KIRKHAM GRAMMAR SCHOOL RUGBY RESULTS V MERCHANT TAYLORS’, CROSBY, SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2008

1^st XV

Won 40-6

KGS 1^st XV returned to winning ways with a clear win over Merchant Taylors’ who recently had gone several games unbeaten.  Despite missing a number of players through injury, including Captain Jonathan Edwards, KGS were always in control.  New captain and hooker William Stover led from the front scoring an early try and was well supported by no. 8 Kieran Brookes (2 tries) and second row Charles O’Flaherty (1 try).  Merchant’s fought back with two drop-gaols, but with fly half Daniel Bibby controlling the game, KGS edged further ahead with some well taken tries by winger James Moncrieff, full-back Thato Lesoro and centre Tommy Banks.  A penalty by Bibby and a conversion by Neil Booysen were also added.  Considering KGS had a number of boys missing, this was an excellent performance with young back row forwards Chris Travis and Matthew Edgar at the forefront of much of the action.

2^nd XV

Won 51-0

KGS bounced back from their disappointment last week to register a comfortable win against a young Merchant Taylors side.  KGS had too much power and pace for the Crosby side, which tackled well, but struggled against the strong running and support play of KGS.  Strong KGS set pieces provided the platform for many attacks which were maintained with good ball retention in the loose.  KGS scored nine tries.  The top try scorer was Ashley Jones with four.  There were some exceptional performances in the KGS side.  Nick Watson was prominate in the pack.  Adam Kelsall had a very sound game in the centre and Mark Graham was outstanding on his debut for the 2^nd XV at full back.

U16 XV

Won 40-0

After some lessons last  week, the team went about putting in an excellent performance.  After initially withstanding some pressure, the forwards started to control the opposition and Ben Jones turned the pressure into points by taking a well taken penalty.  Further pressure led to a rolling maul and Robert Malings touched down to make the score 8-0.  As in previous matches the team then did not punish opposition mistakes and subsequently had to wait just before half time for Jonathan Davies to break from a rolling maul and score.  Half time came with the score at 13-0.

After a quiet half time the forwards, led by George Naylor and Ryan Morton set about setting continuous excellent platforms for the backs to attack from and it was only a matter of time before Jonny Taylor crashed over for the first of his two tries.  Taylor’s second try was accompanied straight away by Jonathan Davies’ second.  Anish Chandreskar scored a try that had been kindly given to him by the opposition centre before Jordon Nelson scored the try of the match, merely from the fact of the excellent team cohesion that had preceded it.  With a superb break by Joshua Keay, after an initial burst from Matthew Ellis and Adam Whalley, Jordan was on his inside shoulder to finish off an excellent team performance.

U15A XV

Drew 10-10

After the disappointment of last Saturday KGS were determined to win and perform well.  The forwards won a numerous amount of quick ball and Tom Hurst and Sam Hall created plenty of opportunities to score.  However Merchant Taylors capitalised on a KGS error and the half time score was 7-0.

The second half saw KGS forwards continue to dominate set pieces, but were prevented from playing any constructive patterns.  Perhaps the last minute of the game was the most exciting.  Will Roper managed to put Sam Hall through a gap and would have scored under the post to win the game, but the try was disallowed due to a forward pass.

15B XV

Lost 10-12

The U15’s played very well in the first half and were leading by 7 points to 0 at half time after a try from Joe Walsh and a conversion by Nathan Loftus.  Merchant’s came back with a converted try, then Nathan Loftus scored from a drop kick after concerted pressure from the KGS forwards.  However, in the last minute of the game the home team scored a try and KGS were very unlucky not to win.  Their best performance of the season so far shows that the U15’s are developing into a much stronger and committed side.

U14A XV

Won 53-7

Despite the final result this was not a walkover.  Merchant Taylors fought hard in the first half and gave the KGS forwards a wake up call in rucking and mauling, but KGS were better organised and were able to repeatedly exploit gaps in the Mechant Taylors defence.  The KGS backs played fast open rugby and were too quick and strong for the opposition.

Tries:  Ryan Wilkinson (2), Ben Rhodes Powers (2), Isaac Yeun, Luke Woodward (1), Scott Rudd (1), Matthew Beatty (1).  Conversions Matthew Beatty (4)

Men of the match:        Ben Rhodes-Powers, S Rudd

U13A XV

Lost 0-45

KGS struggled against a much bigger Merchant Taylors side who took the initiative from the beginning with a try straight from the kick-off.  This set the tone for the first half with KGS conceding five tries in all.  To their credit KGS battled back in the second half and out rucked the home side winning some clean ball allowing the KGS backs to run freely.  The second half display from KGS was much more encouraging in very cold and foggy conditions.

U12A XV

Won 29-17

Despite not playing together for about two weeks it did not take the side long to start producing some good rugby.  Excellent rucking and good handling meant that KGS dominated the first ten minutes but good MT defence kept the team out.  In the tenth minute Josh Powell, who probably had his best game of the season, scored an excellent solo try.  However, poor tackling resulted in the MT fly half scoring almost immediately in reply.  The KGS team started to dominate and probably should have won by more but they can feel pleased with their performance considering the cold conditions in which the game was played.  Try scorers:  Oscar Twitchett (2), David East, Conor Wilkinson, Josh Powell.  Josh Powell also scored 3 conversions.

U12B XV

Lost 0-25

On the back of some very encouraging performances the U12B team took to the field against a Merchant Taylors side in a rich vein of form.  However, the day did not start well with the absence of a number of players and the opposition soon capitalised on some weak play from the side.  The whole of the first half saw a very scrappy game with very little in the way of quality rugby on show.  The second half did improve, with a number of KGS players finally starting to do the basics right and the forwards in particular started to impose themselves on the game.  Jamie Baldwin an McCauley Wells made a number of forward runs and tried to bring the scores level, but the side were unable to break down the opposition pack.  This was a disappointing game for this team that have worked hard all season, and they will be looking to put things right next Saturday against Birkenhead.