Late flourish gives U14A first win of the season

By Max Cardosi

Two late tries gave Hampton a battling home victory over Cranleigh following a disappointing result last week.

After a few forward moves early in the game, Hampton spread the ball wide and Frank Hall nearly made the first break as he burst through the centre of the pitch. 

Cranleigh conceded a number of penalties at the breakdown which gave Hampton the position they needed.

 A rolling maul fell short from the line-out, and after a few phases the ball was lost and a valuable opportunity was thrown away by Hampton. 

Cranleigh slowly worked their way up the pitch but some excellent defence from Joshua Vergunst forced them to knock the ball on, giving Hampton a scrum on their 10 metre line. 

A great scrum move saw Frank run straight through the line at ease, leaving him with only the full back to beat; he ran round him to register the first score of the game. 

Max Cardosi then converted to make the score 7-0 to Hampton. The game was back underway and after some great phase play, Hampton won a penalty in the Cranleigh 22. 

A quick tap-and-go caught the defence off guard and a great pass into space lead Hall into a large gap to score. Cardosi added the conversion to leave the score 14-0 at half time. 

In the second half Hampton, guilty of easing off, let Cranleigh take control of the game.  After some forward play they spread the ball wide, releasing their winger into space.   A pass inside brought the away team back into the game with a try and a conversion, bringing the score to 14-7. 

Then the Cranleigh fullback won the ball in space, and made a darting run through the Hampton defence to leave him in space,  He was brought down by a good tackle but quick ball wide gave Cranleigh the space they needed to level the score to 14-14 with a good conversion. 

Hampton then flicked a switch and fought their way back into the game, playing the rugby they were playing in the first half. 

Great tackling and rucking won the home side a penalty, which they kicked into touch at the 5 metre line. Again a rolling maul fell short but after some great forward runs Matt Venner got over the line to make the score 19-14. 

Another kick off give Finlay Wiseman the ball, and he made an excellent run, darting past his opponents to close off the game at 24-14 to Hampton.