Epping U15s kicked off their season away against Barking with an encouraging performance, especially considering a very short pre-season and a mixture of new players and help from two U14s to make up our numbers.

The first half was very scrappy from Epping Upper Clapton. We had plenty of possession but were unable to break through Barking`s rushing defence. A couple of mini breaks looked promising, but handling errors let us down at the crucial moments. Barking however, played very well and managed to break through for two tries in the first half plus one conversion to lead 12-0 at half time. Whereas Barking gave us no time on the ball, we were not closing them down quickly enough. This is something we must improve on. We found out how hard it is too play against this sort of pressure and improving this aspect of our game is essential.

The second half immediately got off to a bad start with Barking scoring plus converting to lead 19-0. However, from this point on our boys switched on and some superb forward phase play led to three consecutive tries from Connor (on his return) Oliver and Big Joe – special mention to Ollie’s lovely drop kick conversion form the touchline. With another conversion and one miss it was tied at 19 -19 with 15 mins to go.

With all the rugby now being played in Barking’s half, Epping should have wrapped this game up. The forwards continued to dominate in the scrum, winning against the head numerous times. Lots more pick and go`s led to more sustained pressure and we were held up on the line 3 times. With the last play of the game however, Barking managed to intercept and race the whole length of the pitch to score.

So, a very frustrating end to the game. The players were devasted but should be proud of themselves.

The game was played in a fantastic spirit and thanks to Barking for a very entertaining match.

Special praise to our new and new/old boys Dan and Connor!

No M-O-M was given but stand out players were Oscar and Ben. Both were immense.

Thanks also to the U14`S who turned out for us – Michael and Aiden.

In summary lots of positives to take from the game – the forward play was a joy to watch including several controlled phases of play. Heads didn’t go down when they could have and we fought back very strongly.

Plenty of things to work on however, so please make every effort to attend training.