More Players But Less Points

REPORT BY MARCUS EDWARDS

Despite the freezing, atrocious weather conditions the full U15 squad of twelve players turned out for the last match of the year – welcome back Ellie Davidson and Olivia Farrow off the injury list - unfortunately Leeds turned up with only seven players. So for the third consecutive match, Manchester were restricted to a seven- a-side fixture with two fifteen minute halves.

Within the Leeds team facing Manchester were two players whose stature would not have looked out of place in the full Women’s team, plus the league’s current leading try scorer. Against such opposition with only seven players on the pitch this was always going to be an uphill struggle for Manchester.

From the onset Leeds tactics were to keep their two ‘largest’ players in the back line, using them as ‘battering rams’ once the ball had cleared any set pieces or breakdowns. This tactic effectively bypassed Manchester’s strongest tackling forwards, with the backs having to commit two, sometimes three, players to stop them from bursting through the defensive line. This led to plenty of open space for the quick Leeds back line to exploit.

Sustained Leeds pressure resulted in three unanswered ‘out wide’ tries in the first ten minutes. Manchester were finally able to get into the Leeds half with some good running by Jess Johnson and Chloe Snape. However, the Leeds defence remained firm. With Manchester not able to maintain any pressure, Leeds were then able to drive down the length of the pitch and score the final try of the half for a 28-0 scoreline.

The half time team talk led by the captain Jess Johnson resulted in a change of tactics by Manchester:
Rachael Jones was pulled out of the forward line and set in the unusual position of the back line to cover the Leeds ‘battering rams’. Aided by some exceptional tackling by Olivia Farrow, Manchester were now able to stop Leeds forward momentum and at last had them on the ‘back foot’ at times. However seven minutes into the half with Manchester pressuring the Leeds line, one pair of cold Manchester hands dropped the ball, which allowed Leeds to breakaway and score from long range.

Sustaining a high intensity tackling defence in freezing conditions proved difficult for Manchester, despite every player in the squad making a heroic contribution. Manchester’s second half tactic of using their forwards to block Leeds was keeping the second half score low but it meant that when Manchester gained precious possession of the ball they often found a forward where a ‘winger’ should be in the back line. This meant that Manchester found it harder to break out of their own half and Leeds were able to slowly ‘grind’ Manchester down. As ‘iced’ hands became the norm, some missed tackles were inevitable, leading Leeds to score two tries in the last couple of minutes of the match.

On the face of it seven unanswered tries looks like a ‘drubbing’ but as any ex-rugby player who has played in a seven- a-side game knows, scores can quickly run up against you. It was highly commendable of Manchester to keep the score line low despite being 28-0 down at half time.

This match if played a hundred times would still result in a Leeds win because of the makeup of the team they fielded. There is nowhere to hide in a seven- a-side game when the opposing team has much larger mobile players available to them, plus an outstanding try scorer as well. Manchester really needed the fixture to have been contested with at least ten- a-side to have had any hope of being competitive on the day. Hopefully, full squad turn outs by ourselves and our opposition in the future will allow Manchester to play to their strengths when matched against similar sized opposition squads.

Although all the girls deserve a medal for playing in such appalling conditions and still being able to keep a smile on their faces (or were they just ‘frozen’ grins?), special mention should go to two in particular, namely Catlin Knight and Casey Thompson. When on the pitch, they seemed to be at every breakdown competing for loose ball or putting in covering tackles to prevent any Leeds forward momentum.

A final mention should go to Alex ‘the flask’ Thompson (yes, Casey’s dad). Having newly qualified as a league referee he kindly volunteered to officiate and as such was responsible for a very fair and free flowing match. Congratulations to Alex, we look forward to seeing his newly acquired refereeing skills again in the New Year.

Player of the Match: Casey Thompson