A pleasant drive out to Cirencester this morning for the Under 14's. The match was played on Cirencesters first pitch, one of the best condition playing surfaces around and a credit to their club. The game started at pace and Cirencester pressured the Abingdon line immediately. Their huge pack winning initial ball for their fast backline quickly saw Cirencester up by 17 points to nil.

Abingdon got into their stride however and soon dominated the forwards with some excellent scrummaging and some excellent running in the backs by Lordy & Luke. Rory put in some good kicks over the Cirencester back line and the game turned around allowing Abingdon possession on the cirencester 22 with 2 excellent tries ran in by Truman hunt in almost exact circumstances.

With the halftime score at 17 - 10 to Cirencester, the Abingdon team started to believe more in their abilities and started the second half as they had finished the first. Some great tackling on the wings kept Cirencester subdued for long periods and Abingdon worked the rucks and mauls well with good turnover won. One of these turnovers fed the ball out to the backs with great link up play leaving Luke to run the ball over and under the posts from 30 yds out.

Soon after, with another scrummage well executed, Abingdons No: 8, Jackson Burton, picked up from the back and showed power and pace to run the ball over from 35 yards.

The last 10 minutes saw Cirencester winning more forward ball and pressuring the Abingdon line. Excellent defensive work kept them at bay and after what must have been a 5 minute last play with both teams giving their all, the ball was cleared and the whistle went.

This was one of the most spirited displays of rugby shown by Abingdon for a long time and superb team work across the park together with the desire to win and good support play gave the boys this very deserved victory.

Noteable performances from all over the park today with some players playing in unfamiliar positions due to low numbers.

WELL DONE ALL

Congratulations to Witney and very best wishes in the next round of the cup.

A hard, battling game saw Witney turn the game around in the 2nd half. Abingdon led 8 - 0 at half time with a penalty kicked by Rory Garrett followed by a try for Jackson Burton.

We now need to focus on defending our Plate trophy. Well done all, especially the unused replacements Ed A, Ed B & William who understood fully their role as a squad member today.

Cheers

Martin

Enjoyed a rare match today after so many weeks off thanks to Quins agreeing to host us as our pitches still under water. Game played in 4 x 15min quarters giving opportunity to let whole squad to be involved. First 2 quarters close with the score ending 5-10 to Quins. Forwards scrummaging good but quins rucked well winning good ball for their backs.

3rd quarter was a bit imbalanced with Quins taking score out to 7 - 21 after both teams made many replacements.

Last quarter was played with great passion by both teams and was the best section of play to watch. Good hard play, a try from each team and real passion being shown across the pitch.

Overall, Abingdon were slow to start and only displayed good quality rugby on a couple of occasions. Quins applied good pressure and deserved the win with an overall score 17 -36.

Abingdon try scorers Nick Boreham 2 Jacob Knight 1 - Rory Garrett 1 Conv.

Good team performance against a very big, physical Chippy side.

With recent defeats and draws experienced, the boys were really fired up for this encounter with Grove. Some high intensity training in both the forwards and backs over the last couple of weeks really paid off and superb team work across the pitch payed off quickly with the first try.

Pressure was kept on the Grove side and Abingdon never let them settle. This soon saw three more tries before half time with a score of 26 - 0. A Ref change was made 4 minutes before half time after Scott tore a calf muscle and Lee Marsden took over (thanks Lee)

The second half saw more resistance from Grove but the Abingdon pack remained strong in Scrummage and Ruck ball and had good success in both disciplines. The backs saw some tremendous running from Luke and Lordy together with Jackson (no:8). 2 more tries came in the second half to finish the game off, which was stopped a few minutes early due to a suspected neck injury to 'Legs'. Again, thanks go to Lee and Chris from Grove who spotted the possibility of neck /spinal damage and immediately imobilised  Legs until the ambulance arrived. We are glad to report that he is fine and suffered a pulled / torn Deltoid muscle as opposed to skeletal damage so recovery will hopefully be swift.

Try scorers, Jackson 3, Luke 2, Lordy 1 and 3 from 6 convs for Rory in very windy conditions.

Greatly improved performance from the whole squad

WELL DONE ALL

Tough fought game against a very good Witney team. Nil all at half time with Witney taking good advantage of the wind in the second half.

A good tough game played in poor conditions saw quite a few handling mistakes and the majority of play with the forwards. Abingdon dominated the scrum with much won against the head and 100% of own scrums won. Lineouts need some work as scraggly at times.

Great tackling from both sets of boys and good determination. Lordy scored Abingdons try after 10 minutes and Wallingfords try came at the end of a very long second half. New players learnt a lot as did those playing in new positions for the first time.

Well done all

Good tough game played in heavy, wet conditions. Lots of work for the forwards to do and the Abingdon pack played very well. Own scrummage won 100% and approx 50% against the head as well.

Good tackling from both sets of boys saw free running stiffled for the majority of the match. Abingdons try came from a great backs move which landed the ball with Lordy who touched down in the corner after a 20 meter run went unopposed after 10 minutes.

On the balance of play, Wallingford deserved their try which was the last move of a very long second half. Continuing to develop our new signings in to their positions, and also playing a couple in completely new positions meant this result was a great achievement.

WELL DONE ALL

Not a great deal to say about this game. Played in foul conditions made handling tricky for both teams. The match was also played with reduced numbers as we lent Gosford 5 of our players from an already depleted squad due to CSoR and sickness. So with no flankers the packs played with 6 men.

Abingdons first score came from excellent support play by Ed Bryant on the left wing, receiving the ball and taking it over from around 10 meters out wide. Kicking conditions were not good and no points came from the subsequent conversion. Gosford came straight back and scored 2 tries in quick succession with Abingdon adding one through Will Sutcliffe just before half time to make it 10 - 12. The second half score was exactly the same. Both abingdon tries were again scored by Will S.

Thanks must go to the 5 Abingdon lads who agreed to play for Gosford. Without this kind gesture, the match would not have happened so well done and thanks to Happy, Jacob, Backy, Jason and Joe .

More team work needed and more input and involvement from some players would have given us a better result. One positive from the match was the 60 yard run made by Jack B who was stopped just a stride from the try line. A great effort from a new player whos run was comentated by his father stride for stride from the side lines. Duncan C made some very strong runs and made good yardage on several occassions and his efforts were much appreciated today. Looking forward to the next match..

A good start to the season for the U14's with a victory against a much improved Oxford side. Oxford started strong and bright showing good strength in their forward pack. After just 5 minutes they scored a converted try.

Abingdon fought back and showed good character against the battling Oxford squad and ran in 2 tries before half time to leave it 10 - 7.

Squad size allowed Abingdon to make many subs at half time and again, a good hard battling half of rugby followed. Abingdon started to get on top and there were some superb hard driving runs and excellent support play. The final score was 36 - 7 to Abingdon hopefully this will form a good basis to build on for the rest of the season.

Abingdon fielded 4 new players today, some of which had never played rugby before. They all played very well and can feel very proud of themselves, as to can the existing squad members.

WELL DONE ALL

A good start to the season with a win over Oxford. The first half was very close with the Oxford pack showing good strength.

Abingdon showed good fighting spirit and despite going a converted try down within the first 5 minutes, finished the first half 10 - 7 up.

Having a big squad, Abingdon were able to make a lot of changes at halftime and these changes kept the pressure on. There was some good, strong play from both sides but Abingdon started to edge away with some powerful surging runs and excellent support play.

Tries for Jackson Burton, Adam Scholey, Luke Rutty (2), John Lord (2) and 3 successful conversions for Rory Garrett saw the points roll in. A good start and i'm sure more to come as the season progresses.

WELL DONE ALL