PUBLISHED 01 October 2019
Saturday 28th September 2019
U16's
As the rain subsided the sun was shining on AKS U16s. AKS took control of the game from the start, with Morgan moving the ball around the pitch and strong running from Chris and Franklin to make inrodes through the heart of the defence. After the first ten minutes Ripley started to get some posession and showed some power in attack, but the AKS defense stood resolute with fine tackling from Harry, Roman and Oliver up from and Brandon out wide stopping Ripleys advances. From a midfield penalty, Morgan found the corner and AKS launched their attack with strong running from Toby and Louis. Then the ball went wide and as Chris was caught just in front of the post, Matt popped the ball the Myles running on to the ball like a rampaging bull, to crash over the line. As the half came to a close Ripley struck back with and impressive individual run from the powerful tight head prop to make the half time score 7-5.
In the second half it was again AKS who started the strong and started to find space out with Brandon crossing for two tries in the left corner. Ripley were not finished yet as they took control of the second half and AKS lost shape in defense to allow a well finished try to make the score 17-10 and Ripley on the attack. AKS defended for their lives and as the game came to a close, had one final attack Tristan picked from the base of the scrum and with an offload to Matt who scooted over to close the game out. Final Score 22-10
This was a great team performance with lots of impressive performances, but the stand out performances were from Brandon and Myles.
U15’s
U15s enjoyed a relatively close-matched encounter. AKS went into the lead through a storming, marauding try from Will W (the first of his four), only to be pegged back by Ripley after they ran in two unanswered scores. At the break the score was close at 10 - 12 to Ripley. The second half saw the game explode into life as the weather improved and the conditions dried quickly. AKS scored first through Rhys only to be pegged back again by Ripley, but with the wind at their backs, AKS implemented a kicking game which put the opposing team under pressure. As the forwards started to impose themselves more ball came AKS' way allowing them to spend much more time in attack and eventually pressure led to 2 more scores from Will W and one from our guest centre Tom on loan from the U14s. Five conversions from Josh E (a couple of crackers) saw the score reach the 40 mark and AKS ran out winners 40 - 17.
MOM was Will W for his 4 tries with outstanding performances from Zack L, Josh E, Mark H, George M-M and Joe W. It should be pointed out however that this was a team win where every player stepped up and contributed. They had no subs, but some players carrying injuries, were missing three key players and one player was physically ill before kick off. I can't stress how proud Mr Walmsley and I are of this group of players
U14's
AKS U14s had another good performance at the weekend with a well contested match against Ripley St.Thomas finishing 34-0. The score line doesn’t portray the quality of the Ripley side, with some strong attacks and defensive efforts. AKS maximised on the mistakes made by Ripely and used these to score some well worked team tries. Again, the AKS boys showed their strength in defence with strong tackling and rucking efforts throughout. Jeremy got the first try for AKS which came from a well worked team effort up the pitch and finished off in the corner. Other try scorers were Aki, John, Tom with two and a fantastic last try from Iestyn with a fantastic run from half way to score under the posts.
MoM: Noah - for stepping up to play fly half and doing a brilliant job of it.
Well done to the whole team on another good performance in some very difficult conditions
U13's
A defeat by Ripley St Thomas 6 - 1. A performance littered with sparks of brilliance, however it was mostly inconsistency in our play, both offensively and defensively that allowed Ripley to capitalise and were worthy winners. A tough loss to take for our team, who will be aiming to improve on our concentration and team ethic in order to turn things around.
MOM: Max C, Finn R, Sam Li
Try: Josh S
U12's
The Year 7 side played against a large and strong Ripley side who donated the first quarter with some well drilled one man up rugby. Having bigger size and bulk against the determined tacklers, the away side alway managed to gain ground and through good recycling, pinched a couple of early tries. As the half went on AKS started to cope with this defending, with the forwards around the touch and started to win their share of ball. With excellent distribution in the conditions. Sammy C, Will W and Tommy M made excellent breaks and were unlucky not to score.
With continued determined defence in the second half AKS managed to keep out Ripley for long periods and were finally rewarded after strong running from Rory U and Will W. Forward Robert M capped an outstanding defensive performance with his first try of the season.
Late into the second half Ripley were able to claim two more tries, but this shouldn't take away for the effort in defence by the whole team but in particular Harry B, Archie B and Alfie K all who made some textbook hits. Final score 1 to 6.
AUTHOR: Glen Harding