Basildon RFC U14 v Billericay RFC U14 8/9/19

Squad : Taylor, Josh A, Sam, Thomas, Harry D, Alfie, Frye, Toby F, Archie, Toby G, Joseph, Lennon, Ted, Conor, Harry S, Lucas, Chase, Louis

Billericay took a squad of 18 boys over to Basildon RFC for the first friendly of the season and despite it being a hard match for the boys, it was a really good learning experience for them all and they will be a much stronger team for it for the season ahead.

There was a lot of 'new stuff' for the boys on their first outing as U14s ; first full 15 a side, first 8 man scrum, first line outs, first conversions and the first time on a full size pitch.

The sun was out and the ground was still quite firm so it was always going to be an energy sapping afternoon for Billericay but they stood up really well against a very strong and physical opposition squad of 25 and the additional Basildon manpower would really prove to be an advantage.

The match was played as 4 'quarters' to enable both sets of coaches to test players in a variety of positions, the first quarter was a very even affair with both teams looking to gain ground. Billericay kept excellent discipline in the scrum and were a real match for the Basildon boys.
The first score went to Basildon towards the end of the quarter with a neat flowing move finished off by their very pacy back line.

The middle part of the match was where the larger Basildon squad was able to change things around more than Billericay could given the lower numbers available, this enabled Basildon to dominate territory and run in some more tries.

The Billericay boys never let their heads drop, and they were regularly in the Basildon 22 but credit to the Basildon defence, they always managed to find a last ditch tackle when required.

In the final quarter, Billericay rallied and kept Basildon at bay for the whole 15 minutes, this was a real victory for our boys as we had no more substitutes and some tired boys digging in deep and defending really well.

A day for the boys to be proud of and learn from and move forward to the next match

Well done lads !

Paul Bolton
Billericay RFC U14 Team Manager