Pride and spirit restored

After last Sunday's disappointing result we needed to restore the team's confidence and spirit. The first step was Tuesday's training session which was taken by Seb and which had just the right mix of coaching and gameplay to get them back in the groove. The next was the match on Sunday against the other Ipswich where the boys found a different gear and purpose.

Jon's tackle on Trinder and Luke's run down the touchline in the first few minutes laid down the gauntlet and everyone in the team stepped-up. Despite missing some key players, including both our locks, our scrum was solid with Milo, Hugo and Konnor sharing the second row role. Liam joined the front row and played well but our other prop, Jack A, had an outstanding game. Not only did he get around the park but he put in some big hits when he got their! Jack C continued to hook well and his line-out throws were as good as they've been all season - though the ref didn't seem to agree. Felix stepped in for the injured Josh at scrum half and played with confidence and dexterity. Ben S and Jack FS continued to secure our ball and turn over and spoil theirs. Joe led by example putting some resounding hits in and he scored a well deserved try from the back of the scrum.

As well as playing second row, Milo played in the centres and made some impressive runs and crunching tackles - as did James, Tom and Jon. Both Milo and Jon picked up tries for their efforts. An injured Ben F kept on kicking in to space for Billy, Brannan and Luke to give chase, but their efforts were thwarted by the fastest U15 in the county at the moment - who also picked up two of their tries.

With this glowing report, you may be wondering why we still lost? Especially as Ipswich only played with 13 in the last quarter! It wasn't Brannan who played half the match for Ipswich, it was down to a few critical missed tackles in our 22 and a few too many fumbles in their 22. Seb pointed out that our passing and catching were in need of improvement and he was proved right. So spirit restored, but it's back to basics if we are to compete against the big clubs.

Man of the match was shared between Jack A and Milo.