Competitive under 15s rugby made a welcome return on Friday night down at the Haberden, with an intra-club match between two mixed teams. After such a long period without matches the obvious excitement was somewhat tempered by the understandable fear of how the extended lay-off had affected the players. However, these fears proved completely unfounded, as the whole squad put on an exhibition of fast-flowing rugby full of commitment, skill and excitement.

The match was played under RFU adapted rules, which meant no scrummaging or mauls and an emphasis on low tackling. Early pressure from the Green side led to an opening score from Austin Dennis, but the Whites came back well through a try from Will Hudson, converted by George Howard. Josh Grigg-Pettitt stretched out well to score a lovely try which Howard reliably converted before Luke Neal showed his pace to score and then converted his own try. The White team led 21-5 at the end of the first quarter.

Knowing the next score was vital if they were to stay in contention, the Green team came storming out at the start of the second quarter. Nico Marchini made one of us trademark slaloming breaks, but good defensive work from the White team held him up just short. The Greens stayed calm and continued to probe away at the strong defence and were duly rewarded when Marchini eventually crossed the line. Ben Hewett converted to bring the score back to 21-12. Strong runners on both sides made good breaks, first Austin Dennis held up by a great tackle from Finn O’Donnell before Vincent La Starza made his presence felt and was only stopped by strong work from Harry Wooldridge. The Green team were being pushed back and their defensive line was finally breached by a solid charge from Angus Hudson. George Howard converted to stretch the lead out to 28-12. With half-time rapidly approaching, the Whites hit back again, great work from Ali Evans making space for Tudor Weyers to score the try his excellent debut performance merited. Todd Hutchinson converted to leave the half time score at Greens 28-19 Whites.

The White team struck first in the second half, Charlie Chapman showing lovely footwork to break away, before Todd Hutchinson made a great tackle to prevent the try. Billy Reid was on hand to finish off the move and George Howard converted once again. His opposite no.10 Reuben Sorooshian was not to be outdone, showing a lovely step to score when the defence looked set – Todd Hutchinson converted to make the score 35-26. On 11 minutes another break from Chapman led to a well taken try from birthday boy Jake Sadler; Howard duly added the extras. Just before the drinks and hand sanitiser break clever planning from Finlay Blair and Ben Hewett saw Toby Coogan apparently over-extend his lineout throw, only for Hewett to collect and touch down, to leave the score at 42-31 with 15 minutes to play.

Once again the closely matched teams traded blows without scoring, first Tudor Weyers making a strong break that needed both Will Hudson and Joshua Grigg-Pettitt to haul him down, before Oli Cooper reminded us of his electric pace as he raced away 60 yards. Nico Marchini also showed great speed to chase down a long kick and score, the Green team sensibly opting to kick into the space behind the defensive line and turn their opponents around. Jake Sadler made another determined break, passing in contact to a supporting Will Hudson who in turn made a lovely offload to the on-rushing Billy Reid to score.

With time running out, Finlay Blair once again kicked into the space behind the White defensive line, for speedster James Walshe to almost score. The clearance kick was snaffled up by the impressive Callum Wilson to touchdown and bring things to a one score match. With time almost up Ben Hewett kicked a penalty to the corner for one last scoring attempt. Unfortunately, the resulting lineout was lost and the Whites cleared their lines to protect their lead of 47-41.

The endeavour and fitness shown by the entire squad was truly exceptional and it was made even more impressive by the Covid-19 interruptions to this season and the enforced lay-off from competitive, contact rugby. A lot of the handling and interplay was outstanding and, despite the enforced disruption, this squad continues to develop with every single player contributing to a great performance.