Epping Upper Clapton U12's .v. Old Brentwoods U12's

After a rain drenched morning the under 12’s turned up at Epping, Upper Clapton with the sun shining and perfect conditions for a game of rugby.

After an intense warm up OB’s under 12’s took the field against the Middlesex Under 12’s league side.
Much of the play was taking place in the middle of the park. We were contesting at the rucks and winning turn over ball, however we were giving away possession too easily and some kicks from deep were going straight to the EUC’s strike players who were capitalising on our sloppiness and running from deep, evading our tackles and scoring at will.

Heads started to drop after conceding 5 unanswered try’s and an early injury to Nick left OB’s with just the 12 players who were on the field.

What took place next was quite simply incredible, from the cusp of heads dropping and tensions within the team rising, this group of players got into a huddle and looked each other in the eye. They went from a bunch of individuals trying to play as a team to a cohesive unit who had one simple collective task, to show Epping Upper Clapton they weren’t just here to make up the numbers.

The response was immediate with a well worked try just before the 1st break. From the restart OB’s put EUC under immediate pressure again, and with a try looming the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the first period.

OB’s took the field for the 2nd period of 20 minutes and immediately scored a well worked try which was based on great ball retention and dominant aggressive straight running from Wills B and the continually impressive Josh.

With 5 minutes gone in the 2nd period we got the nod from Nick, who had recovered from his first half knock and was ready to come back onto the field.

OB’s continued going from strength to strength, the impressive Kyran, Sam & Archie were keeping our rucks secure and winning them against the head, and alongside a dominant scrum we continued to give ourselves a solid attacking platform which allowed the ever lively Toby to continually release Josh, Will B & Nick in open play and we continuously put pressure on EUC which showed with OB’s scoring 6 unanswered try’s.

We finished this 2nd period of play absolutely dominant, and were ready to go again for the final two periods.

We were playing up the slope in the 3rd period of play and the team talk in the break was simple "Retain the ball in attack and don't allow their players to pick up pace with ball when they attack"

From the off in the 3rd period OB’s dominated. The tackles were flying in from Logan, Johnny, Gabe, Will’s L and Josh with no one allowing EUC players any time to settle on the ball. The relentless pressure from OB's began to show when EUC were trying to gain any sort of territory by kicking from deep, however with Nick mopping up the loose balls we just kept on coming at them, and finally their defence broke when Nick burst through to score a much deserved try.

In the final period of play OB’s kept the pressure on, Toby was still lively and taking the ball into contact more, this allowed Daniel & Harry to be the pivots at scrum half and outside half to set up the attacking plays and keep the boys going forward. Epping Upper Clapton scored a breakaway try against the head but OB’s finished the game with two try’s of their own, which rounded off a an absolutely brilliant team performance where each and every player grew as a rugby player.