Exeter Saracens Rugby Club, Exeter, Devon

Match Reports

7th October 2007

 

Exeter Saracens U7's (20 -v- 55) Kingsbridge U7's

 

Match1 Exeter Saracens under 7’s took the game to Kingsbridge from the start with Oliver Jeffrey showing some strong running from their own halves deep into Kingsbridge territory. Tyler Ware scores an impressive try. Kingsbridge then showed throughout the first game some excellent individual tries coming from incisive runs.

 

Exeter Saracens U7's (50 -v- 45) Kingsbridge U7's

 

Match2 The second game showed that Sarries were warming up well, Rhys Mullin nearly scores his first try within 60 seconds. Jake Paulton tags brilliantly early on and stops Kingsbridge scoring from 10 yards.

 

The Second half starts and the Sarries under 7’s carry on where they left off with great running from all the team. Ethan then shows us his knowledge of the game by side stepping 3 of the opposition before bagging his first try of the day.. . James was voted “Man of The Match” with an excellent solo run.

 

Exeter Saracens U9's (5 -v- 10) Exeter Chiefs U9's

 

Match1 The first match of the season for the Sarries. Gone are the tags and welcomed in are elements of the adult game. With the rules so different there were frequent coaching breaks to get the scrums and line outs bedded in. In between these the game was fast flowing and closely fought with impressive tackles good support and solid defence from the Sarries. The Sarries strength in clean tackles, ball presentation.in the ruck and passing ability was highlighted over the Chiefs speed on the run. The Chiefs broke the deadlock with the first try of the game. Cameron Souter-Frost levelled for Sarries just before half time. The second half was more of the same with little to separate the two teams as attack became counter attack. Ben Haigh went over th try line to but was tackled into touch to disallow the try. Finally a single try by the Chiefs decided the match in their favour but it could have gone either way. A fine, entertaining beginning to the season.

 

Exeter Saracens U9's (5 -v- 20) Exeter Chiefs U9's

 

Match2 After a ten minute break the same Chiefs team lined up against the second of Sarries’ teams. Although the Chiefs should have been tired they had the experience of the first game in their favour. While the Sarries took time to to settle into the new rules, the Chiefs managed two good team tries in the first half without reply. After a third try to Chiefs early in the second half Sarries experience and confidence began to grow which resulted in a try for Brad Down. The last five minutes were again close fought. Chiefs managed a fourth try before Sarries last move ran out of space and the ball was taken into touch to end the game.

 

Exeter Saracens U10's (5 -v- 30) Exeter Chiefs U10's

 

Match1 Saracens battled hard against a well drilled Chiefs side but defensive errors cost them the game. A fine diagonal run from the pacey Oliver Scant was the highlight for the Sarries. Exeter Saracens U10's (15 -v- 15) Exeter Chiefs U10's Match2 Saracens started the game brightly with flowing rugby and solo try's from Jack Clark & Oliver Scant got them off to a great start . Sarries were then pegged back by the Chiefs, but a superb run from his own try line by Josh Turner tied the game at the end .

 

Exeter Chiefs U11's (0 -v- 0) Exeter Saracens U11's

 

This was the first game of the season for both sides which showed certainly in the first half with both teams not showing great confidence with ball in hand.That being said Saracens did cross the line with wing Toby Hannam but he failed to ground the ball properly.

 

The second half was a different story with Saracens now showing that that they could run at the Chiefs defence with strong displays by Harrison Elliot and Harry Skinner but the Chiefs defence held out strongly.The Saracens defence also worked well with fantastic tackling by Rohan Knowles and man of the match Josh Wigmore. Saracens crossed the Chiefs line two more times once by the ever present Toby Papp and the other occasion by the sniping scrum half Harvey Ridgeway but the ball was either dropped or held up.

 

There is room for improvement from both sides and the return fixture is eagerly awaited.

 

Exeter Chiefs U12’s (12 -v- 7) Exeter Saracens U12’s

 

Team - Props – Ross Watts, Tom Griffiths / Hooker – Laurence Parker / Second Row Locks – Hallum Curran, Steven Gill / No8 – Jack Hamlyn / Scrum Half – Dominic Ditchburn / Fly Half – Alex Evens / Centres – James Tancock, Owen Mugford / Wing – Joe Parker, Will Haigh / Full Back – Matt Bound Reps – Jon Bardot, Max Augstburger, Seb Mould

 

This was always going to be a tight affair with both teams facing each other up in a local derby in both teams first game of the season.

 

Sarries initially took the game to the Chiefs with good handling up the centre of a narrow pitch from James Tancock and Owen Mugford. Ball presentation at the breakdowns meant that Sarries could force the play onwards with good pick ups and drives from Laurence Parker, Ross Watts and Steven Gill. As play broke down further then Sarries found themselves under pressure at the ruck and with them being astounded as to how they had lost the possession from what seemed a secure platform. With a defensive kick down field from Chiefs, the play switched to Sarries being on the defence. Good tackles from Jack Hamlyn and Will Haigh kept the Chiefs from making too much ground. With the ball constantly coming back on the Chiefs side then they were able to apply the pressure on the Sarries line. With a scrum award only two metres from the Sarries line then Chiefs pressed home their advantage and despite a valiant effort from Gill in getting under the ball, the try was awarded. With the conversion being unsuccessful meant that when the half time whistle came Sarries were still in the fight.

(Half Time – 5-0)

 

Sarries regrouped and came out in the second half with the true Sarries spirit that took them down field with fine runs from Tom Griffiths and Hallum Curran in the tight. Sound defensive clearing up from Matthew Bound saw Sarries take the ball back into contact supported by the ever hungry pack of forwards. The rucking was now under control which yielded plenty of ball which enabled Alex Evens at fly half, to release the backs through superbly weighted passes. The ground hard gained was negated by the scything boot of the Chiefs defensive play. A ball in behind Sarries put all Sarries players on the back foot and despite the effort of every Sarries player, again a scrum only two metres from the Sarries line was awarded. With the try line so close, Chiefs again pressed home their advantage to score a forwards try, plus this time it being converted. Sarries were fired up and once again pressed upon the Chiefs lines. Good work from Joe Parker and Haigh down the touchline saw the play get ever closer to the Chiefs line. Excellent handling skills saw the play swing from one side to the other of the pitch but always with the Chiefs pressuring to force a mistake. The play up the centre released Dominic Ditchburn on a short dart resulting in a well deserved team try. With the conversion by Bound, the game was still anybodies. There was still plenty of time to score again. Sarries pushed through again benefiting from wonderful carrying skills from Curran, Hamlyn, Tancock and Mugford. With the scrums evenly matched and the line outs judged as 50/50 only the tackling of the Chiefs halted the Sarries advances as all applied what pressure they could. With the time disappearing, to who knows were, Sarries still pressed. Again with a defensive kick, Chiefs made the safety of the touchline and the final whistle was blown.

(Full Time – 12-7)

 

Sarries Man Of The Match – Will Haigh for fearless tackling and lightening quick runs.

 

Exeter Saracens U12's (21 v 21) Torquay U12's

 

Team : Forwards - Guy Dennys, Jack Price, Joe Embery, Theo Thomson, Adam Tregedeon, Jake Hurford, Scrum Half - Aled Rosser. Backs -Tom Pugsley, Kai Little (Captain), Ash Brindley, Wing - Chris Bayliss, Fionn Wright, Full Back - Sam Garner. Reserves - Elliot Samuels, Ben Clapshaw, Elliot Watts, David Kittow, Max Street-Mellor, Daniel Taylor.

 

First Half

Sarries kicked off the first game of the season with a good start at home to Torquay. The game got off to a cracking pace with Sarries surging forward. The team were really up for it and Torquay were a little bit shell shocked first half. With good forward momentum from the Sarries pack driving Torquay back in the rucks Theo Thomson got the first try which was converted by Aled Rosser. There was good running by both Sam Garner and the Captain Kai Little leading to the squads second try by Tom Pugsley which was converted this time by Sam Garner.

Sarries then sat back and soaked up so much pressure from Torquay with some fine spirit from all the players especially Joe Embery who was twice down and injured but got back up to carry on. Twice Torquay nearly scored but the ball was held up with a defiant Sarries defence ending the first half.

 

Second Half

Torquay came out even stronger than they had finished the first half with a few changes to their pack this time they were driving Sarries back. With Torquay going over the try line three times and converting each it was left to Sarries to raise their game and come back with a hard fought try from Theo Thomson going over and Aled Rosser converting to level the scores three a piece. With good tackling from Chris Bayliss and Sam Garner preventing Torquay coming back to take the game, Sarries finished the stronger with another good run from Kai Little.

 

At the final whistle a level score of three tries each was a fair result for both teams enjoying a fine day of rugby.

Man of the Match was Theo Thomson

 

Exeter Saracens U14's (51 -v- 0) Tavistock U14's

 

Sarries played their first ever fixture against Tavvi on a warm sunny morning and as it happened it was in the preliminary round of the Devon Cup. Sarries stared the stronger and immediately from the kick off took the game to their visitors. Sarries played their best rugby of the season of the season so far and completely dominated the game from the start. They rucked well and recycled ball from the contact area quickly and cleanly with their scrum half Alec Wheatly putting his opposite number under continual pressure. The Sarries back row of Jed Riglar, Lewis Watts and Will Taverner pouncing on and turning over any scrap of lose ball. The Sarries front 5 took control of all areas of play and were quicker around the field than their opponents. With the quantity and quality of ball provided by their forwards it was only a matter of time before Sarries crossed Tavistocks line and began to mount up the points. The Sarries backs ran the ball well with their midfield dominating the pace of the game.

 

Saries were able to make numerous changes in the second half and used all their 22 players. Even with the changes Sarries continued as they had began the game running from every area of the field. Saracens were able to play numerous phases of rugby and continued to recycle the ball as and when they wanted too.

 

Saracens points were scored by Alec Whetley (2), Lewis Watts (2), Josh Bray (2), Ben Boggis and Matt Perry. Sam Gibbins kicked the remainder of the home sides points.

 

Lewis Watts was Sarries man of the match

 

Exeter Saracens U15's (38 -v- 10) Paignton U15's

 

Exeter saracens enjoyed a compleate change round in form to win there first game of the season. Well rehearsed Interplay between the forwards and the backs defeated paigntons strong defence with Sarries running in six fine try's. Jake Robey scored two try's with Luke Furneaux, Matt miller Will Tuvey and Alex Kristian Brown scoring one a piece Alex also converted twice with Rob Wilmington adding two more conversions.

 

Exeter Saracens U16's (57 -v- 10) Torrington U16's

 

Sad to say that Torrington couldn’t field a full team so Saracens loaned three players to enable a game.

 

Based on the improving form of Saracens over the last few weeks, we were in for a cracking game today. Sarries were well motivated to meet the North Devon visitors and take the game to them. Some excellent passing in the first few minutes showed the way of the game and despite some decent individual play by the Torrington lads Ory Sharland ran in the first try unopposed, which he took pleasure in converting.

 

Sarries put together some of the plays practiced in training and took control of the game to gain territory. Good scrummaging and passing saw Sarries’ confidence grow. Ironically it was the loaned Sarries players that stopped a further try attempt within the first 15 minutes by Sarries Captain Ory Sharland. Sarries quickly reformed and passed the ball across the backs to continue to control territory. Strong defence was needed by Torrington as Sarries closed on the try line but sheer determination on the part of Sarries saw Dan Mann go over the line for the second try which was converted by Sharland.

 

Sarries were starting to enjoy the game and moved the ball around park seeking out gaps in the Torrington defence, but team play was not strong from Torrington which frustrated good individual play. Sarries continued to dominate the first half with further tries from Josh Davey and Aidan Street, one of which was converted by Sharland. A little complacency crept in for Sarries towards the end of the first half, which allowed Torrington to run in a try.

 

Start of the second half saw three different Sarries lads loaned to Torrington, who started well in the second half. Torrington put together some good moves which combined with a few questionable kicks from Sarries caused concern for their coaches and supporters as Torrington seemed to get the upper hand. Determined play by Torrington pinned Sarries into their own half for long periods and eventually saw Torrington score a second try.

 

A few words of encouragement from Captain Sharland, Coaches and supporters rallied Sarries to pick up their game, and once again Sarries put together some excellent passing moves about the park to take back territory. Once Sarries put their heads down and got back to work they quickly made progress with a flurry of tries. Josh Davey got the half going for Sarries with his second try, soon followed by an excellent run from Sam Hawky to put the ball down between the posts. Good tackling and rucks created an opportunity for Martin Taz Taylor to run in try number 7. Strong defence from Sarries kept the game under their control although they continued to struggle in the scrum against the heavier and older Torrington pack. Nevertheless great tackles, recovery of the ball and good passing of the ball allowed Alex Brown to run in from distance to again put the ball down between the posts. Sharland continued to lead from the front to gain ground and execute strong defence, all of which began to tell as he suffered a few knocks, but not enough to stop him playing all but the last few minutes. This led to Andy Radford stepping up and converting two of the tries.

 

Sarries’ excellent game continued with strong defence when needed, holding the scrum as a good effort and great use of the backs passing game this week. A final effort from Sarries saw a precision execution by the team of a set play. The ball was passed across the backs from a ruck but only as far as Alex Ancell to took the ball at pace from the middle of the field and ran in Sarries’ 9th try from the half way line. This time Taz took a turn and converted the try.

 

All in all a very satisfying performance from Sarries, and pure sportsmanship from the 6 of the Sarries lads who worked hard for Torrington. All we have to do now is to keep it up!