Semi Final Teaser
22 Feb 10 Etihad Curtain Raiser Cup 0 v 0 Teddington, Havant and Tonbridge
Etihad Curtain Raiser Cup
Petersfield U9’s came to The Stoop for the Etihad Curtain Raiser Cup semi final stages full of expectation after a difficult Winchester Tournament earlier in February. The boys clearly wanted to scrub that day from memory and with the sun shining and nice damp and soft muddy pitch the scene was set. Twelve eager, clean and mean rugby trainees.
What a Strapping bunch of good looking young men (and women)!
Boy we make our lives difficult at the start of tournaments don’t we! We took our time to warm up with plenty of watching, pondering and observation. Tonbridge were given a light first half as we gathered our thoughts with a few crucially missed tackles seeing Tonbridge get ahead by 2 tries. Not wanting someone getting the better of us in the first game we got fired up in the second half.
Good facials!
Some great drives by our front row Matt Thompson, James Barden and a more aggressive James Vernon-Smith enabled Tom (‘tights are us’ but not today) Land to get within 5 metres of the try line.
Come and tackle me if you think you are hard enough!
Scrummage delivery by Matt Evans was first class with good fast ball. We just need to master the decision on where to take the play (left or right) which will come with experience and practice. Well done Matt. With this momentum a cracking opportunity from Alastair Sheldon and Johnny ‘lightening’ Blumlein was converted by Jack Smith. Jack was in almost every play and he clearly had his Weetabix on Saturday morning. A tightly fought 2-1 win for Tonbridge which didn’t reflect our second half performance at all.
Where is it!??
The second outing against old foes Havant saw a more determined start with great aggressive tackling and rucking by Jack ‘gimme that ball’ Smith, Matt Eves was on at the start driving and tackling everywhere on the pitch.
RUUUUNNNNN!...AND THE WINGER IS IN POSITION.
Good fast delivery by Evans saw Havant going backwards whether with possession or not. That mauling and driving is paying off as they never got a chance to run or get possession, they were going backwards too much. A crunching tackle by Matt Eves saved the only opportunity they had to score a try and our mauling was awesome.!! Havant got nothing, got nowhere and must have been fed up with our repeated strong driving and determined defence. We even got the ball to the centres and wing for Luca Samingoe-Turner and Kaja Jacobs to have a run down the touchline a few times.
Our passing improved and we got some good action shots of you all doing what we have been practicing in winning a ball at a breakdown, passing it out along the line and scoring (OK so we missed the last bit but we tried very hard and were unlucky when Matt Eves was denied a try 5 metres out.) Once again Jack Smith was everywhere, tackling, driving, running and mauling, an outstanding performance Jack well done. (are you trying to wear out your boots so you can get a new gold plated pair??) .
Look at that for a driving maul - awesome.!!
Good teamwork all around (particularly from Thomas Land, our fast fullback with some great passing) from the forwards to the backs didn’t fairly represent the final score at 0-0. HAVANT we are coming to get you at the Hampshire Tournament and we are gonna WIN!!!
The final game against Teddington was always going to be difficult as everyone in this team looking 15, I am sure I saw a few that needed a shave and at least one had a big tattoo on his leg. Young Kylie Barden fired up Petersfield and stole the ball in the first maul, well done James an awesome start. We gained good field possession and started to worry the 6 foot full back who was busy doing his hair (or was that James - can’t remember).
Our tackling improved throughout this game and an awesome display of individual strength by Alastair Sheldon with a stolen maul gained 15 metres. He stole, then pushed, then pushed some more, his feet were going through the mud to China he was pushing so hard. Joseph Chads saw the benefits of aggression and took out a few tall waifs trying for glory with some great tackles covering the touchline. Teddington continued to push and scored 2 easy tries before halftime because we stood and watched!! Tackles count!. We did probably play our best game with great defensive play by the backs and a great determined game by the forwards. The final score was 4-0 to Teddington.
Overall we displayed a greater understanding of the training we have been doing so you should all be pleased. Well done everyone. Hope you all fit into the small and compact t-shirts we got! Once again if we got into the right frame of mind at the start I think we could have won our first two games.!! Obviously the Teddington giants were a tough team to beat without stilts. The training is working! Keep coming keep listening and keep enjoying it.
On another note birthday boy got the chance to go and visit the smelly area where the Harlequins get ready for the big games.
He got his name in lights (hopefully he will get a taste for it and get meaner as he gets older!!).
Clearly pinching Dave Strettle’s shirt means he will have to be good at hide and seek or be a fast runner.!! RUN FORREST RUN and don’t forget your headband as we don’t want you running into something!.
You should have got onto the pitch as the Quins clearly needed some help!
Happy Birthday James.
See you all Sunday,
Management : Ben Chads and Julianne Evans
Coaching Guru’s : Matt, Phil, Jeremy and Stuart.
