22^nd January 2012

U14 NLD Shield Ashfield v Keyworth                  

The weather held out and after everyone had found the ground the match got on its way. Welcome back to Ben Holland after being injured before Christmas. The strong southerly wind was blowing right across the pitch and with Keyworth playing downhill and the sun in their eyes, Keyworth kicked off and Ashfield took possession. There was some great play coming from the forwards with Jack Newton ripping the ball back for Keyworths possession. Keyworth used their line with the ball being passed out from Tom Newell to Charlie Sprosen, Sam Messham and Michael Brasier, who inevitably got flattened by the Ashfield forwards. Ashfield opened the scoring but was unable to add points with a conversion. Keyworth not disheartened fought back, had a penalty awarded and Luke Combellack kicked it out at the 5 metre line. Keyworth won the lineout and Luke Brown squeezed over the line, opening Keyworth's scoring. Tom Newell took the conversion and added a further 2 points, putting Keyworth in front. Ashfield retaliated quickly and their number 3 scored again for them. At half time the score was 10-7 to Ashfield.

Second half commenced with the sun gone in but no sign of the wind dropping. Michael Brasier was off, injury to his ankle, and some fresh legs on. Ashfield came out strong and scored 4 tries in quick succession, fortunately for Keyworth only one of these was converted. Keyworth held out in the scrums even though Ashfield had a far heavy pack, they kept their own and didn't loose possession. Keyworth continued to battle on and again through passing the ball out along the line from Charlie Malik to Zach Mullins they managed to get the ball to George Flewitt for him to score his first try of this season. Some great tackles from Ben Holland, George Flewitt, Tom Newell and Ed Acroyd preventing Ashfield from having a bigger final score. Keyworth continued fighting to score again; they were close to the line when the final whistle went denying them of the chance of adding more points to the score.

Again boys you played brilliantly against a team that were bigger and heavier than you. Well done and keep it up, the scores are getting closer.

Final Score: Ashfield 37 Keyworth 12

Man of the Match: Luke Combellack

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20^th Nov 2011 

U14 NLD Shield Keyworth v Scunthorpe              

We managed to scrape together a team and in the eleventh hour a referee, thank you for Myles Halley for stepping in at the last minute. Due to one of our props being injured we requested that the scrums were uncontested. This did give our team a slight advantage as our weakness is that our pack is never anywhere near the same size as the opposition. The whistle went with Keyworth kicking off; Scunthorpe caught the ball and ran through the field of Keyworth players to score within the first minute followed by a conversion. Keyworth found their fighting spirit and battled on with great possession and playing the majority of the first half in Scunthorpe's half. Scunthorpe scored again, and then Charlie Sprosen found his legs and made it across the try line to open up Keyworths score. Tom Newell did a magnificent kick adding 2 more points for Keyworth. First half whistle blew with the score 7-14 to Scunthorpe.

Second half began with a player arriving late for Scunthorpe, who compared to our boys, looked like a giant. He kicked off for Scunthorpe belting the ball right into Keyworths 22. Due to his size it took a minimum of 2 Keyworth lads to bring him down, but they did so time and time again. Ben Cawthorn choosing the option to hang round his waist to slow him down! Unfortunately for Keyworth they could not stop them from going over the try line 4 more times.

The final score does not reflect how well the boys played, they should all be very proud of their efforts. 

Final Score: Keyworth 7 Scunthorpe 36

Man of the Match: Edward Acroyd