A mixed bag lined up against our ‘B’ side for the final match of the tour. The match began evenly with neither side managing to trouble the score keepers until a kick left us short of numbers in defence. Hove secured the ball and their monster of a prop was too big to stop on the try line and we were 5 points down. We quickly got the scores level though when Max’s early pass gave Joe Hobson the chance to show his pace from half way and he made it over the line despite a last ditch tackle. Will converted to put us ahead. Harry T then got his name on the score sheet by joining a back line move on the overlap to storm through. Another try followed when Lewis and Joe Heffer combined to free Joe Hobson in space. A quick side step and he was in for his second try. The back line was getting plenty of ball in good areas and the support runners were coming in from all angles at this stage. Will finished well in the corner after Ciaran, realising he was running out of room, passed the ball inside. Before half time we scored our best try of the game when a nice flowing move ended with Andrew stepping inside a tackle to saunter under the posts. Will converted and we went into the break 29-5 up.
We failed to get going in the opening stages of the second half and allowed our hosts in for a converted try when our defensive line were fooled by a neat dummy in midfield. From then on, we dominated and we scored our next try when Ben C worked the ball inside to Ethan who managed to drag the tacklers with him towards the try line. The ball then got fed back to Andrew who went under the posts for his second score. Max’s conversion sneaked over. Joe Hobson then completed his hat trick after a perfectly timed pass from Max set him free. Ben W converted this one. From the restart, Crafty caught the high ball and Joe Hobson virtually walked through a by now defeated defensive line and helped himself to his fourth try. Ben converted once more. Matthew’s kick and chase almost brought reward as he was defeated by the bounce of the ball but we finished the game with another score, this time Greg was allowed plenty of space to show his turn of speed and he didn’t disappoint. Both sides lost players to nasty looking injuries during this half and our thoughts especially go to Dan Brown who we have since learned has unfortunately broken his ankle
Hove & Brighton Barbarians v Under 14 - B - Sun, 18 Apr 2010