Under 14 rugby report – May 30, 2015

Under 14 v Brighton Grammar

A home game was very welcome this week despite two very impressive performances against Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College where we had scored a total of 77 points and only conceded 10. – The worry going into this week’s game was that complacency could cost us against a side that is usually very well drilled if not chock full of superstars.

Pre-game the instruction to the players was that we must not get caught up in the score as being the only way to measure our performance. – The KPI’s that this team has been asked to consider are: – time in possession and time in the opponents half. – If both of those statistics go your way it shows that you’ve been able to either maintain the ball through good security or you have been able to regain the ball through aggressive counter attack or both. – Scoring points is sometimes down to luck, the bounce of the ball a fortuitous penalty etc. – If you can meet the above KPI’s and score it shows that a team is working hard and taking opportunities.

We have planned to meeting these KPI’s by a steadfast dedication to having the best defensive line in the competition and the players have really embraced this simple philosophy and have reaped the rewards as a result.

The game started well for SPC with Sean Antrobus crossing the stripe after the first few minutes thanks to a brilliant individual run and some nice work off both feet. – His partner in crime, Cooper Craig -“ Peters joined him on the score sheet not long after, Coopers try was similar and he seemed to skip through the BGS line. – Both of these tries came about as a result of some good forward play and quick thinking. – The larger SPC pack hit up hard several times and burst through making good metres and the BGS defence was too slow in reforming which allowed Antrobus and CCP to be confronted with a disjointed defensive structure instead of a soild line.

The forwards were rewarded with a try of their own a few minutes later through Jake Dalton who played a crash ball through the scrambling BGS defence who had been driven back by good St Patrick’s phase play. – A second try to Antrobus was followed by Tarquin Schreenan moving like a winger to beat two or three defenders and score next to the posts.

Riley Williams got on the end of some impressive St Pats play to dot down in the corner and close the half with St Pats leading 36 -“ 0.

The message at half time was to forget the score and to remember the things that make us a good team. – The backs had scored tries through some good individual runs, however the width that we had created in the past fortnight was missing and our wingers were starved of possession. – I wouldn’t go as far to call it selfish but the idea of bringing others into the game must be paramount in our minds. – The forward were playing well but the aggression seen against Melbourne Grammar was missing. – Some complacency in the defensive structure was also spotted and players were reminded that this is first, scoring tries is second.

The conditions were very breezy and we and run with the wind in the first half, in the second half Brighton looked much improved with the wind at their back and scored twice in the space of 5 minutes, Henry Squire urged his team to focus on their defensive effort. – The breeze was causing the BGS pass to drift forward making their players run on to it just as it had done for us in the first whilst the SPC passes were holding up in the breeze meaning many passes were being overrun or missing targets.

To stop the rot a message was sent out to greatly increase the amount time our forwards had with the ball and it enabled Jake Dalton to score his second, and best, try of the game. – This seemed to deflate BGS a bit as they probably thought a comeback was on the cards and while they would score one more try St Pats had the final score through Sean Antrobus on the full time buzzer.

Final Score:St Pats 53 def Brighton Grammar 19

Best -“ Dalton, Schreenan, Antrobus, Craig -“ Peters, Hammond

Tries -“ Antrobus (3), Dalton (2), Craig -“ Peters, Schreenan, Williams