VISITING VANDALS VANQUISHED:

On a beautiful winter morning the U13s put in their best performance of the year. Boosted by a full complement despite schools sevens season starting, the team used the pain of defeat last week to spur them on to victory.
After working on a weakness from the previous week during the warm up Streatham stepped into the sunshine backed by a strong home crowd. After a small period of level play the U13s soon began to show their potency in attack. Jamal Ryan-Coker playing at 8 in a tactical reshuffle steaming forward before offloading to captain and second row Rimarni Richards who gained ground before positioning himself to aid his supporting players in the ruck allowing the ball to be released to the returning Elijah Awa who offloaded to his centre partner John Olloh to run under the posts. Romeo Brown stepping up in the absence of the normal kicker to add the extras.
7-0

Following the early score Vandals attempted to exert pressure on the Streatham defence but strong tackling on the wing by Nathan Addy-Walker and good counter rucking by Kamal Monfries, Ethan Morris and Kabilay Sasmaz, who earned himself a bloody nose in the process, meant that Weybridge gained no ground. From this pressure the U13s earned a lineout 10 metres within their half and Brayner Anrade playing in an unfamiliar scrum half role picked his way through a stolen lineout to create space, presenting the ball despite the numbers surrounding him to allow a quick ball out to the backs. Good communication and attacking shape from Elijah Awa and John Olloh allowed Aadam Boakye acting fly half for the day to dummy and shimmy his way to the wing , straightening up to cross for the try. Romeo Brown supplying the extras. 14-0

The only blemish on this emphatic performance arrived shortly afterwards with the Vandals number 12 stealing around the fringe off a short ball to break through tackles and score 14-7. However, the team were determined to restore their two try advantage and the pace of John Olloh soon allowed them to, beating three players on the wing to score. 19-7

At half-time having lost the captain Rimarni Richards to injury the players were challenged to step up and improve on the previous half and to their credit they did. Jamal Ryan-Coker taking over the captaincy constantly harassed the Vandals players, placing pressure on the scrum half and first receivers. From one of these forays he was able to take three players out of the game and turnover the ball causing the ruck from which quick thinking and even quicker feet by Reese Rhoden lead to a try as he squirmed under a tackle and stepped past defenders and over the line. Romeo Brown adding the points again 26-7 .

The second of the half soon followed with Nathan Addy-Walker running the ball in from the 22 after good work from the whole team to get the ball through their hands. 31-7 the U13s ruck dominance soon told with Asaru Cameron-Lewis stealing the ball to offload to Aadam Boakye who found space to pass it for Elijah Awa to cross 36-7

Strong forward play lead to the next try as the Sasmaz brothers Enis and Kabilay combined with Asaru Cameron-Lewis to provide clean ball that found its way to John Olloh who stormed in down the wing. 41-7 . The same player was in again as offloads from Kabilay Sasmaz and Huwan Godetz (making his debut) lead to Elijah Awa making ground before passing to John Olloh for the try. 46-7
Elijah Awa was not content with being provider and turned scorer following a steal from acting captain Jamal Ryan-Coker and Jordan Unokesan's support. 51-7

Due to a 40 point difference the game was called as a league game but with 5 minutes left on the clock the game continued with a pick from Elijah Awa leading to an offload to John Olloh who crossed for his fifth try of the game. Romeo Brown adding the final points 58-7

A fantastic team performance with each player showing all his skills and an amazing spirit that will hopefully continue moving forward.