U14s Progress in Gloucester Cup

This week we played a decent Coney Hill side with a few big boys up front. We started very well with quick hands setting up a try for Gage within the first minute. Once the ball was cleared from the ruck we looked dangerous at all times with our backs far superior to theirs with some great play.

However, our scrummaging was poor against a team that did have a few big boys (especially in the front row). This is unacceptable as it lead to Lochy being injured. If we want to continue being one of the best scrummaging sides around we will have to work hard on our body positions, strength and working as a unit. We stole their ball a few times at the line out and ours was solid showing the improvement in that area of our game (credit must go to Neil for his work with us).

We scored some excellent tries, my favourite being near the end when Kieron broke through the middle of their defence and ran much of the pitch to score a great solo try. Gage was his usual self scoring five tries while Moniee scored two tries in a very good performance by him. The offloading was very good in contact, but perhaps we should look to pass before the contact as against the likes of Stowe, Cleve or Longlevens we may not be able to ride their tackles as easily. You can’t lose the ball in contact trying to offload if you have already passed it.

Their only try came when a kick was charged down and their player darted down to score under the posts. This was a simple error that was a one off in a game where we were quite accurate at not making mistakes. They are not a bad side and they kept on going right to the end, a level of commitment we can aspire to.

Finally, thank you to the coaches for organising and coaching us every week and to Neil for refereeing the game very well.

Ollie Heald