Today saw the Under 9B squad play Terra Nova at home on a lovely November afternoon. The ground was soft and the conditions dry, it was the perfect setting for the match. The toss was won by the Terra Nova captain and they elected to start with the free pass, it was S. Anselm’s who had the ever so slight downhill advantage. In truth the game was a tale of two halves. In the first half the S. Anselm’s boys attacked with vigour and defended with passion. After a bit of end to end running Wilson W decisively picked up the ball from the ruck and skipped round the winger for the first try. The team were delighted and they needed to concentrate for it was Terra Nova with the free pass. S. Anselm’s held strong and put a couple of defenders into each tackle and after a couple of phases won it back. The next passage of play was a delight to watch as S. Anselm’s put together a series of phases with some good offloading and support from James C and Henry W, finally Adam S went over for his first of four tries in the match. Edward M and Jack B were Trojans in the defence really putting their bodies on the line for their team. The team continued to play well and before half time John B managed to cross the line with Adam completing his hat-trick just before the half time whistle. The score was 25-10 to S. Anselm’s, the boys were playing superbly.
Both teams emerged from half time, the S. Anselm’s boys pleased with their first half performance, could they keep the pressure on Terra Nova for the final 20 minutes? Substitutions were made and the game re-started with S. Anselm’s in possession. We were looking forward to a repetition of Toby G’s tackling show he put on in training earlier and another man of the match performance from Tom H. It was again a game of end to end rugby but suddenly Terra Nova had learned to tackle! The Terra Nova fly half was quick and S. Anselm’s needed to put him down early if they were to stop his effective attack. Unfortunately the fly-half got through too easily and S. Anselm’s were struggling to cope with his pace. However, John B suddenly came to life having found himself free from a ruck; he burst down the left wing, skipped past one player, then two with only the try-line in sight when he was tackled superbly by the Terra Nova centre from behind which caused him to knock it on ever so slightly, unlucky John, so close to what would have been the try of the season! A bit of individual skill saw Adam S go over in the corner but credit to the Terra Nova boys who realised their main man and utilised him well. The final score was S. Anselm’s 30, Terra Nova 35. The coaches were delighted with how the boys had played, they stringed together a number of brilliant passes and supported each other very well. It is still that initial tackle that we need to make, it is often the best opposition player that runs with it first, if we can get him down and play like we did today there will certainly be some W letters after the scoreline in the future! Well done to Teyfik K, Theo F and Charles B who also really gave their all during the match and also to Adam S who scored 4 magnificent tries.
Tackler of the match – Jack B and Edward M
Man of the match – Henry W and Wilson W
BW
Posted on
Wed, November 23, 2011
by BW