Presidents' Cup Rugby 2013

On a perfect night for rugby, South retained the trophy quite comfortably.  The current year 10s are one of the strongest sides South have fielded in recent years; a hardworking, selfless unit with a smattering of star quality for good measure.

North offered their usual cocktail of total commitment and fearlessness……….for the first hour at least!  South started strongly after some great ball retention offered the opportunity to use width.  Perfect passing from Bailey and Rhys Morris set up the barnstorming Olly Kay for a try reminiscent of Alex Cuthbert against England, as he used a big fend before tip toeing up the left hand touchline! A similar build up led to his second and South were in charge. North appeared bewildered as records looked likely to tumble….

North hit back hard.  Some ill-discipline led to a series of penalties and North used bludgeon to force their way over. Game on!

Up stepped South’s ‘go to’ man Ben Sanderson!  Like many of the team, he had played on Sunday and had been on D of E expedition the same day, but, reminiscent of a fired up terminator, he hit a short ball from a pre-planned move and left what seemed a whole team trailing helplessly in his wake!

Damaged and demoralised only some penalty calls saved North for the remainder of the half…….as South applied more pressure.

22-5 at H/T.

North struck early but then South turned up the heat. Olly Kay struck again, this time running 60 metres with North bouncing off him, before Bailey identified a weakness out wide and delivered 2 pin point kicks which were caught on the full, firstly by Sanderson, who finished easily, then Rhys Morris, who had men to beat, but did so with ease.

Dan Reeves then scored a superb virtuoso try, switching the direction of play and scooting down the blindside on an extreme arc.

The final try came from a superb Rhys Morris run, Mr perpetual motion, before Reeves found Ollie Kemp on the blindside.  He reached top speed in the blink of an eye and evaded the North full back with a top class swerve and the win was complete.

42-12

Further mentions go to Will Pagan, who stepped up from year 9 and dealt with everything thrown at him. The front row of Mortenson, Jeynes and Hands put the hurt on North at every scrum. Harries and Fletcher worked tirelessly. Cadman dented North’s resistance regularly, ably supported by Van der Plank and Sprigg.

This was a great performance and one of the only times South have really shown the gulf in class on the scoreboard in this fixture!