Leverett hat-trick inspires Hampton U13A masterclass
By Arthur Hanna
The Hampton rugby players woke up on the 17th of January knowing they were about to face Merchant Taylor’s school at home on the beautiful, mowed pitches outside Hampton School.
These two sides had never met before this game so understandably, both team were unsure how the other would play.
Hampton walked onto the field and knew that if they won the toss, they would kick to put pressure on the opposition. However, this went Merchant Taylor’s way but thankfully for Hampton, they decided to receive.
Hampton’s captain and scrumhalf, Fred Gey van Pittius kicked off and this highly anticipated match was now under way.
Hampton began the match on the front foot and capitalised after a Merchant Taylor’s knock on to have the first scrum of the match. After a few phases, the ball found its way to Hampton’s lock, Luke Bennett, who powered through the Merchant Taylor’s defence to score the opening try. 5-0. Hampton rapidly gained momentum and scored the second try shortly after the first with fly-half Arthur Hanna feeding the ball to Benjamin McCune, who ran a beautiful line to pierce the Merchant Taylor’s defensive line and to make the score 10-0. In a superb solo effort, Dylan Turrell got the ball on the halfway line, produced a stunning turn of pace to seer down the touchline and as the Merchant Taylor’s fullback came across to make the tackle, Turrell stepped inside to evade the last man and score a wonderful try. Hampton continued this strong form and at half-time the scoreboard read 25-0.
As the second half got underway, Hampton knew they had to be weary of the Merchant Taylor’s centre, who had previously been playing wing but was now in the thick of the action, with bulldozing runs through the middle of the pitch. Despite this, Hampton kept the pressure on and with a two-on-one, it looked certain that Hampton would score, only the wrong decision was made under pressure and the try went begging. A few phases later the ball was taken into contact by Hampton and Hampton’s new scrumhalf, Arthur Hanna, quickly spun the ball down the blindside to Ralph Leverett who dived in to extend Hampton’s lead. Hampton kept up the pressure and added a few more tries to the scoreboard, but a sudden burst from the Merchant Taylor’s centre put him in for the first try for the team. Hampton didn’t let this faze them and Ralph Leverett completed his second half hattrick before finally, Sol Welch powered through a tired Merchant Taylor’s defence to round of a superb team display and the final score read as 45-5 in favour of Hampton School.
Overall, this was a complete performance with great handling, powerful running and brave tackles. Hampton will travel to Whitgift next knowing that it could be the toughest match they will play this season.
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