Northampton Old Scouts RFC U14s South-West of England winners!

Having won the East Midlands plate competition in their final local game of the season against Oundle RFC, Scouts aimed to finish their season on a high on tour in Dorset.

Being drawn in pool A for their Saturday fixtures Scouts faced some good opposition from Cranbrook RFC, Old Whitgiffians RFC and London Scottish. Scouts started well securing a win 14-0 against a strong CRanbrook side before moving on to give a fine display winning their other pool fixtures against Old Whits and London Scottish 30-5 and 20-0 respectively.

Topping pool A saw Scouts advance to the Semi-final of the cup, but didnt know who the opposition would be as Pool B was still to be finalised between Maidstone RFC, Wellington RFC and Clevedon RFC.

Scouts waited patiently and were later notified they would play Clevedon in the Semi-final after they game second in their pool to Wellington. Cranbrook would face-off with Wellington in the other Semi-final.

Scouts kicked off and gave an exception display of Rugby with Elliot Clough (Flanker) opening the tally followed by Alex Billing(Centre), Oliver Swannell (Prop and Pack leader), Dan Reynolds (Wing) and Patrick Goodger (Centre) before Clevedon good find any type of form and finding themselves 25-0 down.

After a period of broken play and just before half-time Clevedon breached the Scouts defence to make the Half-Time score 25-5 in Scouts favour.Previous form returned for Scouts with Tiwa Brown(lock) dotting down followed by Zac Canuti (Wing and tour Captain)and Elliot Clough and Patrick Goodger both adding to their first half scores. A consolation Try for Clevedon finished the game with an impressive 50-10 Scouts victory.

Despite coming second in their pool Cranbrook proved their quality by beating Wellington in the Semifinals, allowing them to advance into the final to play Scouts for the second day running.

Having given an impressive performance in the Semi-final, Scouts knew they had to keep up the workrate and accuracy to beat Cranbrook for the second time.

Support from other clubs was excellent including Vigo, Wellington and Clevedon but a special mention goes to Mens Own RFC who were touring with a younger side but stuck around and adopted Scouts as their own, making lots of noise and really supporting the Scouts boys!

Thank you Mens Own RFC!

The game started with a good standard of Rugby from both sides but Clevedon were impressive at the breakdown and were lightening in their line press giving Scouts real trouble in terms of continuity. However, Ethan Clough took advantage of the pace of the advancing defence, selling an impressive dummy to the centre before sliding back inside to break through and score. Adding to his 5 with a well delivered conversion. (7-0)

Cranbrook were devastated to leak the first points but it seemed to galvanise the whole team who immediately game back and pressed Scouts try line for the remaining 7 minutes of the half. A good defensive effort from Scouts just wasn't enough with Cranbrook scoring a well deserved Try just before the HT whistle.

HT 7-7

The second half started as the first finished with an onslaught from Cranbrook and a number of injuries for Scouts made it look like the final may have been a game to far. However, Scouts worked their way up the field after a significant period of time bogged down in their own 22, a lineout, maul and break saw Ben Jones breach the Cranbrook line but a massive effort from the defenders resulted in a "held-up" call from the Referee.

Scouts settled and took the 5m scrum winning clean ball that Ben Jones collected at 8 before storming the blind side, this time driving over leaving the ref in no doubt that he had touched down to take Scouts back into the lead. 12-7.

Ethan Clough stepped up for a more difficult conversion but kept his cool and delivered, 14-7. Cranbrook rushed back up the field to kick-off knowing time was now against them, Scouts gathered and worked their way back into the Cranbrook half before Ethan Clough finished the game with a kick into touch to secure a well deserved win for the Scouts Tourists.

Full-time 14-7 NOSRFC

Ethan Clough achieved 100% from the boot this weekend, whilst every player, starter or finisher added value to the team and demonstrated to the South-west of England that Northampton is delivering good rugby and quality players!

Zac Canuti, this years tour captain supported by Oliver Swannell as Pack leader, both stepped up to the challenge on and off the field.

A great time was had by all with an excellent finish to the playing season.

Game 1 vs Cranbrook Win 14-0 Game 2 vs Old Whitgiffians Win 30-5 Game 3 vs London Scottish Win 20-0 Game 4 Semi-Final vs Clevedon Win 50-10 Game 5 Final vs Cranbrook Win 14-7

Come on you Scouts!!