Oldham U15
Matches
Sun 07 Apr 2013
Oldham RUFC
Oldham U15
0
53
Didsbury U15
ORUFC U15 v Didsbury U15

ORUFC U15 v Didsbury U15

Jon Maslen12 Apr 2013 - 13:12
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Oldham U15s back in action after long break - Lose out to Strong Disdbury squad.

After a long break due to weather and other cancellations Oldham U15s were looking forward to getting some rugby played once again at Manor Park. A few injuries and a couple of players away over the Easter break meant Oldham were only able to rustle up 14 players for this game, however Didsbury fairly matched the numbers on the pitch with only one on their bench.

Oldham kicked off the first half and despite trying to apply some initial pressure the ball was quickly turned over and Didsbury made their possession count scoring their first try of the game. This was to become the pattern of the first 15 mins with Didsbury well on top. Oldham found themselves 3 trys down and struggling to stay in the game. The Oldham team despite their efforts were making things far too easy for the away side to attack at will and there were a lot of missed tackles. Didsbury by direct comparison were very well organised and took advantage of every mistake made by the home team. Oldham dug in for the next 10 minutes but 2 errors by the home side gifted the opposition two more trys.

By half time Didsbury had scored six tries plus three conversions without any reply, to leave a half time score of Oldham 0 v Didsbury 36

It would be fair to say that the Oldham coaches were very vocal with their team at half time and they started the second half much better playing with much more aggression. They made good ground and were unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions, with good breaks from Conor Chadderton and Elliot Foley, as well as some good support work from Greg Antonio. Joe Kershaw was starting to make a difference in the contact areas and the home side seemed to lift themselves and want to compete. Didsbury remained resolute in their defence however and Oldham couldn’t break the line for the score they badly wanted.
The Oldham determination seemed to upset the away side who began to lose their discipline however not really to their detriment and they finally managed to break through the Oldham lines to score the first points of the second half. The ball looked to have been held up by the Oldham defence but the referee awarded the try. This seemed to give Disdbury some additional confidence and they continued to push on and scored a second try although this should also have been disallowed for a blatant forward pass missed by the referee.

The contest had now become very heated and following another disagreement with a few thrown, but missed, punches the game finished on a rather sour note.

Final score was 53-0

There was nothing really for the Oldham coaches to learn about their team other than the unfortunate run of missed competitive games showed in their performance. Training is of course important but nothing can replace competitive games and the work needed to play as a team. Several players started to show during the second half that they were able to compete and play rugby, those mentioned above as well as James Ashton and Mike Booth, and also Heath Fletcher playing his first game for the Club. Man of the Match goes to Conor Chadderton although to be fair it was a difficult call.

Match details

Match date

Sun 07 Apr 2013

Kickoff

11:00
Team overview
Further reading