Streatham-Croydon U14s pipped at the last by Battersea Ironsides.

Less than 24 hours after England’s convincing win against Ireland in Dublin, the u14s played host to Battersea Ironsides u14B squad in the Treasurers Surrey Cup. The match was in doubt due to the ground conditions but with a slightly delayed start meant that the sun warmed up the pitch sufficiently.
In a closely contested game played in Great Spirit, the lead see-sawed over the entire 50 minutes but Battersea Ironsides claimed the win with a try in the final seconds of the game.

The game started with both sides going close to opening the scoring were it not for resolute defending.
However on 5 minutes, Ironsides broke down the right and ran in their first try. 0-7. The boys struck back two minutes later through Jaden Wallace-Anderson 5-7. The game was nip and tuck with William Robinson, EJ Luteke, Alix Michael and Harvey Akeme all making thundering runs to try and break through. However the Battersea defence were up for the challenge and tackled well. The pressure and Joseph Gallon found Jaden who broke through again to give Streatham-Croydon the lead for the first time 10-7. However, with a few minutes to go before half time, two lapses in concentration led to 10 unanswered points ensuring that Ironsides went in 10-17 up.

A minute into the second half and Jaden sealed his third try and with a successful conversion from Diran Oresanya, both sides were level for the first time.

Good defending from both sides kept the scores level. James Ward at Fullback along with wingers Lorenzo Zilli, Jamil Ako-Mensah and sub Jayden Whyte made crucial try saving tackles. However Battersea eventually found a gap in the defence conjured up a well worked try .17-22
However the boys were matching Battersea in commitment and levels of intensity and from a 5m scrum, Sebastian Douglas, Nigel Seruyange, Jude McDonnell, Abhinav Menon and the rest of the pack stood firm and EJ Luteke picked up from the base of the scrum to charge over the line. 22-22
Battersea regrouped scored an opportunistic try to give them a lead one more. 22-27.
With 5 minutes to go, the boys charged up once more but were pushed back. Then Diran intercepted the ball on his 10 m line, charged up the field and three Battersea defenders chasing. Knowing that he could not get to the line, he offloaded the ball to Harvey who found Cillian Lawlor to charge over the line for his first try. 27-27. Tom McKeone came on to replace Joseph at Scrum half to make his debut for the team.

With seconds left on the clock Battersea kicked long from the restart and camped in the Streatham-Croydon’s 22. Tired bodies and legs meant that they could not hold out Battersea’s No8 (their man of the match) who eventually scored the winning try. Despite the defeat, Streatham-Croydon RFC u14 squad played exceptionally well and were a credit to the club.