BERFC U16s vs Saracens A

Derby day

By U16 player Yunus jahangeer

Our second match of the season was arguably the biggest of the year, if not ever. It is a fact that playing our local rivals Saracens Amateurs is an intense affair, so facing them in the league, you could feel the tension in the air as the teams warmed up whilst eying each other up.
A loud huddle from Barnet was answered by an equally loud one from the Sarries boys and the game began. Barnet started off looking the stronger side, backed by the cheers from the big turnout on the sidelines, our strong attack resulted in a spectacular try by George fishpool which was unfortunately disallowed due to a knock on. In the latter stages of the half, however, Saracens found their feet and answered us with an equally strong attack, resulting in a try for the men in red. The Barnet heads appeared to go down after this and the away side began to pressure Barnet fo the rest of the half, picking up a penalty kick, which they missed by a fraction, causing some confusion from the linesmen and spectators alike.
The second half began with another strong attack from Barnet with Cameron Mcneil going over the whitewash to bring Barnet back into the game, raising massive cheers on and off the pitch.This was followed by an intense tussle between the two teams, with possession switching hands and play moving up and down the pitch, until the visitors found a hole in the Barnet defence and gained a second try, this was followed by yet more intense play, until a cheeky move from Tom Newstead-smith out of a 5m scrum gave Barnet their second try, however in the closing stages of the game Saracens found another gear and , helped by Dylan being sent to the bin for a (debatable) high tackle, made the Barnet defence work hard to prevent their second try, and make them settle for a penalty kick in front of the posts.
Overall, the game was thoroughly enjoyable one to watch, especially beside a rather vocal Leevin advising the ref (not wanting to part with tradition). The Barnet boys should be very proud of their strong performance today, and the MOTM award was thoroughly deserved by Cameron.

Coaches notes – A fantastic game that shows just how for we’ve come . Given the old adage that the forwards won a game and the backs decide by how many Barnet could have won today and it was only a few small mistakes that allowed the game to swing the other way . The pressure played some part in this and moving forward we need to focus on our pods and zonal play .