Aluredian
64
A
fter a disappointing first
game at Canford, the Junior
Colts had a terrific season,
reversing last year's defeats
to Clifton, Blundell's and
Monmouth into hard-fought
victories. The Clifton game saw a much
improved performance, especially by the
forwards at the breakdown. Good ball enabled
the backs to run, with Dominic Bracher always
threatening, and man of the match was prop
and try-scorer Hikaru Ichikawa.
The second turnaround was against Blundell's,
where in a closely contested fixture we
scrummaged well and put the opposition on the
back foot. Skipper Henry Close stood out, and
there was dogged tackling by Jamie Grantham
and James Pardy, while Dominic Bracher scored
the two tries in a well-deserved 17-12 win.
An interception try in the first few minutes by
Sam Merriweather against King's Worcester set
us on our way to another turnaround, an
impressive 31-0 win. Further scores came
from Will Griffiths and Milo Reynolds, with two
in the final minutes from Dominic Bracher.
Against a very physical, direct Millfield side,
full of strong runners and powerful forwards,
we played particularly well in the second half,
with an excellent scoring chance going begging,
and superb defence all game from Sam
Merriweather. We reversed another result from
last year with an excellent team performance
against Monmouth. Man of the match Henry
Close linked well with the backs, and there
were tries for Dominic Bracher (two), Joe Watts
and Sam Merriweather.
The forwards really won the Taunton School
game, their pick and drive game providing an
excellent platform for the backs to run off.
Quick ball enabled Sam Merriweather and
Dominic Bracher to make serious in-roads all
game, and there were some excellent passages
of interplay and support running in our 45-10
win.
We also qualified for the Floodlit Cup Final but
it was called off due to flooding. Top try-scorer
for the season was Dominic Bracher with 29
tries, an outstanding achievement.
T
he Bs had a difficult season,
and frequently struggled to
contain much bigger and
more physical opponents.
Howvere they always played
with great spirit, nowhere
more so than at Clifton - fly-half Will Walters
was man of the match.
It was a great performance against Plymouth
College though, with all 20 of the squad
making their mark in an impressive 46-10 win.
Outstanding performances from Milo Reynolds
and Nuno Akarapongpisak in the pack battered
their rivals, and led to some spirited running by
Joe Watts, Tom Drysdale and Ben Ferguson in
the backs.
We were strong at the breakdown against
Blundell's, but gave away too much possession
through lack of support in the loose. Will
Gerwat was outstanding in defence, while pick
of the pack were Nuno Agarapongpisak, Rob
Geraghty and Alan Lennox-Boyd.
We played our best rugby of the season to lead
7-0 at half-time against King's, Worcester.
Unfortunately we suffered five injuries and lost
our shape rather, but the defence was huge.
An impressive Millfield side had to work hard
for their victory, with dogged defence and
powerful forward play the hallmarks of a gritty
performance.
Against Monmouth we started with all guns
blazing and could have had a try in the second
minute. Unfortunately a taller, faster, stronger
Monmouth side went on to dominate scrum
and breakdown, though there was terrific
tackling by Jordan Webb, and again Jason
Gonultas proved our strongest runner.
We had a titanic struggle against King
Edward's, Bath, losing eventually by a single
score. James Gonultas ran in two good tries,
tackling was outstanding, and the finish nailbiting.
Junior
Colts
Sam Merriweather finds a
gap in the Taunton School
defence