Last season results here

U13s Match Reports

Match Report U13s v Long Buckby 8/11/09

Long Buckby travelled to Bidwell Park with high expectations and were quickly into their stride as they dominated the possession from the kick off and moved the ball through the hands early.

Some excellent tackling from the D’s defence kept them at bay but after a succession of phases, gaps appeared in the Dunstablians line and Long Buckby scored under the posts to draw first blood and led 7-0 after the successful conversion.

This served as a wake up call to the Dunstable side and they gradually worked their way back into the game with some great work from the forwards who started to dominant at the breakdown and provide good ball for the back division to probe Long Buckby’s defence and a short pass to Harry Lousley saw him burst through at Centre for a converted try to bring the scores level.

The Dunstablians forwards continued to turn the screw against their larger opponents with John Hawkins popping up everywhere in both attack and defence and with the good ball provided, Dominic Barrett spotted the Long Buckby defence was stretched and with an arcing run, scored under the posts from 40 yards out. Fly Half Barrett again exploited the outnumbered Long Buckby defence and scored his second of the game with an identical try to his first effort, Michael Morris added the conversion to put D’s 19-7 ahead.

With the Dunstablians pack starting to dominate, the ball broke loose on the blind side and was quickly seized upon by Michael Morris who broke up the blindside and outstripped the defensive cover to score under the posts from inside his own half, he added the conversion to put D’s in the driving seat.

Long Buckby came back strongly and dominated the territory in the latter stages of the half although D’s defence held firm and rarely looked like being breached.

The second half continued with Long Buckby trying to force their way back into the game but the D’s forwards handled the threat capably and once again turned the ball over and fed the quick thinking Michael Morris who chipped over the flat Long Buckby back line and dribbled the ball over the line to record his second score of the game. D’s continued to look a threat and it was no surprise when they scored again, John Hawkins gathered the ball just inside his own half and took off on a rampaging run, his fellow forwards were close in support and when he was tackled, recycled the ball quickly to Scrum Half Michael Morris who scampered over for his third try, he failed with the conversion attempt as he took his personal points tally to 21.

Final score Dunstablians 36 – 7 Long Buckby

Report by Helen Wheeler

Match Report U13s v Letchworth 1/11/09

A sodden and blustery Bidwell Hill provided the setting for this friendly match against a determined, well drilled Letchworth team.  Although rather mild, the conditions were always going to make it difficult to play an expansive game.  And so it was to prove. 

From the off both sets of forwards were flat out at the break down, vying for control.  Letchworth pack set their stall out and worked well as a unit, particularly their back row, making it difficult for the Dees front eight to dominate the rucks and mauls.  After five minutes Letchworth were pinned back in their own twenty two with the throw-in to the line-out.  John Hawkins rose above the opposition to put two hands on the ball and break through the Letchworth line out.  An incisive run followed by a good off-load saw the ball passing through two sets of hands to Antony Lunga on the left wing.  Still with some work to do, Anthony hit top in two short steps and out-paced the Letchworth winger to run in from 15 metres out.  A good short phase of continuity being well rewarded with the points.  Michael Morris stepped up to enter a duel with the wind, placing the conversion near enough to confuse the ref into awarding Dees with the extra two,  7 – 0 six minutes.  Rather than settling the home side down the score appeared to galvanise the Letchworth pack to greater efforts, putting a lot of pressure on a rather disjointed Dunstablians front eight.  Often first to the break down in ones or twos Dees forwards often lost out as the Letchworth second phase came in thicker and faster and began to win more ball than they ought to have consequently making it difficult for the scrum half to get clean ball out to the backs.  Despite this disadvantage Morris sniped a lot of ball and used it to good affect, Dees still aiming to play the wide game.  On numerous occasions the backs aimed to get it out to the wing, but more often than not the soapy ball and bluster of windage served to confound their intentions.  Harry took some good ball at inside centre to test the Letchworth defensive line on three occasions, thwarted only by some dogged tackling from the visitors.  Letchworth unleashed a few attacks of their own, twice having the Dunstable defence pedalling backwards over thirty metres and continually looking to play a wide game themselves.  Their toil and inventiveness coming to nought with Dunstablians making some good individual defence in face of an onslaught.  Letchworth continued to apply the pressure at the scrum and, despite a strong run from Barrett around the outside left wing and a speculative yet rewarding kick from Morris resulting in a very strong attacking position right at the end, the score remained a converted try to nil at half time. 

Letchworth started the second half as aggressively as they had finished the first.  Nudging ahead at the break down and in the set pieces they put pressure on Dunstablians forwards and were rewarded by a well deserved try on 48 minutes when the back row crafted a gap in the Dunstable defence.  A good kick made it 7- 7, all to play for with Letchworth in the ascendency.  Dees soon recovered their composure and the forwards worked very hard to redress the balance, with some success.  This allowed for quicker ball to the backs, and again Morris responded by shipping it more quickly to the outside.  On fifty eight minutes one such phase saw Barrett receive the ball and, seeing the defence quite bunched, opted for a run around the Letchworth left wing, scoring under the posts from a long mid-field arc, the hard work of the forwards sucking in enough men for the space to be realised.  This seemed to focus the performance and Dees began to look more comfortable in defence as Letchworth refused to drop the pace.  Increasingly the attacks were dealt with in a more organised fashion and some sort of structure returned to the big boys up front.  Rucking and mauling became more equitable as Dees entered the breakdown in a more organised and determined fashion.  However, it still required some individual stoicism to hold an attack minded opposition at bay.  As the second half progressed more and more individuals began to demonstrate their abilities.  Ali worked his socks off getting to the first receiver and did some useful work underneath the maul.  Hawkins was, more often than not, first to the breakdown, working hard at the coal face to stem the energetic Letchworth forwards.  Joined by Sniff Ryan and Stevo the forwards became increasingly assertive, Damien, Skelce and Hayden carrying the ball and nullifying the threat from the opposition pack.  Again, the hard work paid dividends, quick recycle from the break down saw the ball shipped well and Harry fed a smart short pass out to Barrett at full pelt.  Difficult to defend, Barrett ran in from thirty metres. 

19-7, trauma with the kick as the wind intervened and blew the ball over during the run up.  From this Dees were not in danger of losing the game, yet Letchworth continued to press up to the final whistle, making a true competition of it in every department and forcing Dees onto the back foot on a couple more occasions.

Final score Dunstablians 19 – 7 Letchworth.