Match Report - Hitchin U14A’s 25 – 12 Old Grammarian’s

After a run of away games, it was great to be back at home for our 3rd league game of the season. Old Grammarian’s have been a strong side this year, having beaten Bishop Stortford 35-0 and not having lost a game so far, and they held us to a 25-25 drawer last season.

Off the back of last weeks performance, the instructions were short and clear. Retain the ball, find the space, don’t be selfish, tackle as a group. The decision making on the pitch was left to the boys, and all that was left was one of Kev’s special team talks (great to have those back) and we were good to go.

Couple of runs, couple of tackles and rucks, and the first proper attacking play happened as we were still messing with the VEO (thanks Tim for capturing this one). Fast ball from Alex, chip kick from Seb, recovery from Ewan, ball round the back basketball style again by Ewan. Seb score and conversion. Three of the coaches requirements met in quick order and rewarded with the full 7 points. A couple of minutes later we are back down on their 22, penalty, 3 more points. A significantly better start than previous weeks.

At 10 minutes, after a good defensive we get the scrum on the halfway line. Alex gets the backline moving, Seb on the hardline, Orin looping for the offload. On the 5m meter line, two pick and goes and Berty is over. Excellent team try.

Another set of tackling, a very unfortunate offside call on Alex for a great tackle on their 8 on a scrum pick up and drive. There was some nice play in the next set of phases, good kick returns from Charlie, good tackling and rucking across the field. And then out comes the Superstar. Perfect execution ball through the hands, Charlie draws the last two defenders and Arthur finishes it off with a nice physical hand off and touch down in the corner.

The introduction of the subs causes a little instability in the team. It’s still good, but a little disjointed. But it doesn’t really matter as every player is tackling and defending for their team mates and scrambling when their big runners made a line break. That made the defense a lot more structured. Thomas Flinn in particular had some really good tackles in this block (good to see that this core skill is being worked on outside of training). Despite all the good work, the next two tries are theirs, nothing particularly special about it either, just solid route one ball.

Back in their half with a few minutes to go, and Jobhan competes for the high ball, win’s it and set’s up the quick ruck. Alex breaks down the blind, offload to Seb, grubbers and Thomas Flinn is in the corner.

One more opportunity. Berty gains yards, ruck secured, super fast ball and Orin is on the glide into the corner. No idea why the Ref didn’t award it, the ball was clearly down. And that was the final score.

What can we take from this. First, all four tries had something different about them. We weren’t easy to read, and the boys played with a freedom that has been missing in recent games, and was built on good communication. That builds confidence and that was shown in the defence with everyone involved in winning the ball back. While there were some execution errors, which are to be expected the players weren’t reckless, they made the decisions and apart from a couple of positioning comments the coaches didn’t have to get overly involved.

While three of the tries were for the backs, it was the packs rucking and Alex’s distribution that got us on the front foot. Really pleased to see the Jacobs’ continue to improve match on match, Eddie, Joel and Max doing the unseen grunt work, Teddy gelling with a new squad, and our backrow continues to be immense. Ewan’s running and support lines were solid, and while the behind the back pass was sublime, I was even more impressed by his reactiveness to recover the chip. The three wingers, Arthur, Jobhan and Isaac showed why they were picked for this game, industrious, opportunistic and committed. Then there is backline “spine” of Alex, Orin, Seb and Charlie – solid in defence, smart and connected in attack, communicative and creative.

All in all, a brilliant performance.
MOTM – Charlie Tranter.