2nd XII Match Reports
Spring Term 2018
(Coach: Ollie Harrison)
Wednesday 14th March 2nd XII v Haileybury and Edge Grove [@ Haileybury]
Haileybury, lost 0-20
We started poorly in what was our penultimate match of the season. Passes were dropped, we fell off tackles and found ourselves two tries down in the first three minutes – not how we planned on playing!
Aadam Sharif provided some much needed ‘go forward’ when he had the ball in hand and Kyan Mentesh produced some slick passes from the base of rucks and scrums. The forward pack were outplayed in this match and didn’t ruck well enough, whilst the backs did the best they could do in poor conditions. Shaan Popat led the backline well and Niraan Shah, who played the majority of the match at full back, kicked well when called upon.
Alex Kaymakanov, who was the Man-of-the-Match, played superbly and carried strongly. Alex has really mastered the art of handing off players and using his strength to wrestle opponents to the ground when tackling as well as rucking. Well done, Alex!
Jordan Gravesande played well, coming on and playing at both lock and wing, and showed good footwork to nearly set Caelum Chang up for a try.
We took lessons learnt from this match and used our experience in the following match!
Edge Grove, lost 10-15
Thankfully, we started stronger in this match. Chaitanya Vyas scored a truly fantastic try as he ran onto the ball at full speed, ran down the touchline, sidestepped a player and scored a fantastic try. On the other wing, Krish Banerjee played particularly well and performed a number of ‘loop plays’ with Yuvraj Chahal, who was his usual dependable self today. Yuvraj put in one bone crunching (and completely legal!) tackle on Edge Grove’s biggest player, which produced gasps from the crowd! Yuvraj also scored a try from a well worked team move to round off his efforts today!
Arjun Rajkumar scrummed well and was a vocal player today, telling players where to go, as well as helping call a range of set moves from the forwards. Aryan Marde and Husain Suterwalla both played well and showed some effective ‘agility before contact’ when they were in possession of the ball.
Alex Kaymakanov was brilliant in both attack and defence and was a real leader once again – well done, Alex! Aidan Markham-Lee and Caelum Chang combined well and their effectiveness nearly led to a try at the end of the match.
For the match, the Man-of-the-Match was William Wang, who was outstanding. William never stopped running and put in five outstanding tackles. In one passage of play, William tackled an Edge Grove player, got up and tackled the next player, ripped the ball off him and threw a humungous pass over three Orley Farm players to put Chaitanya through a huge gap that had opened up. Well done, William!
Boys, it has genuinely been an absolute pleasure coaching you this rugby season. You have put in a lot of effort during Games lessons and have been a great group to teach – you’re all gentlemen off the pitch, but it’s lovely to see your competitive side come out when you’re on it. Please keep this attitude going in future years. Very well done!
Tries: C. Vyas, Y. Chahal
Ollie Harrison
Wednesday 7th March 2nd XII v Merchant Taylors’ [h] - lost 0-65
Today’s match was a very tough encounter against an incredibly strong team. We worked hard in attack with the ball and put together some effective team moves, but we were closed down quickly by the Merchant Taylors’ defence. Merchant Taylors’ were very aggressive at ruck time and this cost us dearly in the opening exchanges. They passed the ball well, rucked really effectively and scored a very early try.
However, we didn’t give up! Kyan Mentesh was incredibly tough today and did not give in. Kyan also threw some excellent dummies which fooled the opposition. Alongside him, Shaan Popat carried the ball well and used his footwork to beat two defenders and nearly score a try. Shaan combined well with our captain, Niraan Shah, who led the team well around the pitch.
Aadam Sharif was incredibly strong today and ran through a large amount of defenders with the ball in hand. As always, Aadam was one of our main ball carries and he nearly scored a try on two separate occasions as he got close to the try line before stopped he was stopped by either three or four players at a time.
Aidan Markham-Lee played well with Caelum Chang and they both rucked well when required and also carried strongly. William Wang was also a powerful force when he came on and made a crunching tackle near to our try line on one of their biggest ball carriers.
Today’s Man-of-the-Match was Alex Kaymakanov, who tackled like a back rower, handed off like a prop and passed like an established fly half. Alex was everywhere and today the team definitely looked to him for inspiration as he had a ‘never give up’ attitude. Well done, Alex, you should be proud of yourself today!
We have one more match left of the season. Let’s put in the maximum effort, boys, and come away with a fantastic result!
Ollie Harrison
Wednesday 7th February 2nd XII v St. Martin’s [h] - won 55-35
Wow! What a fantastic performance this was from our 2nd XII! We started incredibly strongly and scored three unanswered tries in quick succession. We played at a very high tempo and St. Martin’s couldn’t cope with us in the opening stages of the match.
Shaan Popat was at fly half today and organised the team well, knowing when to play short to the forwards and when to also go wide to take advantage of the space provided. Arjun Rajkumar carried so well and managed to fend off two St. Martin’s players as he passed the ball to Shaan for his first try. Shaan then showed some outstanding footwork to go around four opposition players on the way to his second try. Arjun also scored a fantastic try himself, whereby he helped to win the ball at the ruck and carried the ball over the try line himself.
Kyan Mentesh really bossed the game well and worked well with Shaan throughout the match. Kyan got two tries today, thanks to nifty footwork and a really high level of determination! Shaan and Kyan often played a ‘loop’ play or simply put it through the hands to make space for our centres, who were Yuvraj Chahal and Krish Banerjee. Kyan also made some well-timed dummy passes to throw off the opposition at numerous times throughout the match. Yuvraj and Krish combined very effectively today and worked well as a unit. Yuvraj put in the hard yards and was strong in attack and Krish, thanks to his pace, took advantage of the space that Yuvraj made for him to score a well-taken try. Yuvraj also scored a fantastic try which came off the back of an excellent carry from Aadam Sharif!
Aadam was today’s Man-of-the-Match and was so powerful with the ball in his hands. Opposition players were bouncing off of him like bowling balls and his strength brought genuine fear to the St. Martin’s players! Very well done, Aadam, for such a brilliant performance!
Husain Suterwalla was very smart at full back and cut through the tiniest of gaps in their defence to help set up Jordan Gravesande for his try. Jordan had a great game on the wing and showed a superb level of pace to evade one of their players. Chaitanya Vyas played admirably on the other wing and was determined throughout.
Aidan Markham-Lee and William Wang were both strong in rucks and Aidan and William both put in an absolutely smashing tackle (literally!) on one of their forwards. You could hear it from the other side of the pitch!
Caelum Chang scored the final try of the match when he took advantage of a lapse in concentration from the St. Martin’s boys. Well done boys on a super performance! I hope you have a lovely half term and show the same kind of attitude and determination after the half term break.
Tries: A. Rajkumar (2), S. Popat (2), K. Mentesh (2), Y. Chahal (2), J. Gravesande, K. Banerjee, C. Chang
Ollie Harrison
Wednesday 31st January 2nd XII v Arnold House [h] - lost 40-45
For our match today against Arnold House, we were on a smaller pitch at the top of Bloom Field, which I felt would play to our strengths of good rucking, a strong forward pack and good close range passing.
Arnold House had a very large forward, who scored a large number of tries for them and also made some good ground, but Alex Kaymakanov did a very good job of tackling him at the earliest of opportunities, whenever possible. Alex’s tackling technique was brilliant and there two tackles in the first half that could have been seen watching an international match! Alex also scored a brilliant close range try from a pick and go off the back of a ruck.
Alongside Alex, Aidan Markham-Lee and William Wang played well when they had the ball and made some good ground close to rucks.
Yuvraj Chahal and Chaitanya Vyas combined well in the backline and both managed to get a try. Yuvraj ran an exquisite running line for his try off of Kyan Mentesh, and Chaitanya found himself on the end of a superb ‘Saracens’ backs move which was started by Shaan Popat.
Shaan, as has been the case in every match so far this season, was excellent, and showed a lovely pass off his right hand to put Aadam Sharif over for a hard fought try. Shaan got a nice try as well and played a nice set of passes with Kyan Mentesh to go over the try line! Aadam lined up at fly half off the back of our scrums, as they were uncontested, and caused havoc with the ball. Arjun Rajkumar ran off of Aadam and managed to go over the try line, near the corner flag to score a good try from a well worked team move. Arjun played well today and showed good mental toughness in rucks and mauls. Well done, Arjun!
Niraan Shah was today’s Man-of-the-Match and led the team well. His kick offs were perfectly balanced and three of our team tries came directly from Niraan’s kicks! Niraan also called the backs’ moves well and worked well with Jordan Gravesande, who was on the wing for large parts of today’s match. Jordan did well to cut inside the Arnold House right winger to get his try.
We were unlucky to concede in what was the final minute of the match – on balance a 40-40 draw would have been a fair result in my opinion.
Well done boys on a fantastic performance!
Tries: Y. Chahal, C. Vyas, A. Sharif, S. Popat, J. Gravesande, A. Rajkumar, N. Shah, A. Kaymakanov
Ollie Harrison
Wednesday 24th January 2nd XII v Edge Grove [h] - lost 40-50
Today’s match, which was certainly a tale of two halves for Orley Farm, was a high scoring match and was genuinely enjoyable to watch. Skill levels with the ball in hand were very strong from both teams, however, Orley Farm in particular were incredibly slow to start.
We were falling off tackles, were not re-aligning correctly and generally did not seem to be particularly interested in tackling in the first half. This was a great shame, as we were more than capable of stopping at least four of their first half tries. We ended up going into half time on the wrong end of a 35-5 scoreline.
Early in the second half, we played simple but effective rugby and made good ground. Shaan Popat used clever footwork to go over for two tries. Kyan Mentesh then combined well with Shaan to put Yuvraj Chahal over the try line for another score. Aadam Sharif was incredible today and was the Man-of-the-Match! Aadam ended up with two tries, which came from clever running lines and his brute strength and power. Edge Grove players were falling off Aadam and he did very well to score his second try as he had three players on him!
Chaitanya Vyas scored our final try after a searing run down the wing. Alex Kaymakanov won the ball at a ruck after making two tackles in the two prior phases of play. Alex then passed the ball to Chaitanya who sprinted past four of their players. Chaitanya was everywhere today! He got involved in rucks and showed lovely footwork to run past the Edge Grove winger.
We conceded two late tries and the match finished 50-40 to Edge Grove and after an outstanding second half performance we were left to regret our lack of focus and effort in the first half.
Well done on an excellent second half, boys! If we keep this kind of effort and focus throughout the whole match, we will do incredibly well over the remainder of the rugby season.
Tries: S. Popat (4), A. Sharif (2), Y. Chahal, C. Vyas
Ollie Harrison
Wednesday 17th January 2nd XII v The Hall [a] - won 40-20
Today’s match, which was our first of the rugby season, was a fantastic affair with two strong running sides, who were competitive at the breakdown and showed some really good handling skills.
Early on in the first half, we played to our pattern of play and used the strength and power of our forwards, who were running off our backs. Caelum Chang and Alex Kaymakanov linked up well and carried the ball well, which lead to a try from Chaitanya Vyas. Chaitanya showed good pace on the wing and brilliant footwork to beat three defenders on the way to the try line.
Aadam Sharif and Arjun Rajkumar demonstrated good levels of power when they linked up with Shaan Popat for the first of his two tries. Shaan timed the run for his second try to perfection and ran onto a flat pass from Kyan Mentesh who played superbly today. Kyan was playing at scrum half, and as is often the case at the professional level as well as at schoolboy level, when the scrum half is on top of the game it is hard for the opposition to get much possession. Kyan showed a good range of spin passes as well as deft offloads and really controlled the game. Well done, Kyan!
Husain Suterwalla made some lovely swerving runs from full back and was able to pick some good runs out from the back of the pitch. When Orley Farm were near The Hall’s try line, Husain made a devastating run, which lead to a try from Yuvraj Chahal from close range. Yuvraj was Shaan’s centre partner today and they played well together, organising the back line in both attack and defence.
Krish Banerjee showed some really good footwork and pace to score a superb try in the right hand corner of the try line. This try came from a set move as Shaan drew the Hall’s inside centre out from the line and Niraan cleverly used Shaan as a decoy. We then simply passed the ball down the line and Krish finished off what was a great team try.
Niraan Shah, who was captain for today’s match, really led the team well. He was vocal both in attack and defence and provided the wingers with some great ‘go forward’ ball. Superb link up play from Niraan and Jordan Gravesande, who played in the forwards as well as playing at wing today, which shows off his versatility, led to Aadam Sharif’s close try. The Hall found it hard to cope with Aadam’s power today. He was aggressive when carrying the ball and also rucked well. Well done, Aadam!
Aidan Markham-Lee put in a brilliant shift at lock. Aidan worked hard when rucking and put in two crunching tackles. Aidan and William Wang, who was voted today’s Man-of-the-Match by his team mates, were both so strong in defence. It was William’s first rugby match and he was truly magnificent! His commitment in defence was incredible and he carried the ball strongly. There was one moment near the end of the match where William sensed that one of The Hall players was going to break the line and he sprinted across the 22 and smashed the opposition player into touch!
Our final try was scored by Jordan Gravesande late into the second half to finish off what was a fantastic match! Boys, I’m very impressed with your commitment and hope that your effort and teamwork continues in subsequent matches.
Tries: S. Popat (2), A. Sharif (2), C. Vyas, Y. Chahal, K. Banerjee, J. Gravesande
Ollie Harrison