Dagenham U13 vs Billericay U13 Essex Waterfall Cup Round 4

Squad : Taylor, Josh, Sam, Cam, Thomas, Josh C, Tyler, Alfie, Frye, Archie, Toby G, James, Max, Lennon, Charlie, Lucas

The scoreline looks bad but it does not tell the whole story of the match today. Dagenham visited Willowbrook back in October for an entertaining friendly which finished in a draw. They have improved considerably since then and are a much stronger and more physical outfit than the last time the two teams met. Billericay have also improved in many areas since then but physical strength and size makes a big difference in Youth rugby and Billericay could not match Dagenham in those departments. The Billericay scrum which has been very competitive since the start of the season struggled today against a much stronger pack and the Bees also lost out in a lot of rucks whereas in the last match they were dominant against a similarly sized opposition. Billericay did manage to put together some very nice rugby during the match and ran in two excellent scores but the physical job the boys had to do to defend their territory resulted in tiredness creeping in and Dagenham were able to breakaway too often and the quick runners in red could not be contained.
The second half performance was much improved vs the first half, the boys kept their heads up and kept working and are looking forward to learning from the defeat and getting back to the training ground next Sunday and then on to the next match on the 24th Feb.
Thankyou to Dagenham for hosting us today, the welcome in the clubhouse was very welcome after the cold of the East London air !!
Paul Bolton