tafford 50 Vs Longton 0

Firstly , I would like to thank Longton for coming down on a cold Friday night, and we must make mention that the team they bought with them were largely U16s and although some U17 and U18s featured, they had come off by half time as they had a big game against Lichfield on the Saturday, and although a number of players switched from Stafford to the visitors in the second half, if your pack can’t set a starting point, the backs are going to be feeding off scraps.
The box score will also be recorded as 50-0, the final score when the game was called with 6 minutes to go was 90-0.
As for the game, well as always during the winter months, there was a strong cross wind that both teams used at times very well. But by 7 minutes in, this game was over as it was 12-0 and the colts led by Jack Raine as captain were flying and said Captain had broken the line twice and scored. The first a solo effort after a Finn C turnover, the second came after good work from Ed, Mason, Jake , Jude and Finn H.
So, what can we learn from such a game?
Playing Time
Well let’s start with the players. 28 of them got game time, of those 28, 22 were from the U17s squad and none looked out of place, and that is down to hard work in training and no matter where you are in the pecking order, you run the same moves, drills etc . It’s the next man up principle and its nice to see some real depth in some positions.
Attitude
At least 6 (possibly more) of ours lads played for Longton in the second half and still put a shift in despite the one way traffic. A great example of this was a ball out wide in the second half to Rory (playing for Stafford) on the wing, opposite him is his mate Declan (playing for Longton), neither were going to give any ground, as Rory looked to power through, along came Joline (also playing for Longton) to make sure the Stafford winger didn’t get through, in fact after the tackle and subsequent ruck, the game was stopped as the ball had gone out. Jolame and Rory had ended up on the floor in a grapple (or hug) and both started laughing as they realised who was involved. Its this team spirit that goes a long way.
It was also pleasing having spent a lot of time on Thursday installing two new plays that the players had the confidence to run them, and this was the perfect opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t.
Even more pleasing was that when the coaches asked the players to run phases rather than just gunning it through the gaps, they did so. Its fine doing it on a Thursday nights, but sometimes you need an opposition to build against. This was one of those nights. We also didn’t need to see say two players score 7 tries each, what would have learnt , how would we develop ? What we needed was to see box kicks, plays off lineouts, repeated phases and a cover defence.
Work Ons
For every positive, there is certainly a negative, we are nowhere near perfect, and this is not me being super critical as a coach, but I hope the players will see what they can improve on and will bring that focus to training.
The lineout, although better than the previous week, still needs work.
Player’s communication in a defensive line again can improve.
Fitness, yes it was a fast-paced game, with plenty of line breaks, but some were feeling it after the first 20 minutes.
Kick Offs, there is not enough space on a page to discuss kick offs.
They are all minor things and shouldn’t detract from a very good performance but you should always look at yourself as a player and say, how can I improve ?
Positives
Minimal injuries, yes there were some knocks, Jonah and Tyler in particular, hopefully with rest they will all bounce back quickly.
Confidence, confidence to try new things, the new moves and some of the old moves that we don’t bring out often, were tried and at times we ran (both in the pack and backs) some lovely lines. I don’t mind when things go wrong but learn from it quickly and adapt to what is in front of you.
Players like Fraser taking high balls and putting them back and chasing like a greyhound after a rabbit.
Rory using that pace we know he has to fly down the wing and get a try, but also on a windy night to have the mindset to get closer to the posts.
Finn Collins, an MOTM performance, big in attack and defence. When his and Logans heads are in this place, they really add a presence to the back row.
We fielded two sets of backs, and the pace and accuracy (despite the cold) didn’t really drop off and players got to play in the right positions, it doesn’t always happen, but you can tell when a player is comfortable in a certain position.
The forwards, getting ball (other than the scrum) and tying in players so the backs have room, it is telling how many of our tries were either break throughs or out wide, that’s because the forwards did a job and sucked in plenty of defenders.
Mason and Jonah = work rate, they just get **** done, the dirty work, the grind, it still has to be done in games like these, and my word they just do it.
I have positives for all the players, and most I think I spoke to during the game and post-match, the others, I’ll be there Tuesday!
Tries and Kicks
On an evening of tries, 10 different players (7 backs / 3 forwards) scored tries and 20 points were added from the kicking tee.
The scorers were Jack (3), Jake (2) , Finn C (MOTM and 2) , Finn H(1) , Elijah (1) , Tyler (1), Connor (1) , Jude (1), Rory (celebrating his 17th the day before, 1), Harry W (1 + 10convs).
That next season this could be a great developmental set up for the 16s coming through (as we have already seen signs on a Tuesday night).
Up Next
Well it’s a Saturday against Tamworth, which will be a step up, this isn’t a shoe in, but it’s a great chance for a second W in a row and add to the good work the lads did on Friday.