MKRUFC V Aylesbury Match Report

A vast improvement

Sunday was a vast improvement to the way we've started previous fixtures and overall I thought both teams competed well and were pretty balanced. It was good to see Max Cole back his best in that center position along with Toby, both showed real grit and determination making some solid tackles sending the Aylesbury players back. Ball carrying from Billy gave us some good territory, we just needed that support to be able to maximise the ground he makes. Our scrum really does seem to be very solid and gives the half backs the platform to start off our phases. Good performances from Josh at 10, Noah when he came on at scrum half as well, looked very shape in his passing and some good support lines from Finlay coming late hitting a hard line between the 12 and 13 channel. I thought for a majority of the game we passed the ball better than Aylesbury as well.

A few things to highlight that we will continue to work on. We did have several lads not on their game for some reason and at this level you can get away with 1 or 2 but not 3’s and 4’s. Even without the ball there is still a job to do and that seems to be a challenge for some at the minute. Get back onside, form that defensive line by communicating with your teammates and work up together to put the opposition under pressure to win that ball back. Our rucking wasn’t as good as it’s been, the conditions were wet so the ball did go loose, that’s no problem, but we were contesting in two’s and getting out muscled, I’d prefer us to overload the breakdown and secure the ball, hopefully that was a one off as rucking has been good so far.

Tackling, everyone’s favorite subject, we all saw the same game so I don’t need to comment on that and we will continue to work on technique but I can’t coach the boys to be brave and committed.

We will continue to drive home the message around work rate, small improvements, working hard with and without the ball is the key along with commitment and being brave. We’ve all seen snippets of how well the lads can play as a team when everyone is on it. Anyway, pleased with the way we competed in the first and third periods.

P.s. I am trying to arrange a development fixture as I’m conscious a handful of the lads aren’t getting game time but that is purely down to ability. Might sound a little harsh but I don’t see any value and your lad won’t improve, so express the importance of training hard and their time will come if I see their core skills improve.

Darren