Following cancelled games & training due to bad weather over the last few weeks it was good to see the boys back out for the re-scheduled semi final of the plate competition. Regulations force us to pick a 22 man squad. The astro was the only playable surface available, 2 x 25mm halves & heres how it played out.
First half:
KRFC kick off, we trade tackles & rucks. Nothing between the sides for the first 10 minutes. We give a penalty away early but we clear our lines well & make a break, dropped ball on their 22m line. First scrum with Oundle to put in. Oundle get the ball out but a great tackle from Charlie & fantastic rucking from Alex & we secure the ball, out to the wing but it's a dropped ball & another scrum to Oundle. We give away another penalty from the scrum, offside. Penalties starting to hurt us now. KRFC continue to apply the pressure though, sustained attack. Charlie on the ball out to Freddie, Ben & Toby then back inside to Charlie who runs a hard line & breaks the defence. Charlie reaches out with one hand & it's a great try from him. Forwards & backs working well together. We gather from the restart, nice kick from Freddie over their try line, Oundle dot the ball down. Freddie comes in with a late tackle & that's an un-necessary penalty. We could have had a scrum 5m but we loose half a pitch of territory. KRFC make a break out of our own half but it's a dropped ball again on Oundle's 22m. Scrum. KRFC scrum working very well & the boys are becoming quite dominant. Good pressure which is causing Oundle to start making mistakes. KRFC scum on the half way, good scrum dominance again, ball out through the backs. Ben running towards the wing with support, he's pointing to where he want's the support but it's a bluff & it's a superb show & go & Ben's over the line. Scrum following the restart, great work from the pack, we string together some good phases of play, superb rucking from the forwards & then some good invention from the backs. Oran running hard & straight at the end, he has to beat three defenders for his try. Very strong finish. Oundle scum but Ben intercepts the 9 to 10 pass & makes a great break, he skips through the defence with a nice off load to Freddie who scores. We have an Oundle player down injured, break in play but we re-start. We seem to loose some focus following the long break in play. We give a penalty away ( not rolling away) & Oundle kick for touch on our 22m, Oundle line out. Oundle on the attack but the 2nd row hold up the player, Oundle form a maul but we stop them ( Unplayable) KRFC scrum. Nothing comes of the scrum & that's the end of the half.
2nd Half:
Oundle kick off into the head wind. Kick doesn't make 5m so scrum in the centre, KRFC put in. Ball off the back to Freddie who cuts through the defence, he bosch's the last defender & he's over for the try. Very strong play. Oundle have another injury & another long break in play. Will L-W dons an Oundle shirt to keep the game going. Scrum to re-start , ball out to the wing and Tom R over in the corner for a try. Oundle have another injury & decide to concede. An unfortunate day for them as it was a good clean game. An unlucky succession of injuries for them. The good news is we have heard that there's no serious damage to any player.
Overall a good solid performance from the squad of 22. Great work from the forwards, dominate scrum & ruck. We saw some nice hard lines run. The backs played with confidence & freedom with the skills to match. Great to see the link up between forwards & backs today. We applied good pressure & made sure we played the game we wanted to play. Lets tighten up our discipline & handling a bit but overall a good solid performance. We move onto the final in a couple of weeks time.
Very pleasing to see some of the other members of the squad pitch side to support the team, well done to you boys.
tries : Charlie 1, Ben 1, Oran 1, Freddie 2 & Tom R 1 ( no posts on the astro so no conversions)