Under 13 rugby report – July 25

U/13 SPC v Ivanhoe Grammar

The under 13’s had another strong performance on the weekend downing an undermanned Ivanhoe 20-15. We arranged to match numbers with Ivanhoe by lending two players and benching one. While they were small on numbers they certainly weren’t small on size and had a considerable advantage over us in the forward pack with four year 8’s in their team. It was great to see our team respond so well and hold out for a win.

A few things really pleased me as a coach. I had given instructions to a number of individuals before the game in regards to playing particular role for the team and to their credit the boys did exactly as asked. More generally, there was good straight running by all the players and support on hand to take advantage of the breaks we made. The backline worked together terrifically which allowed the ball to be spread out wide confidently and consistently. Special mention must go to our 9 and 10 who laid such a firm foundation for the backline to work from.

I was also really pleased with the way in which our tries were scored. Three of the four were clear team tries where the try scorer wasn’t the player who made the initial break but was one of the players ready in support. The fourth try was scored after a strong run down the side line but even then there was a player ready in support should have the ball carrier been tackled.

There are still a few areas for improvement. We failed to consistently set a defensive line and put pressure on the opposition’s ball movement. Our ruck work is improving but we need to work on our stability and body position at the break down as well as our ability to take advantage of turn overs. I would also like to see us setting attacking pods as we have been practicing in order to better expose the opposition defence. We will work on these areas at training in preparation for our last game against Trinity. We know we can beat them but we should also remember it will be harder playing them on their home turf.

Finally, a special mention must go to Isaac, Xavier and Lachie for being ready to help out Ivanhoe on the day. It was great to see you play some of your best rugby for the year.

Final score 20-15. Tries Jonathon 2, Jovesa 1, Ben 1. Best Owen, Jonathon, Jovesa and Adam.