securing good fast ball. Wes had a great game in the forwards. He was one of the first players to breakdown, and to have someone else there supporting (and occasionally in ahead of) Jake gave us a real edge at the breakdown. Austen looked as fired up as he has since the Weston Hornets game – and this was rewarded with another try.
Freddie fed the back line quickly and accurately and the handling and support play was very good. Mary’s backs ran much straighter than they did last week, and usually looked to beat the gain line before throwing the ball out wide, which created the space for the wingers to play in.
We were good at Wells, but that was on a full size pitch which gave us the luxury of time and space, but Dursely were about twice the size of Wells and we were playing on a much smaller pitch. For my money this was probably the best display of attacking rugby Mary’s have played this season. Highlights for me were some great team tries.
The first try came when the forwards secured good ball, Harry took the ball past his opposite number forcing the Dursley line to adjust to cover him. He then fed the ball to Matt L, he passed to Emma, who returned the ball to Matt L who made a lovely loop to score in the corner – fantastic stuff.
Luke showed his continuing improving maturity at Full Back. As well as anticipating kicks, and running them back like a steam train, he managed to run towards support and offloaded the ball well. He joined the backline beautifully in second half to take a lovely pass from Matt L before offloading in the tackle for Derry to dive over in the corner.
Paddy had a great game on the wing, tackling everything that moved, and showed great awareness in being able to read the game so he was in the right place at the right time, and he was very unlucky not to score. Possibly the one thing to work on would be getting ourselves up for the second match. Next week it is the St Mary’s festival – and the team will need to start every match the way they started the first one.
The only negative thing from the game is the injury to Arnie which has definately put him out of our festival and probably quite a few weeks after that. He is due an MRI scan in 9 days time which will tell us more. Best wishes Arnie for a speedy recovery.
St Mary's win QEH 7's
St Mary's enterred the QEH 7 a-side competition and finished the day unbeaten to win the competition outright.
This was a good oportunity to mix it up in the forwards and backs and play the kind of quick ball, fast flowing rugby that we have been trying to develop. There was good comitment and good skills on display today, but I was most impressed by the support play with all players coverring large parts of the pitch.
Everyone contributed today but some of the highlights for me included Jake and Derry working together in the forwards offloading in the tackle and supporting each other, Arnie playing as hooker and getting stuck in where it hurts, Freddy playing intelligently throughout, Big Jack just being his dynamic self and last but not least Austin driving forward, taking the ball at pace and scoring a great try.
The extra space created by the 7 a-side game seemed to bring the best out of some players today, it's this quick open game I want us to play week in week out. Well done everyone, you really should feel proud of how you played today.
St Mary's 10 : 15 Tralee
St Mary's 5 : 5 Tralee
What a good way to spend Saturday morning....St Mary's hosted a very strong team from Tralee in Ireland in a game that was a real battle, with Tralee taking it to Mary's right from the kick off.
Tralee were a very strong, physical side who liked to run straight and drive forward at every oportunity. Mary's had their work cut out up front with the Tralee forwards showing good control and strength. We seemed to be caught asleep at the start and conceded an early try which seemd to put us on the back foot.
Mary's regrouped a little and took the game to Tralee. Harry, playing in the forwards, started to impose himself tackling like a deamon. Unfortunately we were always slightly on the back foot, never really taking the ball at pace. This is something we really need to work on.
Both teams scored a couple of good tries each which meant Tralee had won a very well fought game.
The second game was particularly hard on Tralee who unlike Mary's had no reserve players to call on. They perfromed well however and bravely kept going despite suffering a few injuries. A draw seemed a fair result.
Thanks to everyone at Tralee, your players, coaches and supporters are a real credit to your club. We definately hope to take you up on your offer and come to visit you next year.
St Mary's 20 : 0 Longlevens
St Mary's 0 : 10 Longlevens
This match highligted to me the strength we have in depth within the squad. Despite loosing lots of players to the half term holidays, St Mary's managed to put on a display they can be proud of, particularly in the first game.
Before the game we talked a lot about being 1st to the breakdown and getting past the ball in order for it to be made available. By doing so we constantly pushed Longlevens onto the back foot and gave ourselves the space to pick up and drive forward. When we did drive on through the forwards it was good to see the likes of Matt T and Ben working together to punch holes in the defense.
I was also very impressed with the back play today. Arnie and Charlie worked well together, they constantly went forward and created lots of space out wide. If only we had used the overlaps they created we could have scored a lot more points. Luke also looked very good when the backs were going forward, he comes into the line at the right time and always seems to break through the gaps.
The 2nd game saw a much bigger Longlevens team take the field, some of our forwards seemed to go back into the old bad habits with lazy running to the breakdown. Jack and Wes were still the engine room of the side, but we really need everyone to keep up the same levels of intensity.
Some poor defensive kicking also let us down a bit in the second game, we had oportunities to run the ball from deep but kept kicking the ball away, allowing the strong Longlevens runners to run the ball straight back at us. We had plenty of quick players in the backs in this game but never used them, instead we allowed Longlevens to keep the ball in their very big, strong forwards.
All in all this was a good display today from our reduced numbers against a very strong oposition. Well done.
St. Mary’s 38 : 7 Gordano
St. Mary’s 35 : 10 Gordano
Half term holidays took their toll on both sides – so well done to Wes, Danny, Austen, Paddy & Emma for agreeing to play one of the matches for Gordano so we could get a game on. On the plus side it meant everyone got to play 2 full games, and players got to try out a few new positions.
Highlights included:
- The forwards worked much more as a unit. Several times Matt T and Ben broke off the back of a ruck or maul as a pair and drove on to great effect.
- The forwards did much better at securing the ball – Wes and Jack in particular were outstanding in the respect.
- The more stable platform allowed Freddie to shine at scrum half. He managed the game well, varied his passing, scored one try, and making another for Paddy.
- Running at pace from depth – the backline took the ball moving forward at pace. Luke and Charlie in particular both ran straight and at pace. This sucked in defenders, and forced Gordano onto the back foot creating the space that allowed Emma, Paddy, Danny and Nicky to flourish on the wings.
- It was great to see the backs working hard at bridging the ball when one of our runners was tackled.
- Discipline was much better. When we focus on playing our game and avoid getting distracted by matters outside of our control we are very difficult to beat.
- Catching the high ball - we stood sideways on, so when one spilled it did not go forward.
Points to work on: - Forwards – either need join the ruck or maul, or get in a position where they can help when the ball become free. We have a couple of great scrum halves – we don’t need the forwards to try to do their job for them.
- Backs – When we were defending our own try line we passed the ball sideways. This lead to Emma receiving the ball 5 ft behind the rest of the team. She was completely isolated and it was not surprising she got turned over allowing Gordano to score. When we are facing a rush defence either one of the half backs or the inside centre needs to take a crash ball and try to break the gain line so the forwards have a chance to get there in support.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to notify one of the coaches that their child would not be available. It is really helpful as it gives us one less thing to worry about on match day. Next week we have Longlevens at home (this is different to what is displayed on the fixtures page). If your child is not available please can you let one of the coaches know.
Clifton 10 : 5 St. Marys 
A strong Clifton side finally ended Mary’s unbeaten run. Clifton started the game fantastically well. They played with pace, power and commitment; Mary’s barely touched the ball for the first 5 – 10 minutes. Clifton was usually first to the breakdown, and when Mary’s did get there first we were often pushed off the ball by a committed Clifton pack. Clifton used the ball well and ran fast and straight. In the end the pressure told, and Clifton took an early lead.
When Mary’s did win the ball – the Clifton back line were on us in a flash. When this happens we need the fly half and centres to take the ball at pace, to run straight and try to crash through the opposition defence. Passing the ball side ways in these situations does not help. We have some great players on the wing – but their strength lies in their pace, which they can best exploit when given space. If we just rush to get the ball out to the wing against a rush defence – we lose territory and have to run backwards in order to try to reclaim the ball, which puts us on the back foot and makes life easier for the opposition.
The try seemed to galvanise Mary’s into action – and they showed great character in clawing their way back into the game. The forwards began to get to the breakdown quicker, and realised that they needed to commit themselves in greater numbers and gradually they began to win the battle up front –forcing Clifton onto the back foot – and allowing our runners the space to operate. By then end of the half Mary’s had forced an equaliser and were a little bit unlucky not to go in ahead.
Mary’s started the second half, as they ended the first – and battered the Clifton defence. Mary’s went close to scoring, but Clifton were resolute in defence. The game was there to be won – but Mary’s were ultimately the architects of their own demise. There is a tradition in rugby that the referee is always right. The culture is you ‘play the referee’. This means if the ref allows X but does not allow Y, then stop doing X and start doing Y. Whether individual players, or coaches, or parents agree with the referee is completely irrelevant, and counter productive. Rather than concentrating on the game and “playing the ref” we got distracted into debating the referees decisions – something that seemed to be exacerbated by the amount of negative comments being shouted from the sideline.
Eventually we argued about a penalty, and then how far back we needed to be. We were so busy arguing the toss that no-one seemed to notice Clifton had taken the penalty until they were 2 ft away from out try line – by which time it was too late.
Mary’s rallied again, but it was all too late. It was a disappointing way to lose what was a fantastic game of rugby.
Clifton 10 : 40 St. Marys
This game showed what we can do when we concentrate on playing rugby. The forwards ran riot. They were first to the breakdown and won ball after ball. The backline looked like they had been holidaying at a French academy during the last week. A superb display!
Highlights included:
- Excellent distribution from Rhys at scrum half, supplemented by some good hands from Arnie at fly half
- Some great runs from Max – who got his shoulder down and charged
- Great tackle from Dan on massive Clifton player (called James) – the biggest mismatch in physique since David took on Goliath.
St. Marys 15 : 0 Llandaff
St. Marys 25 : 5 Llandaff
We hoped Llandaff would provide us with a good match, and our hopes were fulfilled. They were competitive up front, dogged in the tackle and showed some great handling skills. They were amazingly good in the scrum considering that Welsh rules mean teams are not allowed to start pushing in the scrum for another couple of years.
Mary’s forwards put up in great display against a large, committed, and well organised Llandaff pack. In what was probably the toughest physical encounter of the season (particularly in the first match) Mary’s stood toe to toe, kept on their feet, and managed to secured good ball.
The backs looked good again too. Passing was always going to be difficult in the windy conditions – but some great hands compensated for the occasional mis-directed pass.
Mary’s commitment to the tackle was awesome and there were a couple of absolutely heroic hits. Three in particular stood out for me:
- Dan, was left one on one with one of their larger forwards. Dan clung on to him for dear life until support arrived.
- A massive hit from Luke on an equally large forward who was running at him flat out. I was stood amongst the Llandaff supporters and they were impressed!
- A bone crunching special from Jake – which I am sure Matt T would have appreciated.
Not to say there is not room for improvement – its just getting harder to find it! On their kick-offs forwards should line up in scrum formation and there should be a clear shout for the ball. If the ball is going between 2 players – generally the player at the back should take it, as they will be moving forwards when they take the ball.
Finally, well done to the Mary’s and Llandaff’s massive, who both turned out in numbers in the freezing cold. Both sets of supporters contributed to a great atmosphere and were generous in their applause of good play. It was great to see.
St Mary’s 30: 0 Guilford B
St Mary’s 0 : 0 Guilford A
St Marys 10: 0 Cirencester
While Kelly has gone all Ami Winehouse (on the piste, and covered in white powder) – the Mary’s faithful turned up to see how the young guns would do without their Clive Woodward.
Kelly has often held up New Zealand as the role model for the team to aspire to. Legend has it NZ acquired their famous nickname when a London newspaper reported that the New Zealanders played as if they were "all backs", but due to a typographical error subsequent references referred to the ‘All Blacks’. Obviously it would be faintly ludicrous to compare the SMOB U12s to the might of the All Blacks – but I do think the team managed to capture something of the spirit; especially in the first half against Guilford B, which was a fantastic display.
The result against Cirencester was a fantastic result too. Last year Cirencester beat us 28 – 7 and half the team had to face them after giving their all against Guilford. The fact that we stopped both of these high quality teams out was a tremendous achievement.
The one slight disappointment was the loss of focus against Cirencester in the second half. We should abide by the rugby tradition that referee is always right. By not doing this we lost territory and more importantly lost focus and let Cirencester back into a game we were starting to control.
On a day when everyone played well - some of my personal highlights included:
- Wes – outstanding support play. He came out of nowhere on a fantastic angle to score his try and make another.
- Jake - had a good game even by his own high standards. His running, support play, ball ripping and handling stood out in two quality games.
- Paddy & Danny & Arnie & Rhys – showed some great handling skills. It was a shame they did not get to see a bit more of the ball! Probably their best defensive display of the season so far.
- Max – what a weekend to make your Mary’s debut! Max faced up to the challenge. Well done Max.
- Matt T - immense in the scrum, ruck and maul. If Jake did not come out with the ball, then Matt probably did. Matt did a great job of organising, motivating and leading, especially when we started to tire against Cirencester. Our own budding Sean Fitzpatrick?
Wells 0 : ??? St.Marys
Mary’s continued their unbeaten run at Wells. The team added some real style to their trademark power, pace and commitment.
Rather than run through the tries, I thought I would pick out some of my personal highlights:
- Taking the ball at pace – it was great to see the back line taking the ball at pace – rather than standing still and waiting for it to come to them.
- Handling –A few balls were dropped, but when you win that much ball the law of averages mean you are going to drop a couple! On such a cold and wet day, the handling was superb.
- Link-up Play – it was great to see the forwards and the backs start to execute some of the moves Kelly has been showing us in training – and to start to see Jake taking the ball at pace off the backs – unstoppable!
- Offloading & support play –In one passage of play there were at least 5 consecutive offloads in the tackle. This shows great skill and strength, and that the supporting players are getting close enough to our runners. How can you stop a team that keeps the ball alive for tackle after tackle? Wells didn’t know – and I don’t either.
- Rucking and Mauling – the forwards once again dominated in the loose. It is very difficult for the opposition to play if they don’t get much of the ball.
- Picking up and driving – the forwards used the 'pick up and go' to great effect; gaining territory and putting the Wells defence on the back foot
It was a day when everyone gave their all, skills levels were high, and (perhaps most importantly) used their heads and played as a team. Well done to everyone. Having said that I would like to a few honourable mentions to individual who I thought performed exceptionally well:- - I thought Luke Bishop, Derry O’Doherty & Alan Gibson had perhaps the best games I have seen them play for Marys.
- Luke struck a good balance between knowing when to hang back, and when to join the backline. He ran back the ball with pace and power, and managed to offload the ball before going into contact.
- Alan was picking up and driving like a man possessed!
- Derry did some great work at No. 8 and second row. He got to the breakdown quickly, and secured loose ball with great bridging, and linked up well with the backs.
- Freddie and George both played really well at scrum half - releasing the backs with fast, well directed, and beautifully weighted ball
- Robbie showed great promise at fly-half - and his power and pace certainly gave the opposition something to think about.
- Great to see the Wes & Jack partnership back in action. I often think of them as the heartbeat of the team. You are always guaranteed a performance from them. They go in where angels fear to tread – and do a great job of the nasty ball-winning work that allows the rest of the team to flourish.
One bystander was heard to comment ‘Have the All Blacks added green hoops to their kit?’. Well, ok they didn’t – but they could have done! Keynsham and Clifton Trinagular - Sunday 6th Jan 2008
Clifton 7 : 14 St Mary's
Clifton were the last team to beat us (in the plate at their tournament), so we were keen to get revenge. Perhaps we over did the pre-match rally cries, as Mary’s started nervously. Clifton kicked off, the catch was fumbled and knocked on. The referee played a good advantage, and Clifton managed to secure the ball before releasing their winger who skipped past a couple of defenders for a try under the posts. Clifton 7 : 0 St.Mary’s.
To their enormous credit, St.Mary’s heads did not go down. They seemed to take in a collective deep breath, and rolled up their sleeves and took the game to Clifton. The Mary’s forwards in particular were getting into their groove and began to dominate (as much as you can dominate a side with James Brooks in it). The first half finished with Mary’s camped inside the Clifton half - but a strong Clifton defence kept Mary’s at bay.
In the second half, Mary’s stepped up a gear. Mary’s varied their game well, both spinning it wide and playing it narrow. In the forwards Matt T, Ben and Jake battered Clifton with some strong runs. In the backs, things were starting to tick, with Freddie releasing Robbie, Harry, Matt, & Charlie. A combination of great defence by Clifton, and a nasty case of ‘white line fever’ meant that with 5 minutes to go Mary’s were still trailing.
Finally the Mary’s forwards managed to get sufficient support round the man with the ball, that they created an unstoppable force (in the form of Ben) to breach to the immovable object that was the Clifton defence. Once they had scored, the fever seemed subside, allowing them to save their best rugby of the match for the final two minutes.
Matt T caught the kick off, side stepped the chasing Clifton player and offloaded to Jake. Jake threw a missed pass to Harry, who in turn passed to Jake on the switch. Jake broke a couple of tackles before passing to Charlie. Charlie did his Billy Whizz impression to avoid the Clifton defence and gain 20m, before being tackled just short of the line. Mary’s forwards arrived in numbers to secure quick ball. Freddie picked it up and darted for the line, drawing the Clifton defence, before releasing a perfect pop pass to Harry – who was now just 1.5m out, and was unstoppable. Well done Mary’s J
Keynsham 0 : 0 St Mary's
Mary’s started the first half where they left off in the match against Clifton – and took the game to Keynsham both upfront and in the backs. Mary’s dominated possession, but found it impossible to convert possession into points as the Keynsham forwards managed to slow down or kill Mary’s ball, and the Keynsham backs bundled anything that moved into touch. Keynsham attempted to relieve the pressure, by kicking for territory, but Emma was on hand to return most kicks with interest with some direct pacey runs. In the second half Mary’s started the stronger team – but seemed to get drawn narrower and narrower, and increasingly relied on solo runs, which were dealt with well by the Keynsham defence, and became perhaps a little predictable. In the end Keynsham could have nicked it, as Mary’s seemed to stop playing when George went down injured, and Keynsham continued to play (quite rightly) to the referee’s whistle.
Weston Hornets (Home) – Sunday 16th December
1st Match: St. Mary's 25 : 0 Weston Hornets
2nd Match: St. Mary's 25 : 0 Weston Hornets
Mary’s turned on the style on a f-f-f-f-freezing Sunday, and played some fantastic rugby against a very strong Hornets team.
The first half of the first match was a very closely fought. Mary’s tackled well, but the ball we won was a little bit slow, and when we did win the ball we wasted possession with some poor kicking and by not passing the ball when support players were available.
The second half was a very different affair. The tackling continued to be very good – with Harry and Jake making some big hits and turning over possession in the tackle. Mary’s forwards picked up the ball and ran straight and hard. This put Hornets on the back foot, and opened up a bit of space for the backs to play.
The first try was scored after Ben did a powerful run deep into Hornet territory, support arrived quickly to secure the ball, Freddie got the ball out quickly to Arnie, who straightened the line, drew the defender and released Charlie with a perfect pass to score the first try. After that Mary’s seemed to step up a gear, with Wes, Jake, Matt and Emma all running in tries in the second half to make the final score 5-0.
Mary’s started the second match where they left off. Charlie again opened the scoring. Emma, nearly managed to score the try of the game with a fantastic run to return one of Hornets kicks, but was foiled by a great tackle by the Hornets Full back. Alan extended Mary’s lead with a powerful run. It looked like he had been held, but he dug in and drove again, and thoroughly deserved his try to make it 2-0 to Mary’s at half-time.
