U9s V Derby

 
As a famous ex-player and broadcaster of that other, inferior ball related game, once said ‘It’s a funny ol’ game Saint’ – these words could not be more appropriate to the U9’s game at the minute.  Following the previous fixture we had I was praising the team for consistency, grit, determination, and the complete lack of un-forced errors.  Where the game against Derby on Sunday seemed at times to be the complete opposite to this.  The lads certainly made it hard for themselves.  In all fairness, the conditions weren’t great due to the heavy winds and rain over the previous days.  It was certainly credit to Derby to ensuring the games could go ahead. 
 
Off the back of a great display the previous week, Mansfield, despite the conditions, were confident in their game to test Derby, and to ultimately beat them.  The first games were played on half size pitches, so tackling in tight spaces was key to prevent short runs to the try line.  This area was certainly a mixed bag, which some hard hits going in on the one hand, and doors being left open on the other.  Mansfield did play some good attacking rugby, with a number of trys being scored, however, then found it difficult to defend the try, allowing Derby to stay in contention all the time.  Mansfield did allow Derby to have a lot of the ball due to lots of various unforced errors, which then put themselves under pressure, however, having said this, did win the majority of the games played.  The final game played was on the full size pitch, which the lads certainly preferred. Due to the short time available, however, we had to rotate the team constantly, which upset the flow of our game quite a bit.  There were some great individual battles had in this game, which created a bit of an edge, however, a more consistent performance by Derby saw them beat us in the last game.  Our lack of width created a number of openings for the Derby runners to exploit.
 
Lots to work on before the next game, which the lads know themselves without having to be told.  It is actually a real positive that even when the outcome of a game or group of games is still a win, that the team and the individuals within it, know where the improvements need to come from.  All in all, not a great performance this week – a blip;  however, will no doubt serve its purpose to spur them on in the subsequent fixtures over the next few weeks.