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Under 15s - 9s Festival on October 18th @ Pennine Way
Kindly sponsored by William Sutton Homes
Northampton travelled to Hemel
to take part in the pre season Under 15’s 9’s tournament with 16 players
ready to make an impact upon this competition. The competition was being run at
under 13 and under 15’s with games being 15 minutes in duration with unlimited
substitutions. First up for the Knights were New Green Gladiators. Following a
knock on by their opponents Glyn Roff capitalised upon that mistake and scored
the first of many tries for the Knights. After being penalised by the referee
for a 2 upon 1 tackle the Gladiators leveled the game. Norths did not let this
score line last long and Lewis Bailey scored a try just before half time. At the
start of the second half the Knights bombed a certain try but newcomer Jack
Debenham made amends to make the score 12 points to 4. Following some fantastic
running and offloading by Jake Siddons and Scott Martindale, Gregor Wood got on
the score sheet to make the final score Northampton 16 New Green Gladiators 4.
Game 2 saw the Knights play Hatfield Comets. The omens for this game were not
good when Norths knocked on following a break by the strong forwards cum centres
Lewis Bailey and Jake Siddons. Following this error the Knights were punished
with a try to the Hatfield rangy centre who scored in the corner. Bailey again
got his team mates out of trouble with a try in the corner but then proceeded to
knock the ball on in a subsequent play. Spurred on by his mistake Bailey ran up
the centre of the Comets half and scored a try under the black dot to make the
half time score Northampton 8 Hatfield 4. The Knights started the second half
with an impressive kick to the corner but Jake Siddons knocked the ball on. Prop
forward Aidan Power used his strength in the tackle to force a Comets player to
knock on and at the subsequent scrum Jake Siddons, who was devastating in the
centres, scored a try. Ball handling let Norths down and after a knock on the
Comets made the score 12 - 8 in the Knights favour. Scrum half Ben Harman placed
a lovely kick into the in goal and Harry Mosdell scored a well worked try. The
last act of the game was a Comets try which made the score 16 all with goal
kicking being the telling factor that led to the draw.
Not having the luxury of a
break in between games the Knights played Highfield Hawks knowing they had to
win to stand any chance of making the final. The first few minutes saw knock ons
by both sides and one by Gregor Wood meant that he did not score a try. It was
the Knights turn to make the Hawks pay from a knock on when Lewis Bailey used
his power to score direct from the scrum. Brothers in arms Josh and Sam Dawes
then worked together. Josh made the break and Sam scored the try. Ben Harman
added the extras to make the score 10 points to nil.
Again the Knights made the Comets pay for a handling error when Max
Dawson followed up a blinding break by Gregor Wood to score a try in the corner.
This made the half time score 14 points to nil. The
lack of a break in between games did not seem to bother the Knights with 10
unanswered points being scored by Norths in the second half. First up was Glyn
Roff after a length of the field break which Ben Harman converted. Last on the
score sheet was Harry Mosdell with his second try of the tournament. Lewis
Bailey made the break and unselfishly passed the ball to Harry Mosdell when it
would have been just as east for Lewis Bailey to score the try himself. The last
few minutes of the game became a bit feisty with Scott Martindale being the
subject of a very hard tackle after he made an interception. Nevertheless the
Knights won their third game 24 points to nil leaving them with a chance of
reaching the final.
Last up in the group stages
were Adeyfield Dragons. The Knights had to win this game to progress to the
final. Sensing victory they forced the Dragons to knock on and shortly
afterwards Lewis Bailey made his customary break and Glyn Roff scored the try.
Following another knock on by the Dragons and a penalty against them, Jake
Siddons did an excellent impression of Come Dancing stepping inside and outside
of the Dragons defenders and was unlucky not to score. Just before half time Sam
Dawes made the score eight points to nil. The second half saw the Knights
penalised twice in quick succession by the referee but luckily the Dragons
knocked on and following that incident Lewis Bailey stepped up to the mark yet
again with another try which Ben Harman converted. Obviously tiring the Knights
conceded a sloppy try in the corner which was converted. This made the final
score Knights 14 Dragons 6 to put Norths in the final of the competition. The
group stages saw the Knights with 3 victories and 1 draw. The final of the
tournament saw Northampton up against the team that gave them their toughest hit
out of the group stages. Hatfield Comets stood in the way of the Knights. In the
first few minutes the Knights moved their opponents back in the tackle. This
pressure was the Comets knock on and Jake Siddons made another impressive break
which was fed onto Josh Dawes. His pass to Aidan Power was dropped with the try
line begging. More pressure was exerted upon the Comets forcing another knock
on. Josh Dawes made the break and that man again, Lewis Bailey bagged another
try. Ben Harman was unable to add the extras. The referee penalised the Comets
and as a result Aidan Power made up for his earlier mistake with a try of his
own.
The tension was mounting
amongst the players and the travelling spectators. They had seen the Knights
draw against the Comets in a game they should have won and were hoping that they
could hold on to and improve upon their lead. Hooker Sam Martindale answered the
players and spectators prayers with a try after scooting from acting half.
Minutes later the Knights were penned for offside and the Comets made
Northampton pay with a try to make the score twelve points to ten in the Knights
favour. The toughness of the Knights defence was exemplified in the next few
minutes when they forced the Comets to knock on twice and in between Mr Lewis
Bailey made another of his customary strong breaks which needed more support
from his team mates. Northampton player of the tournament Lewis Bailey sealed
the game for the Knights with a length of the field break which he placed under
the black dot making an easy conversion for Ben Harman. This meant that
Northampton Knights had won the Chiltern League Under 15’s 9’s tournament
– an impressive achievement. Under 15 coach, Patrick Wilson, was pleased as
punch for his charges. He commented "I
thought each and every player was fantastic today and should be immensely proud
of themselves, I know that I'm extremely proud. I'm not only proud of how we did
today but the way we have bounced back from last week. At times we looked like
we were trying to throw it away in the final but the spirit and determination to
win it was fantastic. We had a squad of 16 players and each of those players
made a fantastic contribution to the winning of the tournament and I pay tribute
to them all.”
Club
Chairman, Andrew Quirke, attended the day and commented, “ Patrick has worked
very hard with this group of players. Today was the culmination of that hard
work and I would like to praise the coach and all the players. If we can
maintain and improve this and the other junior age groups the future of the club
is secure for many years to come.” Lewis Bailey was named as Northampton’s
Player of The Tournament as he was fantastic in attack and defence. I felt it
was fitting that he scored the clinching try. I thought his passing of the ball
to allow Harry Mosdell to score a try was the ultimate act of sporting
unselfishness.
Squad:
Joseph Martin, Jack Debenham, Glyn Roff, Sam Dawes, Josh Dawes, Lewis Bailey,
Gregor Wood, Harry Mosdell, Jake “ Come Dancing “ Siddons, Ewan Pattison,
Aidan Power, Max Dawson Scott Martindale, Ben Harman, Daniel Jones, Will
Thornton
Tries: Lewis Bailey 7, Glyn Roff 3, Harry Mosdell 2, Sam Dawes 2, Jack Debenham 1, Gregor Wood 1, Jake Siddons 1, Max Dawson 1, Aidan Power 1, Scott Martindale 1 Goals: Ben Harman 4