U14 Black beat unbeaten Cambridge in belter of a game

Cambridge 15 – 39 Ipswich Black (Tries: Ollie S 2, Charles 2, Dom, Harris, Ollie W Conv: Callum M 2)

Driving down the A14 this morning with minus three showing on the van outside temperature gauge, I did wonder if our game would be on when we got to Cambridge. As I had hoped along the way, there was nothing to worry about The sun had come out along the drive down and we agreed to start 15 minutes later than scheduled to allow the pitch to soften a little more. We eventually kicked off at a quarter to mid-day.

A great game I think is how I’d describe todays encounter. Two very committed sides on show and we played some good and at times, ambitious rugby. We worked hard across the morning after an edgy start and got stronger and stronger as the morning went on. At times though the boys were again below their own very high standards and were undone quite easily. We talked as a group after the game and felt that had Cambridge been a little more ruthless that could have happened more than on the three occasions it did.

Today was about going some way to ironing out the issues we saw at Southwold and with that in mind we moved lads around and asked a number of them to give new positions a go. I think it is fair to say we were pleased with the outcomes. We plan to develop it again in another tough fixture next weekend away at Westcliff before getting back to the Lane the week after for a debrief in a rare training weekend where we will set the squad for the Bury Cup game.

For the first 15 minutes today it was pretty much cat and mouse with the two sides moving up and down the park as ownership of the ball changed hands. Our shape got better as we went on, but we were again a little too polite from the first whistle with regard to contact. Generally as a unit this needs further work.

It was Cambridge who broke the deadlock when we finally buckled under the pressure of a kick through that we didn’t mop up leaving a fairly easy task for the lad who ran onto it.

That said we sprang into life and came back immediately with two excellent team tries, both finished by Ollie S where we pulled Cambridge all over the park. The second was very pleasing as having kicked for touch and not found it, Rory had the foresight to chase it for all he was worth, pin the full back and allow us a foothold from which to win the ball back and then go through a number of hands including a big line break from Dom that pulled Cambridge into midfield in numbers from where we went wide and again popped Ollie S in for his second.

Cambridge then completely undid us with a penalty that their 10 just dinked over our very flat line on our 22 , ran onto himself and scored under the posts. It wasn’t long though before we were in again through Dom after solid phases of work that drove us up the park, Arch then picking up from the base of a ruck and wriggling free, taking us to the five metre line from where we hit Dom on a great crash ball angle for him to drive over. Callum Murphy stroked over his second conversion and we went in at half time 10 – 19 up.

The second half started much like the first with a lot of movement up and down the park as ownership of the ball changed hands before Cambridge scored again to close the gap to 15 – 19. From there though we went through the gears.

Whilst our fitness compared to every side we’ve played this season has been higher, we still lack man for man fitness levels that fill me with absolute confidence. We have challenged the boys to work harder when they aren’t with us on their own fitness and if they need any help with that, just to ask.

Charles then danced in out wide after great teamwork for a try that had special influence from Fred vM, Rory and Dom. He then did it again after another great team try that saw us work extremely hard resulting in the overlap that the hard work deserved. Harris then streaked away wide right after space was created for him by Ollie S to score in the corner and Ollie W rounded it off with a brilliant line after great link up play from Fred vM, Rory and Vic.

So final score 15 – 39 in our favour and much to ponder for the coach team. Some really interesting new combinations that give us real options as we move forward into another week. Really looking forward to getting the whole squad together for the trip to Westcliff next week.

Star Men

There were some very good showings today. It was great to have Joe F back after his recent operation. How we have missed his enthusiasm and energy. Leo looked angrily at home in the second row and he has really grown in confidence in recent weeks. Joe M looked great in the centres and gives us pace to burn and cover against sharp runners, Ollie S too looked very much at home moving along the line. We had our usual solid performances from Fred vM, Rory, Arch, Dom, Vic, Charles, Otis and Will whilst Callum M looked at home at both hooker and at fullback. I bet there aren’t many coaches that can write that about a player. Callum C, Harry, Fred H, Harris and Ollie W also all made good impressions during the mornings toil.

Man of the match went to Dom. He played both in the front and back rows this morning and gave a really good all round account of himself once again. Well done that man.

Food for Thought

Afterwards in the wash up we talked about a good job and moving things forward.

We will need to see higher levels of output next week, greater discipline and more aggression when we make the trip into Essex if we were to build on the solid foundations of today.

Thank you

Thank you to Cambridge for getting the game on, hosting us all and for the food for the boys after the game. Thank you to the referee. Thank you to all of the Ipswich U14 family that made the long trip to support the boys this morning. I’m sure you agree a morning well spent watching some super rugby.

Training this week

Get to training. 7pm on the astro.