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Sun 10 Apr 2022
ON's
Under 16 XV
63
14
Kettering U16 V ON's
Stewart Holford10 Apr 2022 - 21:43
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Out muscled on the park
Our penultimate friendly of the season saw us at ON's, a very good side with some big hitters. Two 35min halves, here's how it played out.
First Half:
ON's kick off & catch their own kick, they make good ground, our defence is a bit passive, we force a couple of knock ons, we exit OK but they are quick through the centre. ON's take the first try, no conversion. We apply some pressure, Will L-W with a great intercept, off load to Will Homer & we make ground, ON's give a couple of penalties for off side. A positive response. We turn the screw & Oran McCabe squeezes through for a try under the posts, Christian converts.ON's kick off, catch their own kick, they pin us in the corner & score, no conversion. We kick off but we look very narrow, ON's ship it out wide & go down the wing to score & convert. ON's just pressure us too much, they intercept a pass in our 22 & go under the posts & convert. We loose Christian to an arm injury. We have no replacement 10, Alex moves to 10 & Tom Herbert to 9, Joe & Sam in centre now as Oran takes a knock. The boys do what they can but it's a tough battle now. We defend well & make some moves in attack. We hold them out for quite a while but they score & convert, more pressure & another try, no conversion & thats half time.
We try to form some kind of team & create a shape but it's not going to be easy.
Second half:
The boys defend like lions & we hold them out for a while, injuries are coming thick & fast, we have no more subs.ON's break the line to score, no conversion. They spot a gap on the far wing & attack it from the kick off, try, no conversion. By now we have no real back line shape, with ON's being physically bigger in every position on the pitch we are having to 2 or 3 man tackle every player, we are getting narrower & they ship out wide again to score & convert. We can't exit very well now as we can't make touch or kick the ball far enough away to catch our breath.We need to run it out. They collect the ball & score again, no conversion. The one place we are dominating is the line out but everything else is going against us, getting pinged for high tackles now as the boys are flagging. We win a scrum in our own half & Oran collects & runs the length of the pitch, we wanted it more than they did, we don't give in, Tom Herbert converts. We get pinned in our corner, lineout, catch & drive from ON's & they score, no conversion & that's time here.
A really tough morning which looking at the score & seeing the boys faces could be seen as very negative. Early on we were in the game, once we we lost our back line & shape we couldn't stem the tide. With more options at the back it would have been a closer game. Physically we looked small compared to ON's & no doubt that was in our boys minds. We gave it our best shot but we were beaten by a better side. Scoring late in the second half shows the character of this team & the boys who put their club shirts on this morning.
Tries: Oran McCabe (2) Conversions: Christian Dalziel 1, Tom Herbert 1
First Half:
ON's kick off & catch their own kick, they make good ground, our defence is a bit passive, we force a couple of knock ons, we exit OK but they are quick through the centre. ON's take the first try, no conversion. We apply some pressure, Will L-W with a great intercept, off load to Will Homer & we make ground, ON's give a couple of penalties for off side. A positive response. We turn the screw & Oran McCabe squeezes through for a try under the posts, Christian converts.ON's kick off, catch their own kick, they pin us in the corner & score, no conversion. We kick off but we look very narrow, ON's ship it out wide & go down the wing to score & convert. ON's just pressure us too much, they intercept a pass in our 22 & go under the posts & convert. We loose Christian to an arm injury. We have no replacement 10, Alex moves to 10 & Tom Herbert to 9, Joe & Sam in centre now as Oran takes a knock. The boys do what they can but it's a tough battle now. We defend well & make some moves in attack. We hold them out for quite a while but they score & convert, more pressure & another try, no conversion & thats half time.
We try to form some kind of team & create a shape but it's not going to be easy.
Second half:
The boys defend like lions & we hold them out for a while, injuries are coming thick & fast, we have no more subs.ON's break the line to score, no conversion. They spot a gap on the far wing & attack it from the kick off, try, no conversion. By now we have no real back line shape, with ON's being physically bigger in every position on the pitch we are having to 2 or 3 man tackle every player, we are getting narrower & they ship out wide again to score & convert. We can't exit very well now as we can't make touch or kick the ball far enough away to catch our breath.We need to run it out. They collect the ball & score again, no conversion. The one place we are dominating is the line out but everything else is going against us, getting pinged for high tackles now as the boys are flagging. We win a scrum in our own half & Oran collects & runs the length of the pitch, we wanted it more than they did, we don't give in, Tom Herbert converts. We get pinned in our corner, lineout, catch & drive from ON's & they score, no conversion & that's time here.
A really tough morning which looking at the score & seeing the boys faces could be seen as very negative. Early on we were in the game, once we we lost our back line & shape we couldn't stem the tide. With more options at the back it would have been a closer game. Physically we looked small compared to ON's & no doubt that was in our boys minds. We gave it our best shot but we were beaten by a better side. Scoring late in the second half shows the character of this team & the boys who put their club shirts on this morning.
Tries: Oran McCabe (2) Conversions: Christian Dalziel 1, Tom Herbert 1
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