Lytchett RFC U15’s 36 – Swanage & Wareham U15’s 7

Match report – Sunday 31/10/21

After three weeks on the road, Lytchett U15’s hosted Swanage & Wareham at Lytchett Park on Sunday.

 Lytchett, having suffered a narrow defeat in their last outing were determined to get back to winning ways. A good crowd had gathered to watch what is becoming a fiercely contested fixture.

 After a good warm up, both teams were ready for kick off. With Swans winning the toss they elected to kick to Lytchett.

 With Lytchett gathering the ball from the kick off they ran into contact to present the ball, from the ruck Lytchett showed their intent in getting the ball wide through the hands of the forwards and backs who linked with some superb ball handling. This put Swans under immense pressure and although they put up some stiff resistance the inevitable happened and Lytchett crossed the line for their first try in the far left corner. With a tricky gusty wind the conversion was close but unsuccessful.

 From the restart Lytchett soon dominated possession and were soon into the Swans twenty two. The Lytchett backs linked well and with some elusive running and stepping The Lytchett wing crossed the Swans line for a second try. With the conversion being missed this put Lytchett into a ten point lead. It what was proving to be a purple patch for Lytchett they gathered the ball in their own half and a neat off load to the Lytchett open side flanker saw him run sixty metres, evading a number of tackles to cross the Swans line under the posts. With the conversion going over this brought the scores to seventeen nil in favour of Lytchett

 Swans were determined not to go down to a loss and with a good passage of play and some quick hands from their backs  the ball was passed out to the wing who then put his foot down and accelerated towards the Lytchett defence. With clever running lines and footwork the wing managed to split the Lytchett defence and go over for a deserved try. The conversion brought the score to seventeen to seven. The disappointment in the Lytchett team was palpable and from the kick off they endeavoured to put things right, however with the half time whistle Lytchett would have to wait a few more minutes.

 Lytchett, having analysed weaknesses in the Swans defence started the second half working hard as a team to put together some great passages of play with the whole team interlinking in rucking and passing. This was a great display of a team hitting form and playing for each other. Lytchett were rewarded with a fourth try with some powerful running. Lytchett were on a role and with it being Halloween they sensed blood.

 Some great play from Lytchett and with the pack dominating the ruck and loose play this enabled the Lytchett scrum half to give some great ball to the ten. Another pass to the inside centre saw another powerful stepping run for what was Lytchetts’ fifth try. Although unconverted this put Lytchett into a commanding lead of twenty nine points to seven.

With Lytchett using penalties to good effect it put their forwards on the five metre line on a few occasions. From the resulting line outs Lytchett forwards employed an effective catch and drive which saw them go close for another score and were unlucky to have a try disallowed from the Lytchett hooker.

Lytchett had Swans spooked and were relentless in their pursuit of more points. These came inevitably from a superb rampaging run from a Lytchett front row player, crossing for the sixth try. The conversion made it thirty six to seven.

Lytchett pressed from the restart and were pushing for more points when the ref blew for the final whistle.

What a display from the Lytchett side. Some scintillating rugby and the skill level was evident throughout the team with both three forwards and three backs scoring.

Congratulations to Freddie Sax for the man of the match award.

Lytchett have a two week break to hone their skills further in training before travelling away to Weymouth on the 21/11/21.

Try scorers                                                                Conversions

Jamie Dickinson – 1 try                                          Bruno Skinner – 3

Oakley Beveridge – 1 try

Dan ward – 1 try

Ricky Morgan – 1 try

Freddie sax – 1 try