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Under 14's Hows it Looking!
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29th January 2012 U14s Keyworth v Mellish We were very lucky not to have the frost that had been predicated by the weatherman and had a good turn out with the team. For the first time we were equal on numbers for subs. Keyworth kicked off and the battle began. We soon gained possession and Ed Acroyd had a fantastic run down the side of the pitch only to be knocked into touch about 15 metres from Keyworths line. Possession changed hands a few times and then Mellish found their opportunity to open up the scoring, quickly followed by another. Keyworth retaliated and kept their defence up, Tom Newell scored his first try of the season, but unfortunately this wasn’t converted. Mellish fought back immediately to score their third try. Some great tackles were coming in, and the defence stayed strong. At half time Keyworth 5 to Mellish’s 21. Pep talk at half time from Nigel and Russ initially seemed to have gone unheard by the team, within the first 6 minutes of the second half Mellish had scored 3 more tries. With lots of encouragement from the supporters Keyworth got the ball out to Charlie Sprosen, who added some more points for Keyworth, Charlie’s 16th try of the season. George Flewitt had a great run down the wing, but couldn’t quite make it as 3 Mellish players brought him to a halt. The team continued fighting back and with some great ball play across and down the line George Flewitt got to score his second try of the season. Not to be out down done by his team mate Tom Newell stepped up to score his second of the game and season. Unfortunately Keyworth hadn’t got their kicking legs; none of their tries were converted. With minutes to go Mellish put on a huge attack, squashing a few of our players along the way, Ben Cawthorn being at the bottom of one pile, which ended with them scoring again. The boys played brilliantly, all of them supporting each other and working as a team. Final Score: Keyworth 20 Mellish 43 Man of the Match: Tom Newell
=============== 8th Jan 2012 U14s Moderns v Keyworth Great turn out for the first game of the New Year; the boys had not lost their form that they had worked hard towards before Christmas. The game commenced with great phases of play coming from both teams; ball being passed out and the line being used. Keyworth did some great defence and kept Moderns away from the try line with the first half being equally matched in both halves. Moderns opened the scoring with a conversion after 20 minutes of play, only for Keyworth to find their fighting spirit and retaliate immediately with a try to from Charlie Sprosen. With minutes to go in the first half Keyworth continued their attack, and with a maul on the 5 metre line Aidan Blakey managed to get the ball over the try line, scoring his first for the season. Tom Newell kicked the conversion giving Keyworth the lead at half time of 12 to Moderns 7. After a short break and a change of subs, the match recommenced. Moderns came out strong and scored 2 quick tries. Keyworth continued defending hard, but Moderns subbed 4 players and with fresh legs sneaked across the line again to score. The boys weren't down hearted and came back again with a fighting spirit and with great progress up the field from Ed Acroyd, Tom Newell, and Sam Messham, the ball final ended in Charlie Sprosen hands to add to Keyworths score. The second half continued with Moderns scoring twice more, making it a convincing win to them. It was a great match to watch. The boys played amazingly which is not reflected in the final score. Final Score: Moderns 36 Keyworth 17 Man of the Match: Jack Newton =============== 11 Dec 2011 Southwell 20 Keyworth 15 When Wales lost the 2012 Rugby World Cup semi-final, their coach Warren Gatland showed admirable restraint when he commented - "we just feel like the destiny of the result was taken out of our hands". The hardy few Keyworth fans at Southwell on Sunday clung on to similar thoughts as the boys put in another terrific performance, which did not get the end-result which it deserved. Playing uphill in the first half, Keyworth started bravely - two crunching "thou shalt not pass" tackles from Charlie Malik set the tone for the game, showing that running through the middle of Keyworth was simply not going to happen. Even so, we were quickly behind, due to an electrifying run from the Southwell full-back which took him into the far left-hand corner. 5-0 to Southwell. The race for the corner was to become a recurring theme as both teams defences were tightly packed in the middle of the field, and scoring was either in the corners or not at all. Heads did not drop, with the confidence from last week's win still of tangible benefit. Great work from all the forwards in a line-out and then a scrum put Southwell on the back foot. A fantastic driving maul from the forwards advanced over 15 yards, taking the ball up to within 10 yards of the Southwell line. When the ball came back cleanly from the consistently excellent Zak Mullins, Charlie Sprosen spotted a gap 50 yards away in the opposite corner, and proceeded to run round the entire opposition touching down for the equalising score. 5-5. A good take and run from the kick-off by Tom Newell set up a flowing move with excellent hands from several players moving the ball wide. Soon afterwards, a fine move by the backs, including a loop round Michael Brasier by Charlie Sprosen, created a half chance down the right wing, stopped only by a fine covering tackle. By winning the opposition's line-out throw, we pushed forward again and more sterling work in the scrum by the forwards created another opportunity for Charlie Sprosen. He went over again, this time in the left-hand corner. 10-5 to Keyworth. Luke Brown and Sam Messham were to the fore, as Southwell roared back. The speedy full-back punished some narrow defending by scoring again to level the scores once again. 10-10. It could have been worse, with a couple of missed tackles - one criticism boys, stroking somebody's shoulders as he runs past does not constitute a tackle - but a superb last-ditch effort by Eddie Ackroyd stopped another flowing move, forcing the right wing into touch on our 22 metre line. Keyworth were not to be cowed, and after two clean line -outs, a gap opened up and Charlie Sprosen darted through for a deserved hat-trick. Half-time: 15-10 to Keyworth. A great first half, with strong ball retention and recycling, and Zak Mullins prompting the backs with quick accurate passing. One or two incidents involving a feisty Southwell pack were a concern, but the Keyworth crowd were optimistic about our chances in the second half, going down the slope. Early in the second half, a chip and chase from Tom Newell nearly paid dividends, with only a knock-on from Southwell stopping the pick-up and a certain try. The action ebbed and flowed with neither side prepared to let the opposition through. A fine run from Kieran Mash was ended by a spectacular tackle which Kieran could not vault over, although he did have a good go. Having been knocked semi-conscious by the fall, Kieran was then penalised for not rolling away which seemed a little harsh. A good burst by Luke Brown, and then Jack Newton seemed to have created a try but a knock-on was adjudged, and play was recalled. We were disrupting all the opposition set-pieces, and even on a clever short line-out, George Flewitt and Jack Newton ejected the Southwell prop into touch with great aplomb. A response from Southwell took play back up-field, and the full-back matched Charlie's hat-trick with short burst, exploiting some disarray in the Keyworth defensive line. 15-15. During a period of intense pressure, two penalties within kicking distance were run by the attack-minded Keyworth, but despite best efforts the boys were unable to penetrate an impressive defensive line from Southwell. After a strong run by Eddie Ackroyd, Luke Brown's dart for the line was stopped only by a near-beheading. Against the run of play Southwell moved up-field and when Keyworth responded with some superb driving defence, there were a couple of interesting rule interpretations which went against the away team. From one such penalty, the ball moved quickly to the full-back who once again attacked the left hand corner and secured the winning score. 20-15 to Southwell. The final whistle went soon after the restart, and the rueful expressions on the faces of the coaching team of Malik and Brown told the whole story. A good game between two very well matched sides. Only the express pace of Charlie Sprosen and the Southwell no.15 was able to circumvent the impressive tackling skills of both teams, and great credit to all players for another gutsy performance. Man of the match - Zak Mullins =============== 4th December 2011 Keyworth v Mansfield Keyworth boys warmed up on a very cold Sunday morning, a great turn out with 5 reserves. The whistle blew at 11am with Mansfield kicking off. Keyworth had possession and kept it all the way to the try line. First score on the sheet was for Keyworth by Charlie Sprosen, with an additional 2 points coming from Tom Newell. Cheers from the parents could be heard all the way back to Keyworth. Keyworth continued to keep possession, but Mansfield managed to get one across the line to bring the scores closer, but with no conversion this didn't bring them level. At half time Keyworth was ahead, quite a novelty! Second half started with a few injuries to boys from Mansfield and Keyworth, but with us having the reserves to sub this kept the sides equal on numbers. There were some great phases of play with Keyworth passing the ball out, and using their line to make progress into Mansfield's half. Charlie Sprosen didn't disappoint and got the ball across the try line again, unfortunately a tricky kick for Zach right on the sideline. Mansfield came back fighting and put Keyworth under pressure, great defending from the boys; Mansfield managed to eventually get across to score. Keyworth were still ahead just! Kicking off Keyworth managed to keep possession and put Mansfield under huge pressure with Tom Newell, George Flewitt, Ed Ackroyd and Jack Palmer nearly getting over the try line. Charlie Sprosen supported and then showed them how to do it, scoring his hat-trick and Tom Newell converting. Parents now were praying for the full time whistle. But no play commenced again. Mansfield put on a brave fight kicking it right into Keyworths half. Keyworth won the ball back and into the hands of Charlie Sprosen, who has found his running legs and sprinted up the field past their defence to make it well deserved victory for Keyworth. Luke Combellack added the final points to the board with full time whistle - much to the relief of the Keyworth supporters. Too many of the boys to mention for their play in this game against a team that has beaten all of our previous opponents. A brilliant game to watch and with a well deserved result. We knew you could do it boys. Final Score: Keyworth 26 Mansfield 10 Man of the Match: Aidan Blakey =============== 13th Nov 2011 U14s Keyworth v Ashfield We had a good turn out with two subs for the match. Conor Power & Ciaran Mash played for the club for the first time this weekend, welcome to Keyworth. The match started after a minutes silence for Remembrance Sunday with Ashfield dominating and playing the majority of the match in Keyworths half. Great tackles were coming in from all the boys, Tom Newell and Ed Ackroyd regularly seen sprinting after an Ashfield player. Defensive play did keep Ashfield from going over the try line too many times. The kicker for Ashfield was very accurate, which helped them reach a 33 to 0 score by half time. The team talk at half time obviously worked from Russell and Nigel as the boys came out a different team. They had some great runs on the ball and made good progress in Ashfield's half. Ashfield found the try line again with a conversion; which then lit a spark in Keyworth to find their legs and the try line. Two great tries scored by Charlie Sprosen motivated the boys that we stood a chance. Majority of the second half was played in Ashfield's half making them play defensively. We couldn't get across the try line again, some near misses though. This definitely was a game of two halves, with Keyworth winning the second half 10-7. Well done boys. Final Score: Keyworth 10 Ashfield 40 Man of the Match: Luke Brown =============== " Thou shalt not kick the ball to thine enemies unless it bounceth; for the Spirit of the bounce of the Ball may cause confusion unto them, and if thy heart be pure, make it bounceth back unto you." =============== 6th Nov 2011 Keyworth v Nottingham Corsairs B Keyworth, like always, played the first half showing the crowd of supporters the sort of team they are - well organised, picking up loose ball and defending well. They worked hard in the mauls and won ball. Luke Brown, with a pass from Robert Parker, squeezed over the try line to open Keyworth's scoring. The battle continued through the first half, with play being predominately in Keyworths half. By half time they were one try down. Second half commenced with Nottingham making their subs, only to find that some of their boys became injured in this half, eventually they played all 27 boys that they had brought. Keyworth are not quite there with fitness levels yet, but great tackles were still coming in. Robert Parker did a remarkable attempt at blocking a Nottingham player only to see him go from vertical to horizontal and back to vertical within seconds - unfortunately his brave challenge did not stop Nottingham from scoring. Some other tackles went in which meant that the final score was not as high as it could have been due to Keyworths relentless defending. It was a great game to watch boys, even though the final result was not in our favour. Final Score: Keyworth 5 Nottingham Corsairs B 36 Man of the Match: George Flewitt ===============
9 Oct 2011 Mellish v Keyworth
As normal at Mellish the wind was howling round us and what seemed like a perfectly nice day else where in the county it was not the case there. The first half was very evenly matched with Keyworth holding their own and keeping Mellish away from the try line. At half time the score was a respectful 17-12 in Mellish's favour, two great tries from Charlie Sprosen with a conversion by Zach Mullins The first 5 minutes of the second half we saw Keyworth defending well and preventing Mellish from getting over the try line. From then on it was downhill with Mellish remaining strong for the rest of the match and scoring numerous times. There were some great tackles from the lads, bring down some of the giants from Mellish. Mellish, like Nottingham, with reserves available to play were able to bring fresh legs on through the game. Good effort boys, we did look as though for 30 minutes that we stood a chance. Final Score: Mellish 55 Keyworth 12 Man of the Match: Charlie Sprosen =============== 2nd Oct 2011 U14s Keyworth v Moderns Parents stood on the sidelines on a beautiful autumn day in shorts and T-shirts, ready to cheer the boys on to victory. Keyworth came out strong and in the first 5 minutes played well and looked as though they stood a chance. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. Moderns worked their way past our defence time after time with 4 tries scored in the first half. Keyworth after a water stop came out and continued to strive and get to our try line, but never got there. Some great tackles were made by many of the boys, but not enough to stop Moderns to continue to score. Keyworth looked like a different team that had played the week before against Nottingham; let's hope it was the unusual weather conditions. Well tried boys. Final Score: Keyworth 0 Moderns 58 Man of the Match: Edward Ackroyd =============== 25 Sept 2011
U14s Nottingham Corsairs B v Keyworth This was the first game of the season against a tough rival. The boys have always played well against Nottingham. This match was no different. All the fitness training is starting to pay off and the boys worked well as a team passing the ball out and keeping possession. Some great tackles and runs with the ball; unfortunately for George Flewitt his try was disallowed. Charlie Sprosen opened the scoring for Keyworth. It was not to be Keyworths day, Nottingham having a large squad were able to swap players throughout the match, fresh legs making all the difference. Well done to the boys, they played really well. Need to keep it up for the season. Final Score: Nottingham Corsairs B 17 Keyworth 5 Man of the Match: Aidan Blakey
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