Match Report 25th September 2006 - vs. Thanet

Thanet 10 – Ashford Under 14s 27

This was Thanet’s first match of the season. In contrast Ashford arrived in Broadstairs with the benefit of a Welsh tour and a Kent 11 aside tournament under their belts.

For this match Ashford made some experimental changes behind the scrum in order to inject more power into their midfield. After 4 minutes, the revised formation paid off as inside centre Gareth Jenner bulldozed his way into Thanet territory and No.8 Christopher Albrow forced his way through a gap in the Thanet defence to ground the ball for the opening try. Ashford resumed the pressure from the restart and from a close range line-out Albrow plucked the ball from the air and crashed over for the second try on 10 minutes. This score was followed up just 3 minutes later when lock forward George Woodrow picked up a poor clearance kick and sprinted outside the cover to score from 25 metres. The final movement of the first half saw Ashford spin the ball wide and outside centre Adam Batt outpace his opposite number to score in the corner. Converted by fly half Louis Burdon, the half time score was 22-0 in Ashford’s favour.

The second half was a completely different story as Ashford increasingly found themselves on the back foot at rucks and mauls. 8 minutes into the half Ashford failed to clear a lineout and were penalised for holding onto the ball. Thanet tapped the resulting penalty and took a well deserved try. Ashford responded with a try of their own 3 minutes later when the ball was spun wide for winger Grant Noremac to touch down in the corner.

In the 31^st minute of the half, the match was closed out when a Thanet prop stole the ball from a lineout and barged through a less than enthusiastic challenge to score under the posts to make the final score 12-27.

Player of the week was centre Gareth Jenner. Next Sunday (1^st October) Ashford Under 14s travel to Whitstable in the East Kent Cup.