Grim weather fails to deter U14A from easing past Brighton

By Max Cardosi

It was cold, muddy day with bitter weather, but these factors did not stop Hampton from achieving a substantial 19-0 victory against Brighton College.

After a Brighton kick-off, Hampton were pushed deep into their 22, and forced to clear their lines immediately.  The result was a Brighton knock-on, which Hampton could capitalise on. This was the first of many scrums in the game due to the wet conditions which made the ball slippery and hard to catch. 

Hampton won this scrum and played a planned move which resulted in a lovely pop pass to Frank Hall, who ran a brilliant line through the middle of the Brighton line. Frank raced to the try line, scoring underneath the posts: Hampton ahead after a successful conversion by 7 points to nil.

Brighton enjoyed their first real opportunity of the game when they were awarded a penalty in the middle of the pitch, which they kicked to touch. From the line-out they passed the ball wide, creating space on the outside, but after running the ball back inside, their first opportunity to score was lost.

Throughout the game Brighton dominated possession but brilliant Hampton defence kept the opposition out. Hampton then took the initiative through Matt Venner after a brilliant steal at the ruck.  The ball was sent wide through the backs to give Finlay Wiseman acres of space to run into and eventually score. This brought the score to 12-0 to Hampton.

Some pin-ball rugby then resulted in a Hampton line-out in the Brighton 22 and a nice darting run back inside created space for Theo Tyler-Jones to run into. Unfortunately a forward pass denied him this opportunity, so half time arrived with Hampton leading 12-0.  

Brighton dominated the tight game throughout the match, wheeling the scrums due their sheer force. Also, they dominated possession with pick and gos from the ruck, but brilliant defence from Hampton made sure they didn’t break through and score. 

Finally pressure from Hampton pushed Brighton back into their own 22 and resulted in a turnover. Wide ball and quick hands brought a try in the corner for Finlay Wiseman, and the final score was 19-0 to Hampton.