Heads Held High Despite Loss

Dear All,

To be the best you have to beat the best and so for a group of young rugby players on a journey toward excellence, we have to regularly challenge ourselves to ever higher levels of performance. This means leaving the comfort zone of evenly matched games against our peers and putting ourselves up against the best teams in the country, whenever and wherever we get the opportunity to do so, in order that we may honestly assess ourselves against the standards set by the best in the land.

Today’s fixture against London Irish was just one of those occasions, and as standards go, no U14 team in England sets the benchmark higher than the Exiles.

It was apparent from the moment we arrived at their fantastic new ground at Hazelwood in Sunbury that this was a very different setting to what we were used to. The spanking new facilities, ample parking, clean and spacious changing rooms and acre upon acre of green, verdant surfaces made us wonder if we hadn’t passed on to the great rugby heaven in the sky! The hospitality was great and we were made to feel welcome from the start. It was good to catch up with the Irish coaches and renew old acquaintances from seasons past.

The boys knew that they would be up against one of the best, if not the best U14 team in the country but were up for it to a man. We warmed up well and took the field eager to upset the Surrey champions with our brand of uncompromising forward play and dazzling back-play, the like of which had seen us unbeaten so far this season. We were going to use our massive pack to hammer up the middle, taking the ball through multiple phases and as soon as an opportunity presented itself, unleash our backs to slice through their defences and win us a famous victory.

Matters, however, turned out somewhat differently.

From the kick-off, London Irish came at us like a hungry pack of wolves. They hit up hard, recycled, off-loaded and changed the point of attack at high speed and with ruthless efficiency. Four minutes and two mid-field busts later, we were under our posts, shell-shocked, 14-0 nil down and staring down the barrel of massive defeat. A quick word of encouragement from the coaching staff woke the lads up a bit and we took the game back to Irish. Our set pieces were excellent and we set about out-scrumming and out-jumping the London Irish men. Our performance at the breakdown was disciplined and effective and we were able to recycle the ball through multiple phases and build attacks by putting our big forwards into the Exiles defensive line again and again.

The London Irish defence was exceptional, and despite periods of sustained pressure by Bracknell in both halves, they would simply not yield. Their tackling was breath-taking and time after time our boys were cut down in attack by the Irish defenders and eventually we would cough up the ball in a tackle or be turned over at the breakdown. It was then that the true class of this Irish team came into evidence as every time they got even a sniff, they turned defence into attack in an instant and before we knew it, we were under our posts again and by full time Irish were deserved winners 38-0.

Despite the margin of the Exiles’ victory, the scoreboard does not in any way do justice to massive effort put in by every one of our boys on the pitch, and we were able to leave to the field of play with our heads high, our pride intact and in the knowledge that we had left nothing in the tank. We hadn’t won the game, but we had won the respect of the opposition, the coaches, the ref, and of the spectators that had been privileged to watch an exceptional exhibition of junior rugby unfold before their eyes. We had done our absolute best out there but had been turned over by a better team.

In terms of our journey, today’s match was a very important validation of who and where are as a team, what our core values are, and how far we have come from a technical and tactical perspective. We confirmed that when the going gets tough, we pull together as a group and support each other, and that adversity brings out the best in us. We know that technically we have achieved much, particularly in the set pieces and our breakdown work, and that tactically we are mature and capable of intelligent match management.

We were also able to identify areas for improvement, and we will be taking these lessons onto the training paddock over the weeks to come and we will be a better team for the lessons learned.

Our thanks go to London Irish U14’s, players coaches and parents and to the referee who contributed to an excellent advertisement for the junior game of Rugby Union.

As always,
Andy