The Woodlands 13 Bablake 17. U16 final at BPA.

In a pulsating U16 final it took an injury time try for Bablake to deny Woodlands, and an even later disallowed try for Woodlands to settle this hard fought match at the BPA. A game that was a credit to both sides ebbed and flowed throughout, especially in an exciting 2nd half. The first half saw Woodlands starting the stronger, as Bablake nerves showed. Woodlands Ben Palmer made a good break,

which was carried on Aaron Graham who almost scored. A resulting penalty was kicked by Palmer to give Woodlands a 3 point lead after 5 mins.

Both sides were taking time to settle although Woodlands seemed the stronger in the pack initially. However Woodlands were giving too many penalties away, and as Bablake's confidence grew, it was no surprise towards the end of the first quarter that an excellent passing movement in the backs was finished off by Mathew Storey in the corner. Morgan Baker put over the difficult conversion to make score Woodlands 3 Bablake  7.

Woodlands came straight back running from within their own 22m line for Tom Walker to beat the cover on the outside to score an excellent try in the corner, for an unconverted try. Score now Woodlands 8 Bablake 7.

Penalties were letting down Woodlands attacks and Baker put over another penalty kick on halftime to make the score Woodlands 8 Bablake 10.

The second half saw Woodlands playing with a verve and confidence, but coming up against an excellent Bablake defence. It was no surprise that after 20 mins with Bablake still entrenched in their own half that a kick through by Woodlands was first collected by Sam Chare, then onto Mike Tyrrell for the final scoring pass to Kyle Timms. With the injured Palmer replaced the conversion was missed making score Woodlands 13 Bablake 10.

Woodlands continued to press for the final clinching score but were unable to breach the well organised Bablake defence. Bablake summoned up their energies for a final push, and at last broke out of their own half with 5 mins to go. Desperate Woodlands defence kept them out but just approaching injury time a sweeping move across the field was just thwarted on the line by a knock-on. At the resultant Woodlands 5m scrum the defending side ball was lost and the impressive Morgan Baker surged over. Baker converted his own try to make the score   Woodlands 13   Bablake 17.

Yet the drama was still to continue as deep into injury time Woodlands surged back up-field. A penalty to Woodlands deep in the Bablake half gave them their last chance. The ball was recycled towards the wing, from distance it appeared that a try was scored, but after a long deliberation by the officials the try was disallowed, as the ball was lost forward over the line. The jubilation on the faces of Bablake and the despair on Woodlands said it all.An excellent advert for Coventry Schools rugby played at great pace and a great deal of skill. A game that could have gone either way throughout, in the the end it was the goal kicking and scrummaging power of Bablake that finally saw them through.

Woodlands squad:   Aaron Graham, Tom Fisher, Ewen Thomas, Stuart Cooke, Shaun Nicholson, Sam Chare, Kyle Timms, Owen Whittle, Sam Eaton, Ben Palmer, Tom Walker, Mike Tyrrell, Sam Keating, Andrew Millington, Gareth Windsor, Omar Hanif, Adam Plumb, Daniel Falcini,  Conor McClelland, Lewis Goddard, James Fisher, Charlie Mumford.

Bablake squad:   Parmveer  Sunnar, Chuka Ogbuneke, William Thornhill, John Masser, Alex Newbold, Charlie Ladbury, Ben Stansfield, Kilian Kleine, Rory Moynihan,  Adam King, Morgan Baker, Mathew Storey, Alex Popplewell, Avid Dwyer, Sam Jack, Cameron Lindsay, Oliver White.

Scorers Woodlands:   Tries   Tom Walker, Kyle Timms,

Pen     Ben Palmer.

Bablake         Tries  Mathew Storey, Morgan Baker

Con    Baker (2).

Pen    Baker.