Under 14

Whitchurch 25 - Sandbach 19 Sun 13 February 2000 Sandbach U14's played very well in parts of this game but on other occasions appeared to be unable to retain their concentration. It was this that cost them the match as Whitchurch took full advantage of the periods that their visitors were half asleep ! Within two minutes of the kick off Whitchurch were forced to make a change to their pack due to injury - the lad in question being rushed to hospital (we trust he makes a full recovery) - and there was along stoppage in play as a result. Whitchurch scored first (unconverted) but fine attacking rugby from Sandbach saw winger Mike Huss over in the left corner for a well worked team try. Andy Rollings converted from a difficult angle. The remainder of the first half was an evenly fought contest but towards the close Whitchurch touched down again to lead 10-7 at the turnaround. Immediately after the re-start Whitchurch scored again. A break on the Sandbach twenty two metre line saw a Whitchurch forward break three attempted tackles by the half asleep Sandbach defence to score. Again the try went uncoverted. This seemed to galvanise the Sandbach team into action and following a run of penalties in their favour winger Andy Rollings finished off another excellent piece of team play to score under the posts. He duly converted his own try. So at 15-14 there was everything to play for but two further lapses of concentration allowed Whitchurch to score twice more. Neither try was converted. At 25-14 against them Sandbach needed to score quickly. They rallied strongly and with excellent work by flanker Tom Kiernan, Rollings was released to score in the right corner. However he was unable to convert on this occasion due to the tight angle and found that his attempt was literally the last kick of the match. Sandbach - Gooch, Henry, Lawrence, Faulkner, Wagstaff, Kiernan, Caen, Stubbs, Hodgkinson, Greenhalgh, Ashwin, Rollings, Huss, Eyers, McCracken (Walton).