Jersey U15 Boys V Burgess Hill

JRFC U15’s welcomed Burgess Hill to St Peters in near perfect conditions last Sunday for a rare home game in their Sussex League campaign.

The visitors were not backward in coming forward & opened the game aggressively with Jersey having to defend their lines for the best part of the opening 15 minutes – the ruck & counter rucking from Burgess Hill was very impressive and but for some good scrambling defence Jersey could have gone behind early only, saved by strong tackling across the back line.

Jersey, starting to settle, manoeuvred themselves up field with a combination of good forward carrying, especially no 8 debutant Mathew De Lange, & slick handling across the backline with both wingers, James Le Cornu & Alex Hazzard enjoying some space out wide forcing themselves into opposition territory. However, it was the forwards who persisted with a set of pick & go moves that resulted in Ollie Wiseman crossing for the first try on 13 minutes. Burgess Hill, not deterred, returned to their rucking game which eventually gained them some space just before the break and the fly half ran in under the posts from about 25 mtrs out. Try converted. Halftime 5-7.

The second half commenced as the first with both teams rucking & counter rucking as each sought some physical dominance. Jersey’s handling soon began to manipulate the Burgess Hill defence & saw the home side run in 4 tries off the back of some clean ball provided by the forwards. First Harrison Fitzpatrick scooted over from about 10 mtrs after taking the ball off the back of the breakdown. Ryan Allen Le Bas converted 12-7. 10 minutes later, good ball out of the contact area in the middle of the pitch saw some good handling to allow Archie Donnelly around the outside to dot down wide right. No conversion, 17-7. On 50 minutes, Lennon Cummins rounded off another neat piece of back line handling going over wide right again but jinked passed a couple of defenders in the in-goal area to afford a better kick for Le Bas who happily obliged, 24-7. 6 minutes before time Jacob Watson, who had carried strong throughout his time on the field, burst through the Burgess Hill line with a firm fend off before brushing of a couple more would be tacklers to run in close to the posts from 30 mtrs. Le Bas sent the ball through the poles to make the final score 31-7.

Burgess Hill selected Aphonso Correia as Jersey’s Player of the Match.

We would like to thank our main sponsor, Santander International for their continued support as well as Jersey Sport for travel grant funding.

George Powell, James Le Cornu, Owen Carter, Frankie Lawrence-Prince, Alex Hazzard, Ryan Allen-Le Bas, George Guda, Conor Brennan, Eoin Mann, Aphonso Correia, Ollie Wiseman, James Wiseman, Harrison Fitzpatrick, Seb Tanner, Mathew De Lange, Ianto Davies, Kobi Millington, Callum Coombs, Lennon Cummins, Jacob Watson, Robbie Milner, Archie Donnelly.

Coaches: Dave Clark, Stewart Coombs, Gareth Davies

Manager: Jo Shipton-Taylor