On Sunday the Lambs travelled down to Abergavenny RFC to face Crawshays in their third fixture of this 2022 campaign.
It was what can best be described as ‘a wet and muddy day’, and it must be noted, the groundsman did a great job draining the pitch ahead of kick off to ensure the pitch was safe the play on – whilst the stunning backdrop of Abergavenny took care of itself. It was Crawshays who got off to the quickest start, with an overlap on the left hand side leading to them scoring a try in the corner. This was followed fairly quickly by a penalty kick struck well from 30m out to make the score 0-8. This gave the Lambs the wakeup call required, and after shaking off their long journeys they started to show some fast and free rugby, despite the conditions. Some great offloads from across the team kept the ball alive and made the vital extra metres up the pitch.
This tempo of rugby started to break down the Crawshays, and alongside some great lines from the impressive Joe Barrett (Ampleforth College ) and Connor MacMillan (Shebbear College), they started to look very dangerous. McMillan nearly scored a vital try, but the ball went to touch before he could finish. Unfortunately no tries came from these attacks, and The Lambs went into half time very much still in the game (0-8). The second half started off with the Crawshays retaining a lot of possession and territory. Some excellent defending from The Lambs, with captain George Jones (Millfield) and the, once-again, impressive Freddy Wharton (St Peter’s, York), putting in some crucial tackles throughout. However, after defending for long periods of time, eventually the pressure showed and Crawshays crashed over 2 tries in quick succession to lead 22-0. The last 10 minutes saw the men in pink start to find some form again, and they finished off the game with a well struck cross field kick from Joel Sheldon (Royal Hospital School) with Barrett diving over in the corner to get some well-deserved points on the score board.
It was cracker of a game with some excellent rugby played. Even though the weather didn’t suite open and running rugby both teams showed ambition and the still played in lambs style – it was a pleasure to watch.
Full Time: Lambs 5-22 Crawshays
Match report – Will Vaughan (ex Lambs)
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Lambs XV
15 Joe Barrett (Ampleforth College), 14 Aaron Molnar (Millfield), 13 Charles Warren (Mount Kelly, vice captain), 12 Thomas Houghton-King (Taunton), 11 Connor MacMillan (Shebbear College), 10 Ted Church (Merchant Taylor’, Crosby), 9 Joel Sheldon (Royal Hospital School), 1 Jacob Steel (Northampton School for Boys), 2 Ross Sinclair (Trinity), 3 George Cresser (Northampton School for Boys), 4 Toby Merrick (AKS Lytham), 5 George Jones (Millfield, captain), 6 James Sisterson (Bishop’s Stortford College), 7 Freddie Wharton (St Peter’s, York), 8 Antonio Suarez (Mount Kelly).
Replacements: 16 Jimmy Hill (Rugby), 17 Michael van Haren (Royal Hospital School), 18 Eli Govindasamy (Royal Hospital School), 19 Paris Mcerlain (Lord Wandsworth College), 20 William Loftus (Sir Thomas Rich’s), 21 Jasper Orlebar (Oundle), 22 Kyan Cherwayko (King’s Canterbury).
Crawshays XV (Squad)
Backs:
Jake Jones (Cathedral School, Llandaff), Mason Parfitt (Monmouth), Henry Warren (Mounmouth), Matthew Price (Luctonians), Dylan Skyrme (Gwernyfed), Lochie Barron (Brynteg), Finn Hill (Cathedral School, Llandaff), Iestyn Pryce (Newtown College), Rhys Mottram (Stanwell), Dan Buffrey (St Peter’s RFC), Rhys Price (Cloeg y Cymoedd).
Forwards:
Owain Watts (Dullais Valley Youth), Dan Page (Coleg Sir Benfro), Alfie Thomas (Bassaleg), Zak Waters (Newport High), Josh Gay (Coleg Gwent), Will Phillips (Hereford & Ludlow College), Iestyn Wood (Ysgol Y Preseli), Seth Butler (Monmouth), Iestyn Comey (Ysgol Dyffryn Taf), James Trumper (Abergavenny RFC), Iwan Coyle (Builth Wells RFC), Owen Conquer (Llantwit Fadre RFC), Ben Main (Abergavenny RFC), Will Lydford (Shrewsbury College).