Tom Jameson U12 manager
“The Upper North Side”
As inner city fueds go this little local derby between North and South has gathered a little momentum over the recent months. As U10’s we barely knew each other existed yet in the following year as 11’s and now this young season as 12’s we have become friendly neighbours and bitter rivals on the field. Today was no less than our 7th meeting in just over a year. It has been the competitiveness and the tightness of these meetings that has spiced the brew to boiling point. No less than 4 of the 6 previous meetings, ‘winner takes all’, ‘loser goes home’ affairs, and in both matches of their Memorial tournament (including the final) and recently the district tournament plate semi final, it is the house of ‘the North’ that has prevailed.
Llandaff are a friendly bunch, but I can feel an increasing burning desire to get even amongst their boys. Having invited themselves around to our place I sensed revenge was on their minds, again. We were ready! The South side in their hoops of blue came as ever they do with a coordinated backline with pace but without the necessary beef in the herd to scare our hungry pack, themselves fresh from mauling the Dinas 8 last week. Dylan Bignall again led the way with a fiesty effort and Ewan Calder was exceptional in the loose. It was try hungry Archie Baxter who finally opened them up however, scoring in unfamilar fashion from just a yard. The lead was added to as the forwards flexed their muscles. The hooped blues panicked, missing a clearance kick in their own goal area, Archie fell on the ball to score.
Oddly our perfomance in narrow defeat at Dinas was superior to today’s, but we simply have the ‘Indian Sign’ on the neighbours. Today we were slower and indecisive, an ailment that saw us leak an interception try from Llandaff. It was to be the last points they’d score. Ben Hembury finished off a fine move that finally saw our backline purring before Archie grabbed his short range hat trick in an otherwise ponderous 2nd half. Memories of all their recent defeats to us must have come flooding back, and a scoreline today that for once was never in doubt. No nail biting injury time knockout blow needed to be delivered this time. In all honesty the score was flattering and in truth we were all more elated at last weeks performance in unjust defeat to Dinas Powys. After 7 games unbeaten against the boys from the South side however, we’ve simply ‘got their number’ and there’s only one winner at present in the feud of Llandaff, North and South….
Result:- Llandaff North U12’s …24 – 5…Llandaff U12’s
Tries:- A.Baxter (3), B.Hembury
Conversions:- B.Yarwood (2)
Man of the Match:- E.Calder
Manager’s Player of the day:- D.Bignall
Leave a Reply