Southwold U16's V Hadleigh & Stowmarket U16's - Plate game

Chaos theory goes something like… a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world and half way across the other a hurricane takes place. On this Sunday, several dogs on a common in New Zealand must have wagged their tails as the pieces of a jigsaw fell into place blowing in on the wind across Southwold common. Our very own wise man said last week “the toughest climbs lead to the best views”. The question, as the U16’s went into the final Suffolk plate match against the Hadleigh and Stowmarket Baabaa’s, was - could Southwold continue where they left off playing at the end of last week’s game having been through a number of tough climbs in their last couple of matches.
As the U15’s match against Bury raged next to us, the U16’s took to the smaller pitch facing into a brisk southerly wind (a mere light breeze by Southwold winter standards) – something that the lads are all to accustomed too. With a number of injuries, the team welcomed two U15’s (Josh and Harvey) into the fold. The match started with a Baabaa’s kick off, which was well taken. The Baabaa’s were a team made up of big lads but Southwold were able to play the ball well out of the rucks but in the early exchanges were unable to take advantage. The Baabaa’s pushed back well and put Southwold back into their own half, having made metres into the opponents. But this is where the momentum built last week gathered again this week. After several phases, the ball came to Bruno, who (with it becoming a habit recently) ran at the Baa’s defence breaking past two players going for the tackle, bouncing another player off and going over for a try within the first five minutes or so. 5-0. Southwold were finding their rhythm and whilst making several line breaks and going through the phases, could not quite find a score. That is until, through some rapid distribution the ball came to Sam, who with his trademark speed and skill, swept down the right wing and went over to score over the try line in the corner. The conversion from Will made the score 12-0. The wind was metaphorically behind Southwold now, even if not in reality. The period of play in the first 20 mins followed a similar pattern, with Southwold making metres, but the Baabaa’s battling hard for every part of that. After some neat rucking from Southwold, on the opponents ten metre line, Nick saw a gap, feigning a pass he ran through the line past a couple of defenders and went in under the posts. The score stood at 19-0 at this point after the conversion – a complete opposite to last week. Southwold did not have it all their own way however, and what made the play by Southwold so satisfying was that the lads were competing in every single aspect of the game. Defence was no different and if not for some superb tackling and defending, allied with quick line speed, the Baabaa’s may well have scored, with some powerful scrummaging and running from their forwards. But it was not to be, as Southwold once again turned the screw and with Sam firing on all cylinders, flew down the left wing only to be taken out of the pitch just before the try line with a high tackle. The referee awarded a penalty try taking the score at half time to 26 – 0 to the home side.
In theory with the wind behind them the second half should have been the easier of the two halves for Southwold. Funny how matches really don’t turn out like that. The Baabaa’s had provided a stern test in the first half, and the fierce defence and speed of attack along with playing into the wind had obviously taken a toll on Southwold. Additionally the Baabaa’s re-organised and identified key areas that were their strengths - their power in the forwards in the ruck and scrum. Despite that being the case, Southwold held firm in the second half with the whole squad putting in some absolutely ferocious tackling, defending their try line on a number of occasions and still managing to score another two tries early in the second half through Nick going over. With Will converting these it made the score 40-0. The Baabaa’s through persistent pressure were able to score in the second half. A number of penalties were conceded from a tiring Southwold and the Baabaa’s were able to make their forward power count, and it was no more than they deserved to make it 40-7 at the final score.
That is not to take away anything from how Southwold played. The approach from every single member of the squad today was phenomenal making the jigsaw complete in the shape of the Plate. Through Joe’s running, Alfie and Warren’s tackling and breakdown play, Will and Sam’s kicking, everyone in the line out, everyone’s tackling across the backs and forwards, today’s performance was a totally team performance and one which made the spectators incredibly proud of. Winning the Plate really is symbolic of the hard work that all the players in the squad have put in this season in the three games but also in other aspects – those that have kept the faith from when there were so few players in previous seasons, those who have added to the squad with their skills and running, to the U15’s who have been willing to step up and fit in so seamlessly and every one of the lads who are all growing in their game play. But it is also testament to the hard work of the coaches – Bruce, Chunk and Kev, who have taken these lads on a journey to this piece of silverware, and developed them into the team we saw play today. One final thought from our wise man again – Success is where preparation and opportunity meet. Keep going lads! Arn the Wold.