Knights Tsunami Attack Overwhelms Ashley Down

The day before this match, the spirited U13’s Knights Team alongside their parents completed a 5KM mud run in sub-zero temperatures raising over £1,700 towards the redevelopment of the club. What beautiful people they are but the worry was how the boys would turn up to the match the next day - would they have tired legs? Would they be able to perform to the best of their abilities? Also Ashley Down are strong opponents, with a big cohesive pack and they tore us apart when we faced them previously at home. But since that loss the Knights team have been building their momentum to face them again and this time they did it with style.

Luckily the cold sub-zero temperatures passed during the night, so the game could go ahead and a drizzle was falling as we turned up in Lockleaze to face the purple and white of Ashley Down. This was the day when everything came together for the Knights team. They started sharp, everyone pressed as a unit, and they harried the opposition who made handling errors which we took advantage of. We committed to our tackles. Ashley Down had a big forward who they passed it to time and again. In our previous match with them, he cut through us like butter but in this match, we absorbed him with crunching tackles meaning he could only gain a few yards each time. Everyone in the Knights team had a go at putting this guy on the floor and more importantly they were enjoying it. William most notably was seen giving him a massive hit in the second half.

What the team did well in this game was passing it out along the line and using the width of the pitch which we haven’t done so well in other games. The handling, passing, and offloads were amazing and we saw Christian, Samorree and Rocco being released on the wings and running at and through the opposition's defence.

In the first half, we pressured early pushing up the sloping pitch where Ashley Down should have had an advantage which we took away from them and you could see they were surprised by how good this Knights team was. Charlie ran in a great try diving over the try line after Theo did an outstanding offload to start the game how the Knights team meant it to go on. The scrums were a big challenge for us as Ashley Down were very good and drove us back a lot of the time but we pulled things out of the bag when we needed to. Pressuring Ashley Down in the scrum which we won, Jack passes to Yoshi who breaks the defensive line with silky footwork skills and passes to Jayden to score a try which also has Wilf supporting making an overlap.

Straight from kick-off we harried and pressured them pushing them backwards. The ball gets ripped from Ashley Down possession and Jayden runs in his second try taking a few of their players with him. Then from another scrum Jack passes to Yoshi to Wilf to Jayden, creating space and Jayden scores again. Knights are dominating this Ashley Down team as the ref blows for halftime. There was a real effort being put in by our forwards into the scrummaging which won us two tries in the first half. This is a great team effort. Ashley Down – 0 Knights – 20.

In the second half, the Knights team were unrelenting and it was like watching a tsunami of attacking play battering the coastline of the Ashley Down team giving them absolutely nothing to press any advantage with and as wave after wave, we took the game to them, demolishing their defence. Jack led the onslaught with some excellent passing and footwork bringing the game to their defensive line. Samoree came on the pitch with an explosion of speed, and good passing but also was committed to his tackles – what a super sub he was powering down the right wing!

Yoshi opened up their defence like a tin of sardines with a dummy and released the ball for Jayden to run in the first try of the second half. There was just generally great ball handling and retention all around the pitch, the Knights team were on fire like a swarm of angry wasp stinging the Ashley Down team whenever they got a chance. Then before you knew it, in the next minute, Wilf has broken through them and is running in a great individual try.

But the onslaught didn’t let up and the Ashley Down team were feeling it as they were dropping like flies as we pressed the attack. Jayden had to go off and Rocco was back on who also made a big impact on the pitch. The backs were lining up to pick apart the Ashley Down defence with Jack leading the charge and scoring a try. Then Yoshi sold Ashley Down defence a dummy and went through skipping past four or five of them for a try. It felt like a competition in the backs to see who could score next and not to be outdone finally the captain of the Knights team Riley took the ball around their line to put the final nail in the coffin and score a great try at the end of the game.

Every player put 100% on the pitch, and it all came together, you worked hard for each other, supported and pressed together, and used the width of the pitch, we could see you enjoying the game and couldn’t ask any more than the rugby you played on the day. This was an awesome team performance lads! It’s been a while coming but this is what you can do when you put what you do in training onto the pitch and play with 100% commitment. Wilf and Jayden hope you are both OK. It’s a shame we didn’t have the drinking challenge at the end to see if there is any improvement there - maybe that’s something for Tuesday's training. And we are looking forward to welcoming Harry, Josh and Thomas back to the team soon. Well done, this was a well-deserved win.
Captain: Riley
Try scorers: Charlie x 1, Jayden x 4, Jack x1, Wilf x 1, Yoshi x 1, and Riley x 1
Captains man of the match – Samoree
Coaches man of the match - Jack