Under 13 rugby Report – May 23, 2015

Between family commitments and illnesses the U13’s could only field 12 players and this after a week without training. Full credit to Scotch College for showing great spirit and lending us four players of their own, who really relished the opportunity to play hard against their classmates.-

For our part there were some great individual performances. Jovesa did exceptionally well as a flanker and caused a number of turnovers. Jonothan Debono continued to use his strength both in attack and defence; Quinn Bogers was consistent and Owen Pearse made some very good tackles in what was his best game so far. The two Jack’s also played well in patches and Sam Muller was solid.-

Individuals can never win rugby matches though; our poor structure in defence and poor support in the rucks seriously let us down. If we were consistent with anything it was in not setting our defensive line and in not pushing up in defence, leaving our opposition to run and pass the ball at leisure. This will be our focus at training. Our last five or ten minutes was among the best rugby we have played; the way we defended our try-line in the dying minutes was exceptional.

An important message to take away is that every single player, without exception, is an integral part of our team’s success. Never underestimate your importance to the team. Every time you step up into the defensive line and every time you commit to the ruck, you push the team forward. Every time you fail to do so, you leave a gaping hole and we are overrun. When you commit we succeed, when you slacken off we falter.-

We have a good chance to recover and come out fighting next week at home- we certainly can win but only if every single one of you does your bit. Train hard.

Final score: Scotch College defeat SPC 34-0