Chucksbury

Please be aware that this is my first attempt at a match report (and I was STILL quicker than Bov).

We arrived at the game on Sunday on what can only be described a winning streak despite of our best efforts to lose against Oxford Harlequin's by switching off in the second half and allowing them to score 5 unanswered try's. Training had been interrupted by inclement weather, but when we did train we focused on areas of our game that had been weak, rucking, kick off chase, retreating to support a player going down on the ball, defensive press and attacking alignment. Due to injuries and other commitments we seem to be lacking in training consistency and key team members have missed vital sessions where tactics and game plans are simulated.

Sundays Game:
We were aware that Tewkesbury had a powerful scrum due to them playing the Gloucestershire RFU rules for the past few seasons and we decided to counter this by attaching them at scrum time on their own ball. Subsequently we started with a powerful set of forwards, with equally powerful replacements to come off the bench to ensure that there was no repeat of the Oxford Harlequin's second half snooze.

The Warm up:
Sundays warm up was planned and I was satisfied at the time that the lads were ready for battle. The warm up is a difficult thing to get right you want it to be consistent but varied enough so the lads don't lose concentration. It is also imperative that the players have not blown themselves out in the warm up and still have the necessary energy and aggression to carry out the game plan. I call this the stir fry effect, over cook the veg in a stir fry and it just turns to tasteless slop, under cook the veg in a stir fry and it ends up resembling warm salad, both very unsatisfying. Whilst i feel we were physically ready, mentally we seemed to lack sharpness and desire. I take full responsibility for that and I have plans afoot to ensure that this does not occur again. WE WILL BE FULLY SWITCHED ON MENTALLY IN FUTURE.

The Game:
We kicked off as planned with Rocco placing the ball in the exact position we had practiced repeatedly. Good hard work in defense by the forwards allowed us to be in the ascendancy in the first five minutes and I felt we were the side playing all the rugby. We then gifted an intercept try to Tewkesbury and instantly our heads dropped. We maintained our press defence well with Rhino leading the way with what can only be described as a blockbuster hit that his victims ancestors must have felt in the grave. Tewkesbury quickly realized that we did not have a recognized full back due to injury /unavailability and decided to adopt a kick and chase game which the executed well leading to another score. Again our heads dropped. We still maintained our physicality attempting to play hard running rugby but when we coughed up possession we were made to pay for it by an accurate kick behind our defensive line and good kick chase. Couple of changes to the back line when Olly Wych kamikaze style tackling led to a knee injury and Hamish took a breather ahead of a big second half. Jake the Cake bravely decided to play even with sore knees and he and Rhino formed a rock solid centre partnership. Tewkesbury scored again just before half time and we went into the half time break 3-0 down.

The half time message that I relayed to the lads was that this was real rugby where you are not winning by a cricket score and you have to dig deep to produce a performance worth being proud of. Win or lose its always about performance and improvement. Captain Tom then took over the team talk and his calmness and steely determination to motivate and focus his team mates seemed to be working. More changes were made due to fatigue and injury, with Crunchy Nut going to full back and Gentleman George and Indy in the pack, The Mull Man was brought in at scrum half.

The second half kicked off and we were defiantly now at the races with our physical approach dominating the Tewkesbury pack up front. Ed had tweaked something just before half time so the referees whistle was passed onto the Tewkesbury coach. We then proceed to score four unanswered try's. Three finished off by the refreshed legs of Hamish after some good hard interplay between backs and forwards and one hard earned drive for the line by Captain Tom. The Mull Man also scored a fantastic blindside sniping try that was disallowed.

Final score Evesham 4-5 Tewkesbury.

Marrick