U13s forwards dominate

a proper changing room, playing on the main 1st team pitch, an elevated view of the pitch for parents, a gantry for our camera man, even the sky cameras were on site (OK next door in the sky TV studios.
The team arrived and concerns were obviously different, some had overslept, whilst others (OK, just our head coach) had been awake half the night then up at 6:30am with pre match nerves.The team arrived and concerns were obviously different, some had overslept, whilst others (OK, just our head coach) had been awake half the night then up at 6:30am with pre match nerves.
The boys assembled in the changing room then jogged out for a pre match warm up led by Henry & Tommy, they then filed back to the changing room to don their match tops (just like the do in the professional game!!!) The team separated into backs and forwards and went through their individual pre match drills, Billy practised his kicking and established his range, the backs ran some silky passing move whilst the forwards slapped each other and tried to deposit each other on their backsides & Tom tried to understand the difference between pushing & pulling.
The referee came over & did the stud check, explained the new engagement rules to the front row and the 5 second rule on getting the ball from a ruck to Matthew G. Back to the changing room to get the blood pumping, understand that you don’t let yourself down, you don’t let your team down, but most important of all you don’t let your team mates down; COME ON THE VALLEY.
The game starts, Billy kicks off……..short. Oh no surely not a sign of the season to come, 3 seconds into the match & we’ve already conceded a scrum back on the half way line. However what happened next was a sign of the way the match would go, pressure from the Valley front row on the set as the ball is fed in and the Grasshoppers pack crumples, the scrum is reset and again Chess pile on the pressure this time the scrum wheels and is again reset. For the third time Chess pile on the pressure and the scrum is taken against the head. Chess take continual possession; although the balls moves through the hands, initially there is too little forward movement. However the pack is everywhere recycling the ball at every breakdown and winning nearly every scrum whether the put in is from Grasshoppers or Chess.
Finally after 6 minutes the opening score arrives, a Chess Valley scrum is awarded 10 yards from the Grasshoppers line, the Chess front 5 again drive forward, the whole Grasshoppers pack try to resist allowing Henry to pick up the ball from the back of the scrum, run down the blindside with just the winger to beat and score a nice try in the corner.
Chess Valley were now exerting constant pressure on Grasshoppers, every Grasshoppers put in was pressurised, the Scrum half either getting very scrappy ball or loosing the ball entirely. Matthew G on the other hand was served perfect ball, I gained the impression that Henry was considering donning a white apron, a crisp linen napkin over his arm and offering Matthew the ball with a glass of something with a fruity bouquet and hints of Damson & blackcurrant to accompany it.
Chess were soon over the line with a driving maul, however the ball was held up, from the resulting scrum we tried a backs move, Matthew spun the ball out to Billy, Billy moved it quickly to Sam G who skipped around a couple of Grasshopper defenders and dropped over the line under the posts for Chess’s second try, Billy slotted home the conversion to make the score 0-12 to Chess Valley.
It was at this stage that we realised that our coaching was at fault, we’ve always encouraged the boys to play to their strengths and to be fair to the backs having established our strengths were defence and the scrum they played fully to these by forcing a scrum at every opportunity and kicking the ball back to our opponents when they couldn’t give away a scrum. For what seemed like an eternity we were camped in our own 22. It started with a speculative kick from Grasshoppers to just inside our 22, Jack ran back alone and rather than picking up the ball decided that he’d kick the ball dead & give our forwards a defensive scrum on their own 5 metre line, we then continued to drop the ball, pass forward or kick the ball to the opposition for the rest of the half.
The half time talk was along the lines of “play as you did for the first 20, never again play like you did for the last 5!!”
The second half continued with pressure from Grasshoppers who had gained encouragement from the end of the first half. After a few minutes they were rewarded with a try; Grasshoppers 5 Chess Valley 12.
Finally this kicked the Chess boys back into life a series of breaks & rucks resulted in Sam B breaking free, he looked to have taken the wrong option when he ran into their defence, however the rest of hios pack soon arrived to drive him over the line where he managed to break free and drop to the ground with the ball.
Chess were back on form as wave after wave attacked trying to get the try bonus, after several phases of possession Chess were awarded a try on the Grasshoppers 5 metre line, Henry again picked up the ball from the Scrum. Thus time Grasshoppers were wise to the move and tackled him, two Valley recycled possession before Henry picked up the ball again, skipped a couple of attempted tackled & scored the try.
The match finished with Chess giving all of their remaining substitutes a run on the pitch, during which time Grasshoppers scored their second try when a run down their left flank evaded several attempted tackles from the Chess players. Final score: Grasshoppers 10 Chess Valley 22
The man of the match award had to go to one of the front 5 and Matthew L was given the award due to his play in the loose, as well as his domination of the scrum. Matthew was joined in his pint of Lemonade by Jack and the forwards continued their domination of this competition with Matthew upending his empty glass on his head whilst Jack was still enquiring where his umbrella & sparkler were. Two drinks down; two- nil to the forwards!!