Cup Round 3 - Witham U13 v Billericay U13

Squad :
Taylor, Josh A, Sam, Cam, Thomas, Harry D, Alfie, Frye, Toby F, Archie, Toby G, James, Lennon, Charlie, Max, Lucas, Louis

The Billericay U13s travelled to Witham RUFC today for the 3rd round of the Essex RFU Waterfall Cup. We anticipated a tight match as Witham are in the same League as us and have had a similar pattern of results this season, unfortunately Witham had several players missing today and were unable to field a full team of 13, by Essex RFU rules this meant that the cup tie result was awarded to Billericay. We were obviously very keen to play a match and due to our squad size we were able to loan Witham 3 players. A big vote of thanks to Toby G, Louis and Sam who stepped up, put on a Witham shirt and put in 100% on behalf of our hosts.
The result of the match was a 35-30 win for Witham and it was a very tight but entertaining match with both teams trading scores and Witham taking the decisive score with the last play of the match.
Given that the cup result was already decided, Billericay took the opportunity to try out some different players in different positions so there was a lot of 'learning on the job' going on for the Bees which contributed to a bit of a loose start with Witham breaking through the Billericay lines early on to score 2 quick tries. The Bees settled down and got a foothold in the match and improved quickly, running in scores themselves but the 'area for improvement' today was the tackling, there were too many missed tackles today which were punished. One of the main positives for the U13s was the obvious improvements in confidence for some of the 'quieter' members of the squad who were able to make a real impact on the match.
The Bees kicked off the second half heading downhill which really helped the pace in the Billericay side and the match was drawn level and stayed that way until the last kick of the match.
Well done to all the boys today, a great effort and lots to be proud of and move forward with.

Paul Bolton
U13s Team Manager