North Bristol v Kingswood U8

Following defeat to North Bristol at the Frampton festival, Kingswood U8s turned up at their opponent's ground looking for a much improved performance.
With 14 players available for Kingswood and over twenty for North, Kingswood decided to split into two 7 player teams, each playing three matches:

Team One

Joseph Sheridan
Oliver Gabriel
Mason Howells
Jessie Mahoney
Liam Hibbs
Joshua Pharo
Vinnie Bush

Kingswood's first game was a tight one, with both sides equally matched. Good defensive work from Oliver Gabriel and Mason Howells slowed down the North Bristol attacks, whilst Vinnie Bush's quick feet proved difficult for anyone (even the supporting players) to keep up with. Even though the first game ended in a draw, Kingswood had now had a chance to measure up their opponents and knew how to use their speed advantage to best effect.
Both the second and third matches played out in the same way - whenever Kingswood had the ball, they used speed to their advantage. Straight running would make a hole in the defence, into which the supporting players would pour. Liam Hibbs and Joshua Pharo displayed some great instincts with the timing of their passes, drawing the defenders in before releasing the supporting players. Two or three phases of play were all Kingswood needed to score a try, and this tactic worked time and again allowing Kingswood to run out overall victors with the aggregate score Kingswood 19 v 12 North Bristol.

The champagne moment came right at the end of the match. Good running from Joshua Pharo and Joseph Sheridan saw Kingswood within striking distance of the try line and a wonderful pass out wide to Liam Hibbs saw him sprinting into the corner and just managing to get over the line beyond the covering defender.

Man of the match went to Joseph Sheridan for his fantastic work rate and supporting play.

Team Two
Jacob Gerrard
Felicity Nicol
Caspian Broome
Jacob McConville
Kira Brown
Sam Press
Charlie Cooke

Team two began their matches at a furious pace, quickly streaking into the lead and never looking like they intended to relinquish it throughout the three matches. Whilst North Bristol seemed to rely on one or two players to get them over the gain line, Kingswood were working as a team, with each player taking on some of the responsibility.

Like the other Kingswood team, this side soon learnt that North Bristol were unable to reform their defences after a tag and Kingswood punished them mercilessly. Jacob McConville, Jacob Gerrard and Caspian Broome were the chief architects in attack - running straight at the North Bristol defence and more often than not taking two or three players with them before they were stopped. This left gaps all over the pitch, which was in turn exploited by the pace of Sam Press and Charlie Cooke. Each of them bagged a handful of tries in a wonderful display of taking the ball at speed. Not to be outdone by the boys, Kira Brown and Felicity Nicol showed that they could play just as well, the pair of them jointly taking a massive number of tags from their opponents. They could score tries as well: when one ball came out to her in wing, Felicity managed to outpace/barge past four defenders before touching down in the corner.

The end result - Kingswood 18 v 14 North Bristol

The Man of the match award went to Jacob McConville, who played out of his skin, and showed a maturity to his play that belied his age.

A well deserved win for the U8s.