Daily Mail U15 Cup Round 5
Wednesday 25th November 2009
St Benedict's, Ealing 12 Berkhamsted 12
Berkhamsted go through as the away side
This was an excellent result away from home in Perivale, against a St Benedict's side who had put out
St Paul's in the previous round. Berkhamsted had a strong wind behind them in the first half and started magnificently with tries in the first 10 minutes by Mobolaji Sanusi in the right corner and Angus Hardy under the posts. The second of these was converted by Dominic Fraser.
Berkhamsted monopolised possession and played 15-man rugby with full freedom. In the middle part of the half, however, St Benedict's senior players appeared on the touchline giving vociferous support and the home side raised its game.
Our first-up tackling lost its intensity and the Benedict's forwards began to exert pressure on our line, resulting in two tries (one converted) to level the scores.
In the last 5 minutes of the half Berkhamsted declined a kickable penalty and missed two scoring opportunities with the ball in hand and looked to have lost their chance.
The second half saw Berkhamsted pinned in their own half for long periods, but St Benedict's rarely looked to have any real penetration and our boys kept the penalty count to a minimum. As full-time approached, St Benedict's had to score, because in the event of a draw the away team would go through.
Berkhamsted always looked the more penetrative side and in the last few minutes had two breakaways where first Chris Katanchian and then Charlie Rider were hauled down.
With three minutes to go we missed a penalty from short-range directly in front of the posts, but time eventually ran out for St Benedict's and Berkhamsted, who had stopped them scoring in the second half, despite wind advantage, went through deservedly as the better all-round team.
