MC Quins friendly v Cirencester.
The Quins players decided to give themselves, coaches, parents and supporters an early christmas gift with a hard fought win over the Cirencester U15’s. Match prep had started the day before with coach Lou ‘Vixen’ Martin trying to touch base with the Ciren coaching team who were concerned about both the state of their pitches and the fact they may have to start without a full front row. With the Quins having their strongest squad for the season available as well as the players wanting to have a final game in 2023, it was decided that pitch permitting we would play whatever Ciren were able to play. The morning of the match led to 3 of the Quins squad having to withdraw due to some seasonal flu.
Arriving with 19 players on a warm winters day, following a short warm up headed up by coach Jacque ‘Dunder’ Danford the team captain Noah ‘Noel’ McDerment decided to play down the Minety’esc slope for the first half. It was evident from the first kick off that the team were up for a good performance. Throughout the game, the forwards kept pressure on the opposition as if they were pulling santa’s sleigh and he was cracking the whip to push them hard. Knowing that Ciren had a new prop in the match, they followed the coaches request to merely hold the first 2 scrums, to allow him to settle in. On the 3rd scrum on the Ciren line, they unleashed the Quins power driving the opposition off the ball allowing Troy ‘Blixem’ Martin to pick the ball up from No 8 and like his name he drove like lightning over the line to score the first try close to the posts. This allowed Will ‘Prancer’ Kerslake to easily slot the conversion.
The forwards continued to win good ball with some excellent off loading in attack, some strong running by everyone with good leg drives making ground by everyone. This allowed for another try within 5 minutes for Troy ‘Blixem’. However being a little further out, the ‘Prancer’ wasn't able to make the conversion. Score 12-0. With the pack providing good, safe and secure ball, the backs made some incisive runs both through the middle and out wide. A great run by Harry ‘Dancer’ Andrews who beat 3 defenders before being stopped by 2 Ciren players, laid the ball back on a plate for Donnachie ‘chief elve’ to pass on to the marauding front row of Henry ‘the rampaging moose’ Hibbard to score a lovely try unopposed from about 10 metres out (or from the half way line if you listen to the rampaging moose…..). Unfortunately ‘the Prancer’ hit the post on the conversion attempt. Leading to a 17-0 score.
Towards the end of the first end half, unfortunately the Ciren team lost their prop to injury which led to the rest of the game being played with uncontested scrums. Having been on top in this area, the rampaging moose, alongside his front row partners Fred ‘the charging hippo’ Greenhill and Seb ‘the Ox’ Turner-Oxham were obviously disappointed. However the Quins didn't have it all their own way. The Ciren team stuck to the task and it needed some strong rucking and counter rucking by the Quins pack and some amazing defensive tackling by both centre’s Sam ‘Donner’ Clarke and Dodsy ‘Comet’ Dodsworth as well as a great performance by Alex ‘Dasher’ Barnett under the high ball at 15 to keep the Ciren team to no score at half time.
With Ciren kicking off the second half, they soon made good use of the slope advantage and managed to catch the Quins napping with some strong running through some weak tackles to score their first try close to the post, which was easily converted to make it 17-7. The Ciren team clearly buoyed on by the try continued to press hard and it wasn’t too long before they crossed the line for another deserved try which was converted to make it 17-14. It was at this time that the rain decided to make an appearance. This made the ball exceptionally slippery, however it is a testament to both sides that there were very few knock ons in the match.
With the score line down to a single score, the Quins stepped up the intensity and although Ciren made a few strong runs towards the Quins tryline, the Quins did finish the match stronger and as kindly mentioned by the Ciren coaching staff at the end of the match, the Quins showed some great maturity and drive to close the match out with 2 final tries, one by Dara ‘the Norwegian Christmas tree’ Finch (which was converted by the ‘Prancer’) before ‘Blixhem’ Martin scored his first hat trick for the Quins which led to the final score 29-14. In addition to it being Troy’s first hat trick, the coaches would like to pass on their specific thanks to Joshua ‘newbie’ Knowles who had his first game for the Quins, as well as to Dodsy ‘Comet’ for finishing the game with no injuries.
The Quins staff would like to pass on their sincere gratitude to the players and their parents/ careers. The fact that our supporters outnumbered the home team today is a testament to your dedication to the squad. So thank you and we wish you all a very merry festive season!