1st XV vs Dilworth Match Report

On a sunny New Zealand day Whitgift faced Dilworth School from Aukland. Soon after the teams ran out Whitgift lined up on the half way line to face the Dilworth Haka. Both teams stood right in eachothers faces as the atmosphere built.

Dilworth kicked off the game, but the kick went straight out, a good omen for Whitgift perhaps. From the resulting scrum the ball was moved to the right to Max who burst past the first line of defence and chipped over the full back only for the ball to run into touch before he could reach it. This gave Whitgift the confidence to continue attacking. From the strong Whitgift scrum lead by Harry, Jonny and Yeboah the ball was moved into centre field where Julian made a good break offloading to Rob who gave the final pass to Chris who beat the scrambling defence with a good dive to score the first try on 9 mins. The conversion was pushed wide.

Whitgift continued the good attacking play for the next phase of the game eventually being rewarded with a penalty on the Dilworth 10 metre line which was struck sweetly through the posts by Rob. The team was lifted by this and of the following kick off good linking play from the scrum half and forwards saw Harry making a half break offloading to Matt Hilton who showed good pace to get away from the defence until being brought down by the Dilworth full back. Unfortunatly the ball was turned over from here and cleared downfield by Dilworth. The resulting Whitgift lineout was lost and some good handling from Dilworth saw the ball moved wide before being switched back inside and run in for Dilworth's first try. The conversion was missed.

At this point the tide seemed to turn as Dilworth took hold of the game. On 22 mins they scored their second try making it Whitgift 8, Dilworth 10. The conversion was missed. Only a few minutes later Dilworth had scored again after making a good break through the middle of Whitgift's defence to score under the posts. This time the conversion was good, making the score Whitgift 8, Dilworth 17 at half time.

The second half started with Dilworth still seemingly in control with the majority of possesion but they made little headway into the strong Whitgift defence. Their only chance came through a half break down the left wing which was quickly shut down by Tom who lead the team well in the line outs throughout the match.

Dilworth slowly lost their hold on the game soon after this after a few Whitgift subs helped to raise the tempo of the game. Marland, Tom, Sam and Charlie came onto the pitch and soon after a good kick from Tom was well followed up with a big hit from Marland and the ball was spilled. From the resulting lineout Charlie impacted almost straight away with a big run up the centre of the field. From this a good move to the left of the field saw marland breaking the line and feeding lawrence for the try in the left corner on 48 mins. Rob struck the ball through the posts from out wide making the score Whitgift 15, Dilworth 17.

From here Whitgift took control of the game, training had paid off as the backs moves that had been worked on resulted in a further score for lawrence again in the left corner, the conversion was made once again making the score Whitgift 22, Dilworth 17. However Whitgift were not content to sit back on their lead. They continued attacking well and when the ball was moved into space on the right side Marland stepped his man and used good pace to sprint under the posts for the try. The conversion was good making the score Whitgift 29, Dilworth 17.

From there Dilworth tried hard to fight back and their best opportunity came from a scrum deep in the Whitgift 22, but they couldn't make anything of it as the ball was turned over and cleared. In the dying moments of the game Dilworth attacked hard but there was little they could do to get through the defence, eventually they knocked on and the game ended.

Final Score:
Whitgift 29
Dilworth 17

James W