Black star in epic battle with Woodford today.

Woodford U14 15 v 12 Ipswich Black U14 (Tries: Charles 2 Con: Callum M)

What a game of rugby!

I think I speak for everyone who witnessed our boys today when I say that they did us proud. Playing the perennial Essex champions in our age group we were tested to breaking point today and gave what was clearly our best performance of the autumn so far in a game that we could and should have won at the death.

Where we are going as a squad is very exciting and if you put our last 20 minutes today up as our standard moving forward I think we will be in a great place when the shake-up comes in the Spring. The struggles we’ve had to get to where we arrived at today have all been part of the process and I believe we now have a good idea of what our capabilities are and how we best utilise our talent to win games moving forward.

A 7:30am start on the road was well worth the day that unfolded. Thank you to Woodford for accommodating us at short notice given the issue we had with our scheduled fixture.

Woodford are like most sides we play, a big, physical outfit. For the first ten minutes we didn’t get out of our 22 and we got caught up in a fight up front that we were always going to struggle to win. That said our scrum was immense. We dominated start to finish on that element of the game all morning. We did however get tied up in knots at the lineout and that requires further work.

We got pinged a bit for silly mistakes and were undone on an overlap that saw Woodford open the scoring. We then should have dived on a loose ball but didn’t just in front of our posts that they then recycled and scored again.

So 10-0 down at half time and when we got everyone in we talked about looking after the ball and supporting bodies at the breakdown rather than letting players get isolated and flooded which was causing us problem after problem that seemed to just result in a lack of patterning. We made our enforced changes and lost Ollie S due to a neck injury so went back into what was a pretty ferocious encounter with four changes at half time.

From the kick off we lost ball and were pinned in on our 5 where we were undone at the lineout and found ourselves 15-0 down. As their kicker lined himself up we got the boys together and reiterated that 5 or 6 boys couldn’t carry us as a team at this level. It was time to stand up, and stand up we did.

We upped our levels of work rate, our communication and ultimately our self belief. I feel we will always win foot races and fitness tests as we are a very fit group because we value that ethic and it showed today in the second half. We had put in a massive shift in the first half to contain Woodford as much as we had but they’d also expelled a lot of energy to get to where we were in the game. We could see they were beginning to creak through tiredness and we knew that if we could pull them both ways they’d struggled to cope with our hand speed when we got quick ball.

We moved the ball really well left and right and then a great miss pass from Rory put in Charles on the left wing, who still had a bit to do but showed electric pace over 10 metres to score in the corner. Callum M then put over a superb conversion from tight on the touchline and we were 8 down with about 12 minutes to play. We went straight back at them again and our intensity levels went up again and we ran at them with real purpose and heart epitomised by Callum C who drove at the heart of the Woodford side to set us a great platform for our next try. We kept driving and Woodford kept giving away penalties and eventually we worked an opening and Rory again got Charles in at the corner. A brilliant team try. Callum was not far away with the conversion attempt so 15-12 with 5 minutes to play.

We had at least three opportunities to win it. It was us that didn’t win it rather than their D. We knocked on or took the wrong option, or knocked on again. We were literally all over them for the last 20 minutes of the game and to do that against a side of this quality is a fantastic achievement.
When the final whistle came both teams came together to shake hands and have a group photo as a memory of what was a brilliant game along with Freddie and Henry Tuilagi who were watching on from the touchline. Personally I am super proud of the levels and all the boys today. I only wish more people had seen it.

Man of the Match

There were a number of great performances today. Will, Arch and Otis were exceptional at the breakdown and in the tackle getting through a mountain of dirty work. Freddy H was really very good in the tackle up to half time before making way for Callum C was exceptional in the second half. Kajaei was very good ball in hand as was Dom who broke so many lines and caused havoc all morning. Rory and Victor were really very good at 9 and 10 respectfully, Callum M had a very good second half and Finn showed real clarity of mind and a good rugby brain to move from 15 to 13 and have such an impact in the second half. Joe F was as always at his industrious best and Ollie S showed lots of brute strength and great feet before going off at half time. As I said previously though I’m super proud of all of them for the collective achievement today.

Our MoM today though goes to Charles. Two tries from two opportunities, he really took his chance. His work rate was very good and he tried his hardest to get to grips with their big outside centre when he ran straight at him slowing him up enough for us to get other bodies into him. So well done Charles, top effort.

Thank you’s

Thank you to all the parents, siblings and relatives for making the long journey. We couldn’t do any of this without your ongoing support and commitment.

Thank you to Woodford for hosting us today. We look forward to seeing you in the New Year at the Lane and hopefully on tour.