Small too Big for Towcester

Flying left winger Bradley Small helped himself to a hat-trick of tries as an understrength Scouts side put in a superb performance to brush Towcester aside 40 points to 16.

With many key players away on East Midlands duty and several non-availabilities, Scouts U16s took just 17 players across to Towcester for their opening league game of the season.

Led superbly by George Rankin, the lads attitude was outstanding as they all put in a monumental effort proving the strength in depth we have within our squad.

After an opening 15 minutes of fast attacking rugby, Scouts had the bulk of the possession, albeit for handling errors to not allow them to turn the pressure into points.

However, their efforts were finally rewarded when hooker Lewis Underwood, playing at prop smashed his way through the midfield to swallow dive under the posts. With the extras added by Tom Holliday, Scouts felt relieved to have finally got on the scoreboard. More pressure from Scouts continued and soon after Small picked up his first try after getting on the end of a smart grubber kick through the Towcester defence by Holliday. Again with the extras added and at 14 points to nil, Scouts were taking control of the game. Then followed 10minutes of attacking rugby from the home side, which the Scouts defence was superb and held strong, so much so, after several attempts to get over the whitewash, albeit for the resistance from Scouts, Tows opted to kick a penalty as their only salvage for getting onto the scoreboard. Then on the stroke of half time, from the resulting kick off, Small picked up his second try in a mirror image of the first, this time following up a grubber kick from Lewis Keable, again with the extras being added the half time whistle blew at 21 points to 3 to the Scouts favour.

As the second half unfolded, Scouts took further control, through a try from Keable after a smart dummy and straight run, with the extras being added also. A second penalty for the home side soon followed, however it was then time for Small to complete his hat-trick, with a 20 yard run in, following superb hands down the line after a clean take at the line-out.

As the clock entered into the final 15 minutes and tired legs starting to take effect, the home side ran in a try down the left following a scrum 10 yards out. However, not to be outdone, from the resulting kick off, influential skipper Rankin, having moved from the centres to back row, collected the kick off and ran in through several tackles, with the extras being added again. Then to finish the game, Towcester picked up a deserved second try, out wide down the right, bringing the scoreline to 40 points to 16 in favour of the visitors.

The match was played in true team spirit from both sides and the Scouts lads, with many playing out of position, along with U15 Ben Rivens who stepped up for the day putting in a very competent and strong performance, can be very proud of their efforts, it was a truly superb, ‘dig deep’ effort.

Special thanks go to Towcester RFC for an impeccable minutes silence by the whole club prior to this fixture in the memory of Luis Ghaut who sadly lost his brave battle against cancer earlier in the week.

Score : Towcester U16 16 v Old Scouts U16 40
Tries :- Small 3, Underwood 1, Rankin 1, Keable 1
Cons :- Holliday 5