BERFC 15 - 7 Twickenham

Herts and Middlesex U16s League Division 3

A dull dank morning as we welcomed Twickenham to Byng Road for our first home league fixture at U16s. We’d last faced Twickenham at U13s, back in January 2011, when both sides were in HML Div 3 – and despite an early try that day by Smiffy – Twickenham had run out winners by 41 points to 22.

Smiffy had moved on to bigger a pool – but once again, the vast majority of the BERFC squad turning out had been involved in that original fixture, and had emerged from their sojourn in Div 4 older, wiser, and a great deal bigger.

With the first team pitch sticky in patches, we decamped to the colts pitch – and Twickenham kicked off downhill. The first ten minutes saw both teams launching forays into the opposition half, but some solid tackling from both sides kept the game scoreless – until BERFC were awarded a penalty on the Twickenham 22, which Arch duly converted to take a 3 – 0 lead.

Both sides had some big units – and Twickenham looked to run penalties at every opportunity, with BERFC equal to the threat, and Harry leading the way with a number of solid tackles. Not to be outdone in the backs, Harrison twice cut down the same Twickenham forward when he tried to smash it up outside the 10.

The Twickenham team were cleverly using the slope and the elements to their advantage, with some intelligent kicking pinning BERFC in their own 22 for a sustained period of pressure – but each time Twickenham fell just short as they were repelled by resolute BERFC defence.

With 30 minutes on the clock – and Twickenham still pressuring hard, they were finally rewarded for their efforts, although foot and shot had a hand in the try, as from a BERFC put in 5 metres from their own line, the ball shot out the back of the scrum and good pressure from Twickenham saw the attempted kick by the BERFC 10 spilt – leaving a Twickenham player to gleefully fall on the ball. The ensuing conversion took Twickenham ahead 3 – 7 .

Not since February 2012, when Biggleswade stole a last gasp try, had this BERFC team been behind in a league game - and the response was just what the coaches wanted - with BERFC camped in the Twickenham 22 for the final five minutes, falling inches short and only denied by resolute Twickenham defending.

The first ten minutes of the second half saw BERFC pick up where they’d left off, with wave after wave of attack. First Lawrence was denied what looked like a certain try with the ref calling a double movement, and then Andreas’ dive for the line fell inches short and the ball was spilled forward – but with BERFC turning the screw, Kadeem was able to bulldoze over to snatch the lead back 8 - 7 .

A minute later and Twickenham were awarded a penalty dead centre just outside of the BERFC 22 – but the ball drifted just wide and the BERFC lead remained intact.

The forwards continued to slug it out, with Twickenham still using the boot intelligently, but with 60 minutes gone BERFC pressure told once more. With the forwards driving on, and held up just short – the BERFC backs and coaches were screaming for a wide ball – but Harry had other ideas as he snaffled up the loose ball and dived over – and a well struck conversion from Arch opened up an eight point gap – 15 – 7 .

Neither side were able to add to their tally, and with fresh legs on the pitch, BERFC were able to close out the final twenty minutes for a hard fought victory.

Credit to Twickenham whose performance was head and shoulders above previous league opponents this season. They played intelligently – and made for a thoroughly enjoyable game of rugby, a sentiment echoed by both sets of coaches.

For the BERFC boys, a battling performance, which showed they can dig deep when required, coming from behind to grind out a result.