Cents Win Tournament - Young Guns Do Us Proud 24-03-08
London Skolars Premier 22 v 36 St. Albans Centurions 24th March 2008
The young guns of St. Albans Centurions turned in a magnificent performance on Easter Monday to crush London Skolars Premier and come away with the pre season tri-team tournament trophy.
Coach Shane Rampling had opted to give run outs to a host of junior players in preparation for the league season ahead and his bold decision paid dividends as every one of the youngsters played superbly. “The future of this club looks great with young guys like these coming up through the ranks,” said Rampling. “Today they were awesome and showed a maturity beyond their years.”
The game was played in bitterly cold conditions and with handling difficult it took the Cents some time to settle. They conceded an early try but after fifteen minutes Miles Dempsey burst through to score his first try of the afternoon. The more experienced London side still had the upper hand and stretched their lead to eight points when the Skolars scrum-half touched down in the corner and converted from the touchline.
Cents were quick to strike back when Lewis Padmore, looking like a veteran in this line up, kicked from ten metres out on the last tackle. The ball hit the upright and Padmore gathered to touch down under the posts. John Collins converted to add the extra two points.
For the rest of the first half the Cents had to soak up a lot of Skolars pressure and despite sterling work and a try saving tackle from Jack Cornthwaite, something had to give. It was no surprise when the Londoners grabbed another try to give them a 16 - 10 lead at half time.
The second half was a different story as the Centurions dominated the rest of the match. Despite having Andy Lake and Adam Cox sin binned for ten minutes, the St. Albans side continued to put pressure on their opponents and gradually gained the upper hand. They were more determined and more committed in every department of the game.
On sixty minutes, Shane Rampling made a fine break and slipped the ball to John Collins to score under the posts. Collins added the goal to level the score at 16 - 16. And the one-way traffic started. Winning the ball against the head, St. Albans set up a great attack as Paul Maloney burst through the Skolars defence. The ball went along the line and Miles Dempsey forced his way over the whitewash to score his second try, converted by Pete Chapman from the touchline.
Minutes later, there was another St. Albans try in the same corner when Chris True touched down after good work from Jamie Molloy and Miles Dempsey.
Everything was going wrong for the London Skolars. A poor kick on the last tackle, metres from the Centurions line, was kicked on by Jamie Molloy. The Centurions went the length of the field as the excellent John Collins hacked the ball on and gathered it to score under the posts. Hancock’s goal made it 32 - 16 but St. Albans Centurions weren’t finished yet. Another trademark burst from Paul Maloney saw him power his way through for four more points.
In the dying seconds, the Skolars Premier scored a consolation try but this was a well deserved, resounding victory for the Centurions. It is a tribute to the club’s development policy that so many juniors have come up through the ranks to play in the first team with this degree of success. M. Walling
Team: Cornthwaite; True (try); Molloy; Dempsey (2 tries); Turk; Rampling; Warner; Barnes; Collins (2 tries, 2 goals); Lake; Cox; Chapman (goal); Maloney (try); Weldon; Hancock (goal); Rayner; Padmore (try).
