St Albans Centurions

Starting with news from the Juniors at the weekend (12-06-10) we have the U13's match report.

Centurions U13's 8 - 34 Richmond U13's

Cents came up against a somewhat rejuvenated Richmond side from the team we played at home. With some huge forwards and fast skill full back it was a hard game which Richmond eventually ran out winners.

Richmond exerted some early pressure and scored 3 tries early in the 1st half but Cents finished the half very strongly putting pressure on the Richmond side but without any reward. HT- 0-14.

The 2nd half Richmond started again very strongly with 4 unanswered tries and the score at 0-34, Cents started to have a bit of belief and tries from Luc Jeannot and Callum Porter, Cents finished the 2nd half strongly and can come away with some respect.
FT 34-8.

Cents MOM of Tom McBride, hard work and good runs, an overall good game.

Starting line up for Cents was;

Charlie Dollard-Wing
Kasey Burrough-Thompson-Wing
Will Curtis-Centre
Jarred Kenworthy-Centre
Czaryk Biallows-Stand off
Tom McBride-Scrum Half
Luc Jeannot-Prop
Jack Mason-Hooker
Declan Allen-Prop
Callum Porter-2nd Row
Nikolas Gaspar-2nd Row
Joseph Harrison-Loose Forward

12s

Playing their 1st game in 4 weeks the junior cents took on new maldon magpies coming away with a good win 28-20. All players played really well with jack williams,sean thomas,patrick addison and mishack konia scoring trys.

16s

St Albans Centurions 'A' 38 -V- 84 Norwich City Saxons

With no first team fixture this week, full attention was on the development fixture against Norwich City Saxons. In a game characterised by poor defence, the tone was set when straight from the kick-off Norwich spilling the kick, and a mix of strong running and a defence slow off the mark let David Coyle cross the line, conversion by Andy John. However having set their stall out the Centurions conceded possession from the kick-off when the ball cannoned of a cents player for a knock-on. From the resulting scrum Norwich drove down the Cents right flank and levelled the score a 6-6 with only 5 minutes played. Straight from the kick-off the Centurions restored their lead when David Coyle crossed for his second, again converted by Andy Johns. But the Cents where unable to hold onto the lead as the Saxons exposed the compressed Cents defence scoring down both flanks, with the Cents conceding 4 tries (3 converted) over the next 10 minutes. Following this was brief period of Cents possession aided by penalties that gave the Centurions good field position, but they were unable to convert this into points, and were again punished as the Saxons made their possession count scoring another 3 tries (2 converted) before half time (12-42 HT).

St Albans Centurions U16's 14 -V- 6 Brentwood

The U16's entertained Brentwood in a rearranged wednesday night fixture, playing in wet conditions ball control was an issue for both teams. It was the centurions that grew in confindence and handled the conditions better and on the back of some massive hits Judd Otene sliced his way through to score the opening try,ben doherty converting 6-0. Brentwood got themselves back into the game when on the back of the cents giving away multiple penalties for offsides their number 9 dived over, the try was converted and the scores were tied at 6-6 going in at halftime.

The 2nd half saw the cents boys really take control of the match daniel hedison, luke fiacca, bryan kugra and adam sherwood-pearce making great inroads in attack. Ben doherty got the next try catching the Brentwood defence off guard and aaron chandler sealed the match using his size and pace to go over in the corner.The coaching staff were really pleased with the effort and attitude of the boys which put the cents back into 3rd spot on the ladder.

Centurions have been training local women for the past month now with the view of competing in Merit League Festivals over London this summer.

Training is on Tuesday nights at 7:30 with the senior centurions squad and from all accounts the girls are showing up the boys!

The merit league comprises of multiple festivals with teams free to arrange additional fixtures with each other in the spare weeks. League points will be aquired at both festivals and arranged fixtures. The season will culminate with the top teams competing in the final along with the Mens Merit League Final, and the RLC Southern Premier Final.

The first festival takes place on the 12th June at West London Sharks, as part of the London Rugby League Community Day.

London Skolars 18-V-52 St Albans Centurions

On the warmest day of the year the Cents travelled to North London to play the Skolars reserve team in the Southern Premier League with the Skolars fielding 5 players from their RFL Championship One team.
Playing up the slope the Cents were soon on the score sheet when centre Rudie van der Merwe scored a try. This came from some strong running from the Centurions forwards and a quick play the ball allowed a gap to appear in the Skolars defence. Brett Welsh converted. Pressure from the kick off on the Skolars caused them to make mistakes and forced the Skolars to drop out from under their post. From this the Centurion forwards drove the ball back into the Skolars 10 metres. With a quick play the ball and quick hands down the line sent in Darren Westhead for a try. Centurions then gave away two penalties and the Skolars made over 60 metres with their kicks. A quick tap caught the Cents defence short in numbers out wide and the Skolars were on the score sheet with a try.