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Sun 22 Nov 2009
Bolton
Under 15s
0
30
Bolton 0 - Manchester 30*
Neil Heap22 Nov 2009 - 19:17
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Brain rather than braun?
With the wintry weather now wreaking havoc across Lancashire and the Lakes we were glad to be able to get to play this weeks match against a valiant Bolton side. Thanks to Mark, the Bolton coaches, parents and players for making the effort today.
The car park resembled the Trafford Centre at 11:00 this morning as we gathered for a later kick off on a day when all but the junior colts were playing at home.We also had the added complexity today of one of the Bolton coaches being called away and unable to come to the game today, unfortunately he also had the kit in the boot of his car and so we needed to help avoid the Bolton lads having to play skins - to the rescue comes Messrs Toon and Richardson the U14 coaching team who offered to let the Bolton lads use our 14s kit at the end of their game. We wisely suggested that they should turn it inside out until we realised that it was the same on both sides! So for the first time we wore our white away strip (actually our shirts turned inside out!) and so McRef was happy and we could get on with the game.
The first fifteen minutes were closely contested as a rough tough Bolton pack did well in the set piece and the rucks, whilst we had scored two tries we were not having it all our own way by any stretch of the imagination; indeed some of the boys appeared to be suffering from a space allergy today - every time there was some space out wide we decided to cut back into the traffic - maybe it was just a bit warmer where all the bodies were hanging about.
... and then it seemed to click............ Rugby is not a contact sport.... it is a pass, find the space, indeed create the space..... and “avoid the contact” game -- Spaces not Faces!!
When we did that - we began to look like the good rugby playing side that we are and as well as Brad Pitt going over for a try at the end of a lovely flowing bit of rugby it was fantastic to see Tom Royle going over towards the end of the first half after half a dozen passes got the ball away from the contact area.... and with men outside as well!! At half time we were five tries up and made some changes to ensure game time for everyone.
In the second half we scored some great tries by moving the ball out wide, some great running and passing by all the backs creating opportunities for Wolfy to show his electric pace and some lovely link play between The Prof, Discount, Marcus, Ferg and PC Cannabis’s lad probably made Tomo’s second half tries slightly easier than those in the first. There were some great tries today,
The Karate Kid who fresh from fighting his own War of the Roses in Wakefield yesterday showed great pace to make it a brace for the second row posse
A try for Noisy who is really coming into his own in competing for the Jack Russell forward award.... BUT
TRY OF THE DAY.... POSSIBLY WEEK ...... MAYBE SEASON - where was the camera when we needed it - -Ladies and Gentlemen I give you The Sheap!
We will not be churlish and mention the dubious hand off (ooops we just have) but when I asked him about it later he said that he ran 463 yards (he must have picked up the ball in the changing room to run that far!!)... seriously I haven’t seen a solo try from your own 22 from a prop for .... a long time (truth be said I can’t recall having seen it before). What was also interesting was that as he went over I was stood with Cannabis senior and he noted there wasn’t a Manchester body within 25 yards of him - is the runaway sheap really that fast!!
I also want to thank the Doc today as clearly whatever he said to Scribblers Lad, had Lazarus like impact on him.... you should bottle it and sell it as Docs tonic... brilliant!
Once we were in our stride today I thought we showed some great rugby which will stand us in good stead for more difficult times ahead. I thought Mazzer was great today and really gave us the urgency, particularly form penalties that we haven’t always had - he managed it most of the time except when red-mist Smurf decided to tap and go with the opposition not even 10cm away let alone 10m - good to see McRef was observant as ever!!
There maybe a name or two I haven’t mentioned in the report - apologies, that is nothing short of a lack of editorial imagination. We are developing into a good TEAM and everyone is important in that - lets keep our good run going.
The car park resembled the Trafford Centre at 11:00 this morning as we gathered for a later kick off on a day when all but the junior colts were playing at home.We also had the added complexity today of one of the Bolton coaches being called away and unable to come to the game today, unfortunately he also had the kit in the boot of his car and so we needed to help avoid the Bolton lads having to play skins - to the rescue comes Messrs Toon and Richardson the U14 coaching team who offered to let the Bolton lads use our 14s kit at the end of their game. We wisely suggested that they should turn it inside out until we realised that it was the same on both sides! So for the first time we wore our white away strip (actually our shirts turned inside out!) and so McRef was happy and we could get on with the game.
The first fifteen minutes were closely contested as a rough tough Bolton pack did well in the set piece and the rucks, whilst we had scored two tries we were not having it all our own way by any stretch of the imagination; indeed some of the boys appeared to be suffering from a space allergy today - every time there was some space out wide we decided to cut back into the traffic - maybe it was just a bit warmer where all the bodies were hanging about.
... and then it seemed to click............ Rugby is not a contact sport.... it is a pass, find the space, indeed create the space..... and “avoid the contact” game -- Spaces not Faces!!
When we did that - we began to look like the good rugby playing side that we are and as well as Brad Pitt going over for a try at the end of a lovely flowing bit of rugby it was fantastic to see Tom Royle going over towards the end of the first half after half a dozen passes got the ball away from the contact area.... and with men outside as well!! At half time we were five tries up and made some changes to ensure game time for everyone.
In the second half we scored some great tries by moving the ball out wide, some great running and passing by all the backs creating opportunities for Wolfy to show his electric pace and some lovely link play between The Prof, Discount, Marcus, Ferg and PC Cannabis’s lad probably made Tomo’s second half tries slightly easier than those in the first. There were some great tries today,
The Karate Kid who fresh from fighting his own War of the Roses in Wakefield yesterday showed great pace to make it a brace for the second row posse
A try for Noisy who is really coming into his own in competing for the Jack Russell forward award.... BUT
TRY OF THE DAY.... POSSIBLY WEEK ...... MAYBE SEASON - where was the camera when we needed it - -Ladies and Gentlemen I give you The Sheap!
We will not be churlish and mention the dubious hand off (ooops we just have) but when I asked him about it later he said that he ran 463 yards (he must have picked up the ball in the changing room to run that far!!)... seriously I haven’t seen a solo try from your own 22 from a prop for .... a long time (truth be said I can’t recall having seen it before). What was also interesting was that as he went over I was stood with Cannabis senior and he noted there wasn’t a Manchester body within 25 yards of him - is the runaway sheap really that fast!!
I also want to thank the Doc today as clearly whatever he said to Scribblers Lad, had Lazarus like impact on him.... you should bottle it and sell it as Docs tonic... brilliant!
Once we were in our stride today I thought we showed some great rugby which will stand us in good stead for more difficult times ahead. I thought Mazzer was great today and really gave us the urgency, particularly form penalties that we haven’t always had - he managed it most of the time except when red-mist Smurf decided to tap and go with the opposition not even 10cm away let alone 10m - good to see McRef was observant as ever!!
There maybe a name or two I haven’t mentioned in the report - apologies, that is nothing short of a lack of editorial imagination. We are developing into a good TEAM and everyone is important in that - lets keep our good run going.
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