Weather conditions to remember!

The unbelievably bad wind and rain took everybody off Anstey Park at 1030… except the Under 16s, who after a brief changing room stop, came back out to play this friendly match.

The wind meant that all the play was going to be in one part of the pitch, and we started playing against the elements. We managed to compete for most of the half, and with good chasing of kicks from the backs – Keehan and Josh notably, meant that much of the half was played in the middle of the park. Line outs were a lottery, although Maidenhead probably had the better of this contest, their front jumper securing at least some of his ball.

Maidenhead had strong runners at 8 and 12, and made too much ground from them, putting our line under pressure. They went over from a forward drive at our line, a front peel at the line out, and a winger cutting back inside who ran past 3 defenders for a simple score. We probably tried to do too much in the difficult conditions, and would have benefitted from tighter play using touch line as a corridor. The highlight of the half was a superb individual break by Adam Gallagher, who then went on to score from 45 meters. We later had another opportunity from a 5 meter scrummage which sadly came to nothing.

We turned for the second half feeling confident that with the elements in our favour, we could pull back the 2 score deficit. Sadly, sustained pressure on their line, a series of scrummages and penalties from 5 metres out resulted in no scores. Maidenhead weathered the storm and deservedly won the match.

Key learning points:

In dreadful conditions we need to limit our game plan. Play closer together, throw line out to 2 in line, take scrums, play percentages.

We do have moves which will result in tries if we are awrded a penalty close to the opposition line. Take our time, don’t lose our heads, execute the moves, and we will score.

Opposition runners need to be taken down early. It is not enough to simply hold the man – we will lose valuable ground.

We learnt a bit about being a team on Sunday. It was pleasing to see everybody sticking it out in dreadful conditions. We need to move up a couple of gears for next Sunday’s game against Basingstoke.

Scorers: Adam Gallagher Try.

Man of the match: Adam Gallagher for some sound tackling, and great running skills.

Special mention: The spectators for braving the elements…