Weather
Sam for England
From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Tuesday 4th Feb 2003.
IT'S been a good week for junior rugby players locally, following a host of representative call-ups.
Chippenham youngster Sam Alford has been included in the England Under 16s squad for the forthcoming internationals against Wales and Italy.
But he still has to come through a number of development sessions and warm-up games prior to the internationals before any final selections are made.
Clubmates Dave Ward and Mark Livesey took part in further trials with the England Club's Under 18 squad at the weekend and survived the cut.
England play Leeds Tykes in a warm-up game on Sunday, February 23 with the final squad for the Four Nations Championships being picked afterwards.
Fellow Chippenham players Laurence Ovens and Joe Alford are still waiting how they have done.
They took part in trials for the England Schools Under 18s squad and final trials take place in two weeks' time.
Kingsdown pupil Gareth Davis has been drafted into Berkshire Under 14 county squad.
Davis, who can play anywhere in the front row, switched from to National League Two outfit Newbury recently and said: "The standard of players vying for county selection was very high so to get into the squad has pleased me no end.''
Cirencester youngster Chris Barefoot played fly-half for Gloucestershire Under 17s in their 15-10 win over Somerset last weekend.
Barefoot, a pupil at Rendcomb College, started his rugby career aged seven at the Whiteway club.
A win in their final match next week against Devizes will see them finish top of their pool and qualify for the semi-finals to face Trowbridge, the runners-up in the other pool.
Chippenham survived heavy pressure to break out and score a superb long-distance try, centre Tom Boreham putting winger Matt Tara clear for a 60 metre run into the line.
Soon after, inside centre Callum Fannin made another break from halfway to run in a second and with Boreham converting both, Chippenham went into the break with a 14-0 lead.
Two tries early in the second half from flanker Nick Bendry and Boreham effectively made the game safe for the visitors. There were further touchdowns for Boreham and full-back Emory Garrett, with Boreham and Aaron Clark adding a conversion apiece.
Chippenham relaxed and allowed the Salisbury fly-half a late try.
The under 12s led the way, despatching their opposition 14-7. Tom Davis and Alex Hutton were the try scorers with the conversions coming from Davis.
In the second game, coach Kevin Ingram made changes, one of which was to bring on Richard Thatcher, who scored two tries. Will Richards and Davis again were the other try scorers and Davis added four conversions for a 33-0 win.
The under 11s fared even better and totally demolished their opponents 66-0.
This was the first match for this age group where conversions were allowed and the lads responded putting over eight attempts out of 10.
The tries came from James Sloan (4), Mark Bispin, Jacob Emery, Ben Parfitt, Olivia Johnson, Tom Smith (2) while Emery added four conversions, Harry Smith three and James Howells the other.
At under 10 level, the Falcons lost 25-5 to Midsomer Norton, but the Rhinos won 20-5.
The Rhinos stood up well and Tom Baldwin scored three well-worked tries, Edward Wilson and Oliver Tweedale also getting on the scoresheet.
The Falcons made up of new players all learning the game also did well with James Newman scoring.
The Under 9 age group also played two games and won both. In the first , Hal Bailey helped himself to two tries, with one for Michael Allies in a 3-0 win. The second was won by five tries to nil.
The under eight Sharks won, but their colleagues, the Thrashers were edged out. Robert Moore scored two tries and Daniel Vertessey one in a 3-2 Sharks win.
The Thrashers gave two players to Norton, but although Lawrence Allen scored from deep in his own half and Harry Taylor added another, they lost 5-2.
Local Advertisers
Local Information
Enter your postcode, town or place name
