Bletchley Under 9s, sponsored by MK Scaffolding visited Milton Keynes on another dry and warm Autumn morning.  With Milton Keynes unable to field a team for this triangular fixture it was down to the Old Northamptonians (ON's) against both of Bletchley squads.  Old Northamptonians brought an experienced squad comprising of some "big" players which meant that their game was inevitably going to be dominated by forward play.

Old Northamptonians  25-10  Bletchley Lions 

This was not one for the faint-hearted as Old Northamptonians plied their strong and powerful forward play against the speed and quick handling of the Bletchley backs.  The result of this epic battle saw the former end the Lions unbeaten start to the season courtesy only of two last ditch ON's tries scored on breaks.

ON's struck first with one of their many impressive mauls.  Bletchley, initially tackling too high, got into forwards' wrestling match-ups far too often and ON's were quicker to add players and weight to the mauls.  Consequently ON's scored two pushover tries either side of a typical Elliott turbo run.  Losing 5-10 with a couple of minutes left in the half Bletchley scored a try that coaches have being trying to convince our players to do for three years.  Nicholas got quick ball from a maul, straightened his run and  committed a defender before releasing a pass to Elliott who only had to move a warp factor two this time for a try.  Half time 10-10.

After words from the referee to both teams at half time about some high tackling and handing off the second half began.  Bletchley  this time playing up the slope dominated territorially.  The forwards were now bringing down ON's earlier with some strong tackling.  Sam Dickson, Cameron and the tenacious Finlay were in the thick of things hunting and ripping balls and clearing out with more success.    The backs continued to impress with their ball skills which included Nicholas and Jake perfroming a successul loop pass that gained a lot of ground.  Chris and Jake on more than one occasion were only stopped by some really dogged defending and as the game drew towards a close our parents realised that this was just not to be our day.  At this point ON's had the two break aways that both resulted in tries to give a lopsided and unfair reflection to the scoreline.  Based on possession it was a terribly unfair scoreline but there is no getting away from the fact that they scored and we didnt so we must put our hands up and say they were fair winners today.  We can however take comfort from the fact that we will probably play worse in some games and win this season.

The coaches identified that we need to work on tackling; concentration and game awareness of the the defensive line.  It was pleasing to hear from the ON coach that he thought our ball handling in the backs was very good and he would like to see his players achieve this.

Squad:  Cameron Watkins, Finlay Whitehouse, Sam Dejean(Sam Dickson), Nicholas Bailey, Chris Byatt, William Honhold, Jamie  Williams, Elliott Hales, Jake Hodges.

Old Northamptonians  20-0 Bletchley Barbarians

The Barbarains continue to impress.  They have not just hit the ground running this season but they are running up their sharp  learning curve.   They must continue to not worry too much about results at the moment as the signs of improvement are clear for  all to see and wins such as the performance against Rushden a fortnight ago will follow regularly.

After seeing ON's impressive performance in the first game the coaches were keen to see how the Barbarians would adapt.  At  the start of the game Barbarians were dominating, they not only pushed back ON's but with the lionshare of possession they  forced some rearguard defending and only a breakaway try split the teams at half time.  As the first half wore on ON's did get more of the ball and began to peg back Barbarians, this in turn limited our offence to hit and run counter attacks.  To set up these attacks required some stern defensive tackling from the backs including a resurgent Ben Priestly, a steadfast Matthew and the bruising Alex.  Callum, Jack and Alex battled for anything remotely loose with their big forwards and never gave up, their  teammates I am sure appreciate such a big effort.  Half time 0-5.

In the second half again Bletchey pushed on for a score.  Jamie was securing more ball for the backs and Ben C, Charlie B and Charlie KJ surged forward to cause problems.   Old Northamptoninans, who are fresh from the experience of a tournament last week, turned the screw in the second half.  Barbarians can be proud of the effort they continued to show but as their attacks got fewer and they began to lose territory their committment, bravery and team spirit was a match for their opponents.

Although ON's scored 15 unanswered points in the second half the Barbarians too their credit never gave up and will be able to take positives from the game.  The forwards are strong and the backs are showing more confidence when running with the ball.  The coaches will remind players of their defensive positional play and the need to not get backs involved in mauls and rucks unnecessarily.  Also from set-plays such as scrums the scrumhalf, fly half and wingers must be more aware of sniping attacks but can draw on todays experiences to perform these sorts of raids themselves.

Squad:  Jack Molloy, Callum Warren, Alex Easton, Jamie, Charlie King-Johnson, Ben Cooper, Charlie Brinicombe, Ben Priestley, Matthew

Finally many thanks to Mike Dickson for standing in as referee.  I am sure Mike will welcome back Paul next week!!!!

Match report by Mark Bailey...