U12's Match Report

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Season 2009/2010 

Sunday 13th December - Away @ Hove RFC.

 Match report - Sunday 13th Dec Hove

We visited Hove with a squad of 14 (Tom G, Tom N, Jordan, Becky, Sam, Rory, Ben, David, Marcus, Teo, Matt, Fabien, Angus, William) with 5 players unavailable (Jamie A, Edward, Ollie, Joe  and Jarred) and we got a very good welcome.
Unfortunately we lost Marcus to injury during the mixed bulldog warm-up game.

Our aim was quite simply to beat Hove having lost to them in the past and more recently 2 - 0 at the Hastings. The objective for the day to show that Hove, with a huge squad and reputation, was beatable and to have FUN in the process.

Game 1
Hove mixed v Crowborough, lost 2-1 with 1 Crowborough try disallowed. Try scorer David
 - Hove started strongly being aggressive at the breakdown, scrum and passing well out of hand. Crowborough by contrast looked rusty resulting in the leakage of two scores due to missed tackles.
- The second half was a different matter with parity in the scrum (a great effort by the front five) and some great individual play with bullocking running from both props Tom G and Tom N and elusive running from Ben and David leading to the try. The problem being Hove's attention to the breakdown that continued to be impressive.

During the break between games John Heir took charge and the players were drilled on aggressive and technical breakdown technique.

Game 2
Hove mixed v Crowborough, draw 2-2. Try scorers David & Jordan
 - Again Hove started the stronger but were not getting their way at all in the breakdown however Crowborough could not quite get the ball wide to capitalise. Some lapses in Crowborough concentration (and clarity on the offside law - learning point for training on 20th) resulted in the Hove hooker driving over twice to make it 2-0 at half tiime.
 -The second half saw Crowborough really front up and take control of the breakdown. Players contribution to mention:
Rory  - who really caused Hove problems in the breakdown
Jordan -  with his interceptions and tackling that led to his drive over try
Angus, William, & Teo  - tackling aggressively
The pack (Tom G , Tom N , Jordan, Rory, Sam and Becky) for the scrum, rucking, mauling and running
Matt - out of position but clearing very well
David - his creativity and eventual try
Ben - all round pain for the opposition to handle
A special mention to Fabien for covering Rory when he got injured and Becky who stood her own playing out of position
 - The two tries in the second half were well taken and opportunities were created for more that could not quite be taken.
 
The summary of the day
 - FUN
 - Improvement versus Hove (record  as follows lose 2-0, lose 2-1, draw 2-2......... the next time WIN!)
 - Lessons to learn - more aggressive breakdown and some education on the offside law
 - We also wish Marcus and Rory a speedy recovery with their injuries.

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Next Match - Sunday 22nd November - Home - Against Tunbridge Wells

Report To follow ! 

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Sunday 15th November 2009 - Away - At Edenbridge Triangular Fixture with Tonbridge Juddians & Edenbridge.

Match 1 v TJ’s A team. Won 1-0 Scorer – Jordan Heir

This is a match that we could have won by a bigger margin but unfortunately we seemed to have forgotten all our expansive passing rugby that we practise regularly and are so capable of playing.  This did result in the game being played mainly in the centre of the pitch.  However this did provide our forwards with the opportunity for a really hard fought battle and Tom Gibb, Ed Weston, Jordan Heir, Becky and Sam Weedon all showed their worth with Jordan eventually burrowing over in the 2^nd half, but not before a couple of tries had been disallowed as ‘held up’.  With Ben Erxleben as busy as ever at scrumhalf, the backs showed some strong running with David Howell, Marcus Alexander and Matt Black all giving the TJ’s plenty to worry about with Marcus having a good try disallowed as ‘held up’ with the Ref being unsighted.  Sadly the running wasn’t always accompanied with the necessary pass and this meant that the skills of Ollie Balcombe and Will Mepham on the wings weren’t on display.  Jamie Astill playing his first game at fullback had a good game with some impressive catching as the ball was hoisted at him out of defence, and immediately running the ball straight back at them at pace often breaking his way through the initial tackles.

Match 2 v TJ’s B team. Won 3-0. Scorers- Jordan, Tom  and Ben

After a ‘bit ‘ of a chat about passing in the interval between the matches, we made a couple of changes with Jarrad coming on for Becky at hooker, Fabian for Ollie on the wing and Angus Main on for Matt in the centre with Matt moving out to the wing replacing Will.   There was rather less opposition in the 2^nd game which resulted in the backs having plenty of space with David and Marcus running the show, this did eventually result in a super try for Ben after David had broken through the defence and run 2/3’s of the pitch only to be tackled just short of the line to find Ben on his shoulder in support take the pass and go over for the try.  The forwards had their usual battling display with Jarrad seeming to enjoy being in the thick of things and doing well in his first outing as hooker, joining Tom, Jordan and Ed in dominating the centre of the park. Tom and Jordan both eventually scoring typical forwards tries, bundling over from fairly close range.

Match 3 v Edenbridge. Won 1-0. Scorer- Tom Gibb

This was a much closer contest than the first two games, with Edenbridge trying to maul everything the forwards really had some work to do.  The backs had their work cut out with some strong tackling displays from David, Matt , Angus and Jamie in the middle of the pitch and Ollie and Fabian on the wings with Ben driving them on from scrumhalf.  The first half was dominated by a wrestling match with Tom, Jordan and Ed getting the better of a strong Edenbridge front row. (They might consider tag wrestling during the rugby close season !!).  The 2^nd half saw Jarrad on for Becky and Marcus on the wing for Fabian.  The backs were allowed so little space that they had to pass the ball (hooray!!!!) or lose it and this resulted in some super running from Ollie and Marcus on the wings with Ollie proving very difficult to catch !!  The deadlock was broken with Tom Gibb stopped inches from the Edenbridge line and while lying on his back, touching the ball down over his head for the winning try (good thinking Tom !!).  The really heartening thing was the way none of the players backed away from the challenge and kept the pressure on for the whole game.

A successful Sunday morning and the weather was kind to us after the deluge of the previous two days, but a few things to work on in training next week.  So well done to everyone and see you at training.