Old Reds Under-9s v Chipping Sodbury Under-9s

GEORGE Lockett’s late try gave Chipping Sodbury Under-9s a hard-fought win over Old Reds.

Both defences dominated the first ten minutes, with Tyler Brookes leading the way.

Sodbury almost broke the deadlock through Archie Caldecott, who used his pace only to be held up just short of the line.

But it was Old Reds who finally took the lead with a well-worked try with almost every one of their players involved in the move.

Sodbury kept their heads and pushed forward, with Leo Rennick punching holes in the Old Reds defence.

From this, Sodbury won a penalty for a high tackle on Rennick. William Finch took a quick tap and pass that found Fred Howes, who used his speed and power to drive through defence and break the Old Reds line to run in Sodbury’s first try and level the scores going into half time.

Sodbury flew out the blocks after the break, Franklin Graffee breaking only to be held up 15 metres shy of the try line.

Tatiana Gillard was the first to react and produced a defence-splitting pass to release Riley Gustafson, who went over for Sodbury’s second.

However, that was followed by a fighting home try to level things back up.

Sodbury stepped it up again as Freddie Nutt started running at the Old Reds defence and offloaded to Sam Timbrell, who cut inside to produce a perfectly timed pass for Loe Rennick to touch down and put Sodbury back in front.

But straight from the kick off, Reds came at Sodbury and only a superb tackle by Lockett stopped Old Reds levelling once again.

Sodbury started to up the ante and were camped in the Reds half but found it hard to break through.

The hosts then seized on a spilled ball and ran the length of the pitch to score their third try.

As they did before, Sodbury went at Reds straight from the start as Fred Howe made great strides before being held up ten metres out.

Caldecott was first to the breakdown and popped a great pass to Sam Timbrell who ran in to put Sodbury back in front.

Back came Reds again with a never-say-die attitude pushing Sodbury back.

Tyler Brookes and Nutt put in some great tackles, but Reds did manage to break the Sodbury defence to go over for their fourth try making it all square going into the last five minutes of the match.

Sodbury could have dropped their heads but there is a great spirit in this team and back they came with Lockett picking up a loose ball and setting off down the pitch only to be stopped ten metres out from the line.

Sodbury were awarded a penalty for a high tackle, which Nutt passed to Lockett and there was no-one stopping him as he smashed through the Reds defence to score the winning try.