Fixture

Much improved performance against a very well drilled Caerleon team who were out for revenge.

Everyone was there bright and early which was excellent given we hadn’t had any training  in the week. The coaches warmed up the team and worked on some key aspects.

The boys were lined up ready to go and from the off we exerted unbelievable pressure on the opposition at the set piece and breakdown through Jayden, Lloyd, Briden and Taylor, we put phase after phase together unfortunately poor ball handling and decision making meant that we turned over the ball very close to their line allowing them to clear. Going on the attack again through Nathan, Will and Joe and Morgan and Kieran punching some excellent lines off Ben with Sam excellently supporting on his shoulder we put the opposition under huge pressure for the first 15 minutes but due to a lack of accuracy and game management we were unable to make it count. In fact we went a score behind when a delicate box kick from the opposition scrum half was hacked on by their centre who reacted quicker and won the race to the line just pipping Steven who covered back excellently. Conversion kicked (7-0), the boys reacted fantastically and went on the attack again resulting in the winning of a few penalties at the breakdown. With Ben opting to kick to the corner the forwards secured the catch and drive and were nicely set to drive over for the first try, unfortunately a poor decision by one of the forwards to peel off and go on his own resulted in a turnover and chance lost.

With 80% of the possession in the first half and creating 3-4 man overlaps on many occasions, we should have been out of sight at half time, but due to people choosing to take the contact rather than passing, it resulted in easy defending for the opposition and no score for us at half time.

Half Time 7 - 0.

With Joe Clough having a well earnt rest at half time following some impressive work at the breakdown, Ewan came on into the back row with Travis slotting in at 9 and Will Morgan showing his versatility by moving to full back. We continued where we left on in the first half with some excellent attacking rugby, this time putting  the ball into space, with Lloyd, Luke, Taylor and Morgan showing excellent work rate at the breakdown we produced several try scoring opportunities and with Ieuan feeding Jayden on one of the attacks he  produced a barnstorming run from 20 yards to score our first try. Will Morgan slotting over the conversion for a well-deserved 7 points (7-7).

Chepstow had their tails up and Taylor secured the kick off and went on the charge supported by the whole pack. The opposition really couldn’t handle the power up front but again poor decision making and game management meant we put ourselves under pressure by playing  in the wrong areas and completely panicking on our own line with looped passes and charged down kicks, only a few key jackals at crucial moments ensuring they didn’t score more.

We worked our way up the field again and following an excellent passage of play Steven crashed over for the second try, we were slightly fortunate with this as again with the player deciding to take contact before passing which resulted in what looked like a forward pass, we must pass before contact if there is a player in space. Conversion missed which would prove to be costly. (7-14).

With us still monopolising possession we looked good for the win, however some very poor kicking and even worse kick chase, meant we were putting ourselves under unnecessary pressure, and with the clock up and a couple of opportunities for us to put it off the park and claim the game spurned, we did the unmentionable by kicking loosely (instead of putting it dead) and then defending way too narrow which allowed them to run around the outside of us and score under the posts with no one chasing to cut them off and make the kick harder, they slotted over the easy conversion at the same point the ref blew his whistle to end the game, heart breaking loss which we only have ourselves to blame for, that said an excellent game of rugby for the neutral and really nice atmosphere, (14-12).

Good performance but game management is really letting us down, big game next week.

Things to be pleased about:

·         Commitment

·         Strength in depth

Things to work on:

·         Game management, particularly at half back.

·         Taking the contact rather than passing into space (big issue)

·         Defending to narrow constantly

·         Exit strategy (don’t panic!)

Man of the match: Taylor followed very closely by the impressive Luke Woodward

Cheers,

Matt.