U15 Match Report Vs Shirley Boys High

On a sunny Christchurch morning when the sun was high in the sky, we woke ready for battle. So far it had been a pretty enjoyable weekend, some of us had met up and some had just relaxed at home. We knew that this game was the make or break match of our tour. This was our time to prove what a fantastic team we have, whether it be a win or a lose.

We arrived at Shirley Boys at 11 o'clock with our billets, we then separated and went to our allocated changing room. A tough talk from Johnny, our captain and a few words of encouragement from Mr. Webb and Mr. Kibble had us ready for what looked liked a very hard game. After our warm up with Mr. Munro we all felt that there was no turning back now, this is where we made our mark on Whitgift rugby.

Kick-off.

Matt kicked off for us and as soon as the ball reached the Shirley number 4, Whitgift forwards proved to us how much they've developed on this tour. Both teams battled in the first few minutes but we definetly had the upper hand. We were first on the score board thanks to Luca's darting run into the corner. Unfortunatly Matt couldn't convert. As another minute passed we took our foot off the pedal and Shirley scored a soft try. 7-5. Whitgift heads were still up, no giving up today lads! We later pressurised the Shirley defence, they cracked. The backs saw holes and pierced the patchy guard of the try line. After a quick ruck we got a penatly on the five meter line and Johnny charged at a gap... TRY! The boys were ecstatic. Confidence was boosted. We later had a fantastic chance to add to the score board, Rory sped down the wing with George right next to him, but when Rory was tackled we were out numbered and the ball was turned over. A chance missed. Before the break Shirley kicked a penalty and levelled the score.

Half-time, 10-10

We had everything to play for, pride, respect and for our team! We couldn't let this slip through our fingers. We had decided to make no substitutions as the starting team had proved they could do more. Shirley made four or five subs, a new winger, almost a whole new back row and some fresh legged centres.

Shirley kicked off. Elliot took the ball immaculately and set up a strongly driven maul with some hard work from Chris and Johnny. Mr. Kibble said Shirley would play as if it were their last game. They did. A few charges from their number 8 cracked our defence and left our blind exposed. This was exploited by further attacks, leading to the first try of the second half. 15-10. "Chin up lads" and the like were the types of shouts we were getting from the sidelines, we couldn't let anyone down. We were on the back foot. As we kicked off, Shirley kept on going on at the blind then cutting in late. Shirley's next try was one that everyone will want to see on video. Their strong running number 17 broke through a hole and threw the most obvious knock on (or forward pass as it was gathered by their winger) in history! They ended up scoring a try which shouldn't have counted. The heads of our team dropped. Shirley kept on attacking, we couldn't handle it. Again, after a break from the main runner, another contreversial pass was thrown then knocked on, somehow they managed to score. We were annoyed! From there we were getting injured and tired, being on tour was taking it's toll on us. In the end, Shirley put 34 points past us in the second half. We were all dissapointed "but we can't blame the ref", its just a part of the game. Although we lost, we had some exceptional performances from Chris our number 8 and Pagey our fullback.

Fulltime, 44-10.

Let's just hope we can construct on this as a base and work to improve our second halves as a whole. A big thanks to everyone who came to support us and thanks to Webby and Kibbs for putting up with us on there stupidly long coach journeys!

Jason Bird and Elliot Mack