Sub-16s Off to Good Start in Final Four

Man of the Match Afonso Torres

Superb start to Final Four by the Sub-16s against Évora. Read match report and view images here.

The sub-16s won their opening game of the Final Four against Évora, the team that finished one from bottom in Group A, with a convincing 52 - 12 away victory on Saturday.

After having combined well in a fluent start that saw them 14 - 0 up after the first 15 minutes, the team then got complacent, losing their defensive shape and succumbing to some pressure around the fringes. Penalties were conceded and, from one of these, the strong-running opposition nº8 brushed off some ineffectual tackling to bring the hosts back into the game. Things got tighter still just before half time, when further poor tackling saw the opposition score another try out wide to cut the deficit at half time to just 2 points.

Following a rocket from Mr Ferris, and the return to action of subs Vilar and Bader, the team began the second half in a much more committed frame of mind, with specific orders to close down the dangerous Évora fly half. The whole team responded in attack with sustained integrated play that stretched the opposition and allowed Santiago de Oriol to feed Ben Rough who went under the posts to restore a decent lead and calm some nerves.

Soon afterwards, Micah Mira and Charlie Frost applied pressure behind the gain line and Santiago de Oriol pounced on the ensuing loose ball and raced away to add another 7-pointer.

A further five tries were added in an impressive second half that saw 38 unanswered points scored, against a team that didn't have too many attacking options. However, the Évora players tackled hard throughout and simply found it impossible to keep plugging the gaps when we stuck to our game plan and strung some phases together in the second half.

Afonso Torres was named Man of the Match for one of the outstanding performances of the season. By all accounts Afonso was at his rampaging best throughout.  

View images from the game by Peter Fay at this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter112/6807128270/in/set-72157629147635226/