Fun and good spirited match

We have found another ground as cold and wind-swept as Southwold Common.

Broadland RFC are developing their Youth and Minis and understandably are struggling with numbers so they fielded a mixed U14s/U15s team of mixed abilities. Unfortunately for them virtually all our squad pitched up, giving us real strength in depth. They only had 15 players. So our challenge was to 'manage' the match so everyone would enjoy playing and derive some benefit.

From the kick-off the outcome looked very predictable. In less than a minute and a couple of rucks, Tom C strolled over the line for our first. A couple of minutes later Evan ran in our second virtually unopposed. Fortunately Broadland regrouped and when we conceded a penalty they had the opportunity to kick for position deep in to our 22. Their well drilled line-out and controlled maul lead to probably the best team try of the day as our pack was ineffectual against their drive. Something we have practiced but as yet not applied.

There followed a frenzy of tries from Josh, Billy, Jack FS, Ben F and Brannan. These were mostly individual tries and though often quite good, they mostly resulted from missed tackles.

During the try fest in the first half we took a player off the field in an attempt to even things up. This wasn't going to be enough so Joe came up with a solution. Having sat out the first half, he offered to play for Broadland in the second half. This was a great gesture and much appreciated by the coaches on both sides - if not by his own team mates!

With the help of Joe and especially his boot, Broadland got in to our half several times but our tries kept coming. Brannan got his second and probably our best team try after a series of controlled rucks and quick ball followed by good drawing and passing down the line. Josh's hat trick came from a 50m run down the middle of the park which showed he now has real pace as well as guile. Morgan's try was very popular and well deserved. Milo and Felix rounded things off. In the last quarter, the deal was that anyone who scored left the field and wasn't replaced. This meant we played out the last few minutes of the game with 10 players on the park. This made us really think about our defensive lines.

Appropriately, the match finished with a thoroughly deserved try from one of their star players.

Ben F kicked all but one of his conversion attempts in the first half despite the strong cross wind. The one he missed was a result of following his dad's instructions! Every conversion attempt in the second half had a different kicker, but Josh was the only successful one.

Our man of the match was shared by Tom R, who had his first full game for the team, and Jack A who should have received it after the Ipswich game, but couldn't be found!

We mustn't be fooled by the scoreline, we need to play much better if we are going to beat the bigger clubs.