Playing against top of the table St Johns 1st XV, the St Paul’s Development XV knew that they had to be up to their best if they were to be competitive.
The St Paul’s men asserted early dominance with great physicality around the breakdown and forced the opposition onto the back foot. This pressure resulted in us getting into the St John’s 22, and relentless pick-and-goes eventually saw us cross the line through Jackson Morgan and take a 7 – 0 lead. Unfortunately we allowed St John’s straight back into the game with a soft try, half time score 7 – 5 to us.
We started the 2nd half fantastically well and picked up where we left off with St John’s having to scramble as we applied more pressure. St John’s managed to hold on though and, against the run of play, scored two quick tries in the final 5 minutes of the game, making the final score 17 – 7 to St John’s. An immensely frustrating result as the St Paul’s Development XV were the better team on the day.
Player of the day was William Reeves whose captaincy and sheer brute force in defence was incredible.
