Valiant U16's lose out in North Mids Cup Final

Sutton Coldfield Rugby Club Under 16s

Sponsoread by RJH Plastics Ltd of Aston

Press release 28th April 2013

Newport U16’s 55 Sutton Coldfield U16’s 10

Sutton’s under-16s outstanding season came to a climax with a North Midlands Cup Final appearance against Newport. After very few defeats in a long and arduous year expectations were high that the Green shirts quest for silverware would be fulfilled on the long trip to Leominster. On a bone hard and dusty pitch with a keen breeze to contend with it was Newport who showed their intentions early on with a brisk break out of defence and swift exchanges through the backs to carve an opening in front of the posts. Not intimidated by the noisy celebrations of the Newport fans Sutton surged back into the game with a ferocious assault by the forwards on the Newport line. Dominant forward play at the early scrums and rucks put Newport on the back foot and led to a number of consecutive infringements. A tap-penalty and quick hands along the backs set up a half chance for winger Jack Sanders to score with a fine finish in the right corner.
The next 10 minutes of play failed to trouble the scoreboard as the Sutton forwards continued to dominate at the set pieces and thwart clean ball for Newport. However midway through the first half Newport found a purple patch and ran in 4 further tries without reply despite some desperate defence from the Sutton backs.
Starting the second half 31-5 adrift, to their credit Sutton came out with dogged determination and for the first period after the break produced a number of chances form dominant forward play but to no avail. Again Newport seemed to find another gear and quickly ran in four more tries before fly-half Ollie Chitnis crowned another fine display with a well taken try close to the finish.
A disappointing end to a magnificent campaign was summed up by head coach Ross McDonald who said “On the day we were beaten by a very good Newport side, but we never let our heads drop and kept trying to attack until the final whistle. The players have had an excellent season and should be rightfully proud of their achievements notwithstanding this result”.