Southwell U13s vs Nottingham Casuals U13s - NLD Vase Final - Sunday 30th April 2023

Final Score: Southwell U13s 40 - 30 Nottingham Casuals U13s

We had been looking forward to this day for many weeks. Nottingham Casuals were the opposition; we had narrowly lost to them earlier in the season so we knew it was going to be a close fought game. Alex Gilmore was the only player unavailable due to injury and so we took 20 players and a great deal of support to Derby RUFC.

Che Remnant gave his motivational team talk in the pre-match huddle and Casuals kicked off. Ethan Long took a great catch and set us up for the first phase of play and nerves were settled. The scrum was strong with Finn Kelly adding the power in the 2nd row and Noah Harris struck the first one against the head. Henry Stevenson got it away quickly and Casper Murray broke a tackle and flew down the right wing in front of the cheering support to open the scoring.

Casuals first attack was soon stopped rather emphatically by Joe Newell, who put in the tackle of the season to knock the wind out of their sails. William Rimmer was causing problems for the Casuals defence at fly half and it wasn’t long before we doubled our lead with Patch Kelly touching down. All was going well with 10 minutes gone.

Ralph Cook and Will Oldfield ensured that the scrum remained dominant after the first round of replacements but unfortunately that dominance in the scrum was negated by our ill-discipline at the breakdown. Casuals needed to respond and they did just that, benefitting from a string of penalties being awarded to them. We were forced back and worked very hard to keep Casuals out with Che Remnant and Oli Sargison-Bowler, both demonstrating their usual passion and bravery. However, the relentless pressure on our own line resulted in Casuals going over to score.

This spurred Casuals on and they grew into the game. They kept making ground punching up short and soon had scored a second and third try to take the lead. Just before half time we got a lift when George Smith carried strongly from the base of the scrum, we recycled well and Josh Ingram found himself in a bit of space on the left wing and was able to outpace the covering defence to touch down and level the game.

There was a tense atmosphere in the group huddle at half time but the boys all remained very positive and talked calmly and intelligently about what they should be doing for the rest of the game for it to end well.

Very soon after the resumption, Casuals danger man in the backs broke through a couple of tackles and ran in a try from his own half to take the lead. We quickly responded when Ollie Warham (who had dyed his hair a Southwell red for the occasion – see the photos) picked up from the base of a ruck and sniped down the blindside to level again. The crowd were getting into the game more and more as it entered the final quarter. Casuals took the lead again only for Casper Murray to gather up a loose ball and go over after a very big tackle from Josh Ingram. Yet again we traded tries, this time Oli Sargison-Bowler rounding off a slick move down the backs and we were at 6 tries all with 5 minutes left.

The boys put their bodies on the line in defence, Robert Alcock was forced to come off with an injury after getting stuck in and Casper Murray also limped off following a knock. Harris Boothroyd and Adam Charlton stayed safe and sound as part of the back 3 and Antoine Boswell, as he has done all season, scythed down anything that came anywhere near him.

Casuals put us under a lot of pressure as we were camped inside our own 22 with 3 minutes to go. Fortunately for us they kept running in close and persistently got knocked back by the brick wall defence, in particular Henry Townsend fronting up and constantly knocking them back from where they came. The rest of the team backed up Henry with a collective defensive effort and with the defence standing so strong Casuals were forced to shift slow ball out wide. That was the invite for William Rimmer to lead the line, snatch the interception and with parents, supporters and replacements cheering him all the way, he ran the length of the pitch to score and take the lead with only a couple of minutes left.

There was still a bit of time to see out and Casuals very nearly crossed over had it not been for a brilliant last-ditch tackle from captain, Patch Kelly. With Casuals chasing the game they lost the ball on halfway and the last action of the game saw Josh Ingram gather the ball and outpace the tired Casuals defence to score our 8th try. The final whistle blew and the celebrations began.

Final Score: Southwell U13s 40 - 30 Nottingham Casuals U13s

Congratulations to the U13s on a thrilling end to what has been a hugely successful season.

Over 250 match photos can be found here

Match Report - Dave Rimmer
Photos - Lisa Ingram