CN Round 5: Sub-16/18 v Técnico

Franziscus Frost dives over for the first try against Técnico

Read match reports and view images from both games here.

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The sub-16s played against Técnico and lost by 12-24, having trailed by 7-19 at half time.

For the first time in the A league, we dominated possession and territory in this game, but failure to convert various scoring opportunities following time spent in the opposition 22m, meant that that elusive first victory remained out of touch. A lack of composure, which lead to poor decision-making, was the biggest problem.

Although we lost the game, a big improvement was seen since the last time we played against Técnico (in a friendly game in September). For the first time this season we scored 2 tries, our line-out was outstanding, as was our defence and tackling close to the ruck.

Scorers: Sebastian Bader (5+5) and Keenan Almeida (2).

Man of the match: Ishan Shantilal

To view Peter Fay's photographs from the sub-16 game, click here: http://goo.gl/XOnYG

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The sub-18s came within a whisker of recording back to back victories against the same opponents, only to be denied with the last kick of the game, which saw them finish on the wrong side of the 13-12 score-line.

Having conceded an early try and finding themselves playing against yet another much bigger pack, the boys held their nerve, kept good defensive patterns and commitment, cleared their lines well when required and eventually had the better of things against a fairly pumped up Técnico side.

Fairly soon after going the converted try down, and following some impressive interplay, Franziscus Frost carved his own way through a staggered midfield defence to score under the posts and remind the visitors that they were in for a serious contest.

Continuity was good enough to open some gaps in the last quarter, but there is still a frustrating tendency to run at the man rather than the space, and some good chances to score went begging. Handling errors also saw one or two other openings needlessly butchered.

Eventually though, Tom Vilar ran a decent line and barrelled over for the second try for us to take a two point lead with just a minute left on the clock. The celebrations that followed were probably not quite in the Montemor-final-whistle league, but were certainly extravagant and, perhaps predictably, premature as well, as Técnico lined up a penalty kick following a technical infringement at the last scrum and coolly slotted it home.

Fingers were pointed in several directions as the narrowness of the loss sunk in, in particular at those who might have remembered to provide our own kicker with the kicking tee that went AWOL after the Frost try - a blunder that cost us those easy two points that would have brought the house down had they been bagged. 

Scorers: Franziscus Frost (5), Tom Vilar (5), Ricardo Urolis (2)

Man of the match: Jorge Martim Cruz

To view Peter Fay's photographs from the sub-18 game, click here: http://goo.gl/5DsYf