1st XII Match Reports
Spring Term 2018
(Coaches: Alistair Slaughter and Stephen Bloom)
Wednesday 14th March 1st XIII v Haileybury and Edge Grove [@ Haileuybury] - won!
Orley 1st XIII Finish on a High with Undefeated Double
Haileybury, won 15-10
Orley Farm quickly put last week’s defeat behind them when they travelled to Haileybury and claimed two wins from their triangular encounter with Edge Grove and the hosts.
Haileybury were the first opponents and, having already played their match with Edge Grove, were well settled when we took the field. The boys started well though, making their coaches proud by hitting rucks quickly and efficiently to recycle the ball. Unfortunately, the ball was lost twice in quick succession after trying to make one pass too many which led to a frustrating run of play where Haileybury forced Orley Farm to defend run after run. The mounting pressure in midfield saw an opening out wide and we were the first to concede, the try coming from a crossfield kick that Johnny Sexton would have been proud of.
Skipper Henry Woodcock fired up his team in response and demanded better from them in attack and the team responded well.
After catching the kick off, the team put together around ten consecutive phases, proving that when the ball was valued, they would be hard to push off it. The pressure built, Jay Raithatha forced a break in the line and went over the line to score our first.
The response was visible and a renewed vigour led to Alex Gong almost scoring soon after. A strong defensive effort held him up over the line, however, and the score remained at five points apiece.
Disaster then almost struck for the team as another forced pass sent the ball into the hands of one of Haileybury’s strongest runners but smart cover tackling from Hugo Dorrian prevented the score.
Adam Virani was a nuisance for the opposition around the breakdown, getting into the middle of rucks to disrupt and making a few sniping runs by picking from the back of rucks.
Haroon Khan was the next to score. Much to the distaste of his coaches, he put in a strong twenty metre run, sideways. However, his pace was enough to get around the final defender and score, putting the score at 10-5 to Orley Farm.
A tiring defence were then made to suffer further as Oliver Slade made a burst down the wing and scored in the corner.
The fight from the Haileybury team was not gone, however, and they seemed intent on claiming one final score, in spite of the quick backline, led by Dev Patel who almost intercepted the ball on several occasions. They did in the end take the final score of the match but it was too late to deny Orley Farm the victory.
Tries: J. Raithatha, H. Khan, O. Slade
Edge Grove, won 15-10
In the second match of the afternoon, Orley went up against Edge Grove for the second time this season. The conditions felt very different to the match at the start of the season where rain made it almost impossible to string passes together and the low score of 10-5 to the Farm was a struggle to achieve. Today though, the pitch looked wide and the air was dry.
Edge Grove looked to take the lead early on, with a pacy backline and a couple of strong runners trying to break through our resilient defence. More than once, Alex had to drag down a player who looked in danger of skimming down the wing.
Orley Farm kept their composure, however, and picked up the first score through Haroon. Again, recycled phases helped to push the defence back and stretch the stronger tacklers. Haroon burst through on the fourth quick phase and crossed the line before the second line of defence could reach him.
Oliver then added another to his total for the year, doggedly driving on while support caught up, but escaping the tackle almost as they arrived and crashing over for the try.
At this point, Edge Grove managed to score one in response. The wing which had been so far restricted by Alex found a little more space after a lightning quick step and ran in Edge Grove’s first.
Orley were not to let them get back into the game though and, after turning the ball over in midfield, Shayen Vaid made a strong break before being tackled on the twenty-two metre line. A quick ruck, well marshalled by Elliot Taylor was able to keep the defence on the back foot and well timed passes from Henry and Adam gave Oliver the space to score, lengthening the lead to 15-5.
Edge Grove would have one more sting in their tail before the end of the game as their left wing broke through the wide defence and managed to beat Hugo’s almost successful chase to the line.
At 15-10, Orley Farm suddenly had to fight again and spend the final five minutes of the game weathering phase after phase from a determined attack. Sheil Trivedi’s work rate throughout both of the games had been super-human, being on the shoulder of nearly every break; now it was to come to the fore in the marathon defensive effort. After what seemed like an age, the call for last play came from the referee and with perfect timing, a powerful counter ruck from Jay and Kian Gandhi led to the ball being turned over.
In a final bit of drama, there was some misinterpretation of the shouts to kick the ball out and Shayen managed to launch a towering punt straight into the hands of the wing that had been troubling Orley all game. Fortunately, he was taken down yet again and, with the support unable to keep up with him, the ball was turned over.
Appropriately, it was skipper Henry Woodcock who had the final say and booted the ball into touch to bring an end to the game and finish Orley Farm’s season undefeated, save for the Merchant Taylors’ fixture.
Alex and Sheil received the Man-of-the-Match accolades in the respective games, though their defensive efforts in both could make the awards interchangeable.
Tries: O. Slade (2), H. Khan
Alistair Slaughter
Wednesday 7th March 1st XIII v Merchant Taylors’ [h] - lost 20-45
A tough and bruising encounter, our first since the half term break and a month to the day since beating St. Martin’s, saw us bravely surrender our 100% record against Merchant Taylors’. Having missed out on playing Durston House due to the weather last week as well as the disappointment of the cancellation of the annual Merchant Taylors’ 7s Tournament, the boys were proverbially chomping at the bit for a competitive match!
A slow start however resulted in us finding ourselves three tries down by the midway point of the first half. Whether it was a lack of urgency to the ruck or shifting the ball wide too early thus leaving our forwards out of the game, or probably a combination of both, we lost the ball at the breakdown and this enabled our visitors the space to run in the game’s first score. We were then punished for missing the first tackle, our line speed not being up scratch and then defending on the back foot, as MTS doubled their advantage. An overambitious pass – long distance into a swirling wind – then conceded possession and MTS all too easily capitalised on the space afforded to them to go 15-0 ahead.
With heads refusing to go down and a perfect record to defend, Dev Patel hauled us back into the game with an opportunist try as excellent line speed forced an interception and Dev was able to swoop on the ball and touch down to get us on the scoreboard. A quickly taken penalty saw us score again as the ball was shipped wide to Alex Gong who was able to crash over in the corner. The comeback was soon complete with a moment of individual brilliance from Adam Virani. With Elliott Taylor on the ground at the breakdown, Adam took it upon himself to act as dummy half and, as the saying goes, he simply gave the opposing 9 the eyes (he didn’t even move his feet to bamboozle him) and exploited the space to dive over the whitewash. It was a try which showed what a quality player Adam is.
And so, 15-15 at the break and we had shown great character to get back on level terms. However, MTS started the second half the stronger, as they did in the first period, and scored two quick tries; the first when our backs didn’t all come up together in defence allowing the broken line to be broken and then sloppy presentation at a ruck allowed our opponents a turnover from which they extended their lead to 25-15.
Showing tremendous resilience and fighting spirit again, despite having lost Kian Gandhi to a clash of heads and Alex to a bloodied nose, we fought back again with Oliver Slade running the near full length of the field to score. We then found ourselves camped inside the MTS’ 22 but were unable to capitalise on several penalty opportunities as their excellent defence stood firm as we finally lost the ball in a maul. A multi-phase possession resulted in them scoring the try which probably ended our resistance. More pressure and a tiring defence allowed them three further scores to put a gloss on their fine performance and left us facing a final score of 20-45 which was perhaps not a fair reflection of the real battle we gave this superb team.
Oliver Slade and Adam Virani were the two standout players in Mr Slaughter’s and my opinions and share the Man-of-the-Match accolade today. Despite defeat, four wins out of five is no bad record and we round off our season with a triangular fixture with Haileybury and Edge Grove next Wednesday in the idyllic grounds of Haileybury…
Tries: D. Patel, A. Gong, A. Virani, O. Slade
Stephen Bloom
Wednesday 7th February 1st XIII v St. Martin’s [a] - won 50-20
After convincing home wins over The Hall and Arnold House, as well as a tight away win against Edge Grove, the final match of this half term saw us on the road again as we travelled to Northwood to face St. Martin’s. Despite having one outstanding runner, who mixed pace and strength and was clearly their ‘go to’ player, we proved far too strong as we racked up 50 points to run out comfortable winners.
St. Martin’s made their intentions obvious early on as their first possession saw the ball spun out to their potent inside centre and, after running round the rest of his backline, charged down the line to score the game’s opening try. Not pretty rugby but ruthlessly effective in its execution nonetheless. This served as an early warning for us as we realised the importance of line speed in defence and this bore fruit moments later as the same player was forced into a handling error which allowed Elliott Taylor to pass the ball out to Dev Patel who gleefully strode over the whitewash to restore parity. In fact, the game completely turned on its head as, from the restart, we found ourselves 10-5 ahead. Hugo Dorrian returned the restarting kick with interest to get us good field position and urgency to and early ball from the breakdown enabled the try-hungry Oliver Slade to charge over the line.
We extended our lead moments later as a lovely blindside move between Oliver and captain Henry Woodcock resulted in a lovely switch ball back to Sheil Trivedi to touch down. A fourth try for Orley Farm was soon to follow when Oliver did extremely well to retain possession when chasing down Henry’s lofted clearance with the boot and the ball quickly found its way to the impregnable Adam Virani to score in the corner. St. Martin’s had the final say of the half, or rather their powerful 12 did, as a missed first tackle and slower line speed allowed him to build up ahead of steam from which there was only ever going to be one outcome.
A 20-10 lead at the interval certainly suggested there was work to be done in the second half, especially as the home side would have the twin advantage of the wind and slope in their favour. The first two tries of the half would have a considerable say in the destination of the spoils: St. Martin’s getting them would see the game level once again, whilst tries from the boys in red and black would see us move 20 points into the lead. Fortunately, the latter proved to be the case as we started the half in uncompromising fashion with tries from Oliver and a first from Jay Raithatha. Oliver’s was all about his individual brilliance as his jinking run saw him evade and bounce off several attempted tackles before Jay’s ‘black ball’ carry from the back of a ruck proved equally effective.
A third try for the St. Martin’s powerhouse served us a timely reminder that he wasn’t finished for the afternoon just yet as his mazy run, where we were guilty of defending on the back foot, brought the scoreline back to 30-15. However, three quick-fire tries – the second and third not actually seeing St. Martin’s touch the ball – put the game’s outcome beyond any doubt. Another high press saw us force the turnover and Henry, so often the orchestrator of chances for others, secured possession to dart through for his first try of the season. Jay then grabbed his second of the afternoon courtesy of another burst from the back of a ruck. Henry’s restart was outstanding as his lofted kick saw Oliver take the ball on the bounce to complete his hat-trick and in doing so score his 15th try of the season.
Wearying legs saw their inside centre score his fourth try but, unlike the first half, we had the final say on proceedings with the game’s final try in taking our points total to a half century. Jay made a fine break through the midfield and, when he was tackled 10 metres short of the try line, his textbook presentation secured early ball for Adam to pick and go for his second try of the afternoon. Adam deservedly scooped the Man-of-the-Match accolade as voted for by his team mates with five votes, closely followed by Jay and Henry with four and three respectively.
And so, a superb first half of the season comes to a close with a perfect record of four wins from four matches. The second half sees matches with Durston House, Merchant Taylors’, a triangular fixture with Haileybury and Edge Grove and the Merchant Taylors’ 7s Tournament all to look forward to. If the boys continue in the same vein with which they have approached these past five weeks, then there will doubtless be more successful days to come.
Tries: O. Slade (3), A. Virani (2), J. Raithatha (2), D. Patel, S. Trivedi, H. Woodcock
Stephen Bloom
Wednesday 31st January 1st XII v Arnold House [h] - won 70-15
Centres Lead the Way in Powerful Attacking Performance
The 1st XII returned home this week for their fixture with Arnold House. After having to adapt to an unfamiliar style of play last week, it was a welcome return to a pitch and conditions that encouraged running rugby and the quick hands that the team thrives on.
Traffic for the visitors held back kick off somewhat and anticipation for the game was running high. The match went against Orley Farm at the first play, however, with a strong runner catching some of the players napping. Fortunately, a well-timed tackle from Hugo Dorrian brought him down and in the ensuing turnover, Henry Woodcock and his quick backline were able to find space and head back up field, relieving some of the pressure and allowing the team to shake off the lackadaisical start caused by the long wait for kick off.
The lukewarm start was quickly shaken off, though, and the first try came soon after. Elliot Taylor was quick up in the defensive line and intercepted a pass intended for the Arnold House centre. He took the ball in and presented quickly allowing Adam Virani to ship a quick ball to Henry who released Aaron Kibria. Aaron, with one of his trademark jinking runs, whipped past two defenders and went over in the corner.
The applause from the touchline had barely subsided when the next try was run in by Jay Raithatha. In the match, Jay showed his best aggressive running all season, making the most of both his strength and pace to score three tries in total.
Henry and Oliver Slade too made the most of their individual skills. Henry scored next by spotting a sleeping defence after a penalty and diving over from a quick tap à la England’s Danny Care. Oliver made the most of long arms and fast feet to step and fend his own way into a scoring position.
Dev Patel, however, shone in this match. He only picked up one try but was instrumental in others. Seeing Sheil Trivedi break down the right, he used his pace to catch up in time for Sheil to offload from the tackle. The run was timed to perfection and Dev, hurtling down the pitch at full-tilt was never going to be stopped and he strode over the line seconds later.
The final score of the half went again to Oliver who scored off the back of two offloads from Josh Holloway and Shayen Vaid who freed their arms in contact. Though the gaps were tight, he managed to squeeze through and tumble his way over the line.
After the half, a couple of strong phases saw Orley Farm back on the opposition’s try line and finished the move with a pick-and-go from Jay who crashed over from a few metres out.
Seeing themselves ahead, possibly brought a little over-confidence to the home side, however. On the next play, kicking back to Arnold House, one of the opposition centres went on a slicing run, eventually breaking up the wing.
The first conceded score of the game fired up Jay again though. He first set up a try for Oliver, breaking the line for the centre to be put into a gap by Henry. Then he went on his own adventure from centre field, outpacing both the full back and covering tackler on his way to his third try of the match.
Alex Gong made himself a feature of the scoreboard again, this time picking and running from an unguarded ruck while he stood in at scrum half.
Many of the team’s tries came as the result of a vastly improved rucking performance when Kian Gandhi and Haroon Khan made a nuisance of themselves around the contact area in defence and provided quick ball in attack.
Another carving run from an opposition player saw the visitors score again after some back and forward play in the centre third.
Sheil ensured that Orley Farm were not out of the end-zone long, though, making another break up the right after a wandering Mevan Wijayatilake appeared in the back line and gave Orley the overlap. This time though, Sheil finished the move himself.
Arnold House scored one more as the game drew to a close but Oliver had the final word, sprinting through a tired defence to score as the final whistle blew.
It was a convincing return to form for the team after a challenging game last week. However, the weather looks set to change next week, when the team travels to St. Martins for the last fixture of the half term. Preparations for this game will be in the forefront of many minds as the team looks to go four from four for the first half of the season.
Tries: O. Slade (5), J. Raithatha (3), A. Kibria (2), H. Woodcock, D. Patel, A. Gong, S. Trivedi
Alistair Slaughter
Wednesday 24th January 1st XII v Edge Grove [a] - won 10-5
Orley Farm Drowns Out Doubters in Downpour
After a strong start to the season last week, the pressure was on to match the performance in Orley Farm 1st XII’s second fixture: close rivals Edge Grove.
Looking out of the window this morning, you would be forgiven for thinking that a postponement might be on the cards, such was the strength of the wind and immensity of the rain; however, come break time, the message came that the fixture was still on and it was time for the boys to prove their worth in very different conditions to last week.
Edge Grove looked a strong side from the outset, their bigger runners causing the defensive line some problems but outstanding cover tackling from Hugo Dorrian, Adam Virani and Elliott Taylor ensured that their half breaks were cut short.
In the weather, Orley Farm did well to move the ball through the hands but a couple of promising breaks were stalled by the slippery conditions, making it difficult to get away from the strong tackles the opposition were putting in. Nevertheless, Oliver Slade made some strong runs through the middle and when the ball made it out to the wing, Aaron Kibria and Alex Gong became a handful for the defence.
The first try came from a surprising break from Aaron, who, having received the ball with only inches of space, used his lightning footwork to evade three tackles, gaining a valuable fifteen metres before he was brought down. A strong ruck allowed Elliott to clear the ball quickly and swift hands from Henry Woodcock and Dev Patel gave Oliver the space to score in the corner.
Edge Grove then mounted their counter attack. After holding the ball up in the middle of the field for a few phases, the opposition’s winger was released and showed astonishing pace to get the better of the backline; however, it was Alex who showed gas of his own to chase him down and tackle him into touch.
Strong rucking from Edge Grove meant that possession was hard to come by, but when Oliver spotted a loose ball from the back of a ruck, he made the most of it, fending off the last man to run in his second try of the day, shortly before the whistle went for half time.
Henry gave a few good pointers at half time, focusing on winning rucks and ensuring the ball is retained for the next phase. When the whistle blew for the second half, his team seemed to have listened well.
Josh Holloway, Mevan Wijayatilake and Kian Gandhi, who had put in an excellent shift throughout the game, made their power tell in the second half, contributing to a few turnovers as well as retaining possession for Orley Farm. Adam also stood out in defence, probably leading the tackle count for Orley Farm, and demonstrating his versatility around the park.
Edge Grove’s strong rucking and runners ground out a comeback try, however, as their forwards managed to bully their way up the field before picking and driving over a ruck from short distance. At 10-5, everything was to play for and, with only minutes on the clock, the game almost turned on its head.
Before the retaliation though, Orley Farm almost pulled away again. A break down the wing from Shayen Vaid saw the opposition pushed back to their try line. Jay Raithatha had made some punishing runs throughout the game and almost found a score when he took the ball straight from the scrum and charged towards the line. He was almost at the white when a last-ditch tackle brought him down. Unfortunately as he fell, the ball, like a bar of soap in a clichéd comedy, squirted from his hands, leaving the game with still only five points the difference.
It was then, that the game almost turned.
From the resulting scrum, Hugo caught the clearance kick and sought to penetrate a gap in centre field. When he was tackled, however, an Edge Grove played managed to secure it for his team and a quick ruck released their winger once again.
Showing not only pace but also evasive strength in this run, he managed to break the first line and, miles from any defenders, looked certain to score. He flew through the twenty-two, the ten and then the five in no time at all. His eyes must have lit up as he started to make his final approach, but he did not see the formidable form of Hugo rearing up from across the field like a silent crosswind. Hugo with support from a backtracking Oliver heaved the player over the corner flag, denying him the try and securing the ball for Orley Farm.
Orley Farm held their lead to end, with two last gasp plays being shut down before they could break into Orley’s half. Taking the ball off the scrum, Henry had the last word, booting the ball into the would-be stands to bring on the final whistle.
It was a fantastic game of tough, scrappy rugby, with a heated display from both teams warming the sodden, shivering spectators. It showed, though narrowly, that the team who excelled on the wide dry pitch last week could hold their own when the elements were against them.
Next week the first team will join the second team at home to Arnold House. Supporters will be keen to see if they can make it a run of three but everyone knows that only hard work is going to ensure the performances stay high and the results hopefully follow.
Tries: O. Slade (2)
Alistair Slaughter
Wednesday 17th January 1st XII v The Hall [h] - won 85-10
First Match Sees Tough Rivals Beaten Decisively
From the players’ experience of The Hall last season, everyone knew that they would bring a strong and physical side. However, it was Orley Farm 1st XII’s ability to play structured rugby that proved itself today.
The statistics from the match speak for themselves when you look at the team effort from the Orley boys today:
Of sixteen tries, nine were scored wide, seven passed through three or more pairs of hands in the final phase and only one involved any player cutting across the pitch.
The tries are too many to mention individually but there were two standout sequences in the game.
The first came early in the second half, Henry Woodcock taking a quick tap only ten metres from his own goal line but having the guts to throw a long pass out to Oliver Slade who took the overlap on offer, making ten metres. Before the covering fullback could tackle him, he passed back inside to Dev Patel, who timed his support run to perfection. Dev made twenty metres of his own before handing the ball back to Oliver who gave up the ball for Kian Gandhi to score.
The second highlight of the match came from Adam Virani who sold a dummy pass wonderfully to skip past the first defender before handing off to Shayen Vaid. Shayen took contact but was able to offload to Alex Gong who, to the amazement of the defence and spectators, kept in bounds to score, despite receiving the ball and contact within a metre of the touchline.
The backs were not the only stars however, as the forwards made their presence known. Turning over several rucks through strong counter rucking, they made sure that Orley Farm retained the lion’s share of possession and worked tirelessly hard throughout the game.
Haroon Khan had an excellent first team debut, scoring two tries, both coming from punishing runs through multiple defenders. However, it was his work around the park, hitting rucks, making tackles and generally supporting every other play that impressed the most, even catching the attention of the opposition coach. It was his silky offload to Shayen which will stick in the minds of the spectators, though: executing it perfectly from the back of his hand while holding off a tackler on his other side.
Henry Woodcock led brilliantly from the front, possibly topping the tackle count and managing to tackle three players consecutively before anyone else could get there.
Every player stood up and made themselves counted today, many not only standing out in their preferred position but showing versatility when experiments were made. A special mention also goes to the two year sevens in the team, Mevan Wijayatilake and Adam Virani, for stepping up; but Oliver Slade was given the honour of Man-of-the-Match by his team mates. He demonstrated his strong running throughout, but his tackling, timed passing and work rate made him a stand out player across the board.
Henry was modest in his debrief, saying to his team, ‘A win is a great way to start but we still have a lot to work on’. However, it was not hard to see how pleased he and the rest of the team were to see their efforts reflect in the result today.
Next week, the team travels to Edge Grove and will seek to continue the momentum of this early win. We all hope to see further successes in the future and look forward to seeing more performances of this calibre as the season develops.
Tries: O. Slade (5), A. Gong (3), H. Khan (2), D. Patel (2), A. Virani, S. Trivedi, S. Vaid, K. Gandhi, J. Raithatha
Alistair Slaughter