15/01/2010
ADHRC U12 V ARABIAN KNIGHTS – MATCH REPORT
Well, you will be immediately saying to yourself, that’s not right “Hendo”, we didn’t play them on Friday, and you’d be right. Arabian Knights called off late on the Wednesday, which left us a couple of days to arrange a test for our boys & girls, and that we did. A couple of quick e-mails & Tel calls secured a fixture against this year’s U13s, (grateful to Neil Cranswick for his flexibility). These guys are familiar faces to Jerry & I as we coached them the year before, so inside info was an advantage.
A challenge indeed for the 12s as on paper we were out paced, outweighed and generally inferior in all areas of the game, thankfully, neither the players nor coaches had the same view; this became wholly apparent as the game progressed. We played the same game plan as if we were playing normal U12 opposition, tight for the first 10 minutes, then when the opportunities appear, strike hard and secure the points.
The 13s received the first kick-off at around 1 o’clock from the 12s and were immediately on their back foot, the early pressure applied by the 12s was excellent, and it was evident that there was little nervousness as they attacked with great confidence and courage. An extended period of pressure resulted in a superb run from Brigham into the bottom corner, he took the ball into contact, presented well, good sound decision making by the Captain, Fraser, pick & go and we scored, Oakeley securing the further points from the conversion.
You would think that from this point onwards both Jerry & I would be disappointed as the final score was 26-7 in favour of the 13s, this could not be further from the truth, rarely have we been so pleased in defeat. The overall display from the 12s was “OUTSTANDING”, from Squad No 1 to Squad No 22. This was echoed by a number of rounds of applause from the assembling crowd for the later senior game. The forwards, after just one session on the scrummage machine, pushed the 13s all over the pitch. They were equally outstripped in the line-out on their ball and we secured most of ours. Our pack was mobile, effective, worked well in 3s, 4s & 5s, and in some cases the counter rucking was a joy to watch. This good work continued even after replacements were made, testament to the hard work of all, during training, in addition to the fitness training on Tuesday nights.
The backs were equally as effective from Scrum-half through to Full-back. Close quarter catch & pass, very effective, and superbly executed. A joy to watch young players developing rugby skills and confidence, ball in two hands, drawing opposite players, offloading in contact and rounded off with sharp support play. Defensively, the application of pressure increased as the game progressed and towards the end of the game the 13s had nowhere to go, when they did break through on the odd occasion, they were faced with courageous, confident and extremely effective tackling.
In Summary, we lost the game. You should however take great heart from this experience, as the score does not reflect the dominance, possession, confidence, skill and lack of fear you all displayed, knowing full well they were a year older, Jerry, your parents, the supporters on the touchline & I, are extremely pleased and proud of you all. We asked you to step up to the plate, and that you did. Well-done, on an excellent display of good basic rugby in what were difficult circumstances. This is exactly the sort of step-up in opposition we needed prior to the game against the Exiles later this month (29th).
Both Jacob & Oakeley were injured, I can inform you that neither are serious, we wish them a speedy recovery.
My thanks to Steve Hyde, who refereed the game in the right spirit.
Steve Henderson
Jerry Mason
U12 Coaches
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