Panthers U15’s Make it Two from Two

An overcast and surprisingly cold morning at NLL, greeted the two teams, but despite having played each other many times over the years. Both squads looked strangely unfamiliar, due to a combination of injuries, holidays and other commitments.

The Panthers welcomed a number of their U14’s form last year’s second placed U13’s as well as a new half-back combination.

The first five minutes were a bit error strewn, and whilst the tempo of the defence was set early by a typically crunching Myles tackle. The Panthers failed to capitalise on their field position each time they got the ball back, as their attack was a little too casual.

The coach was looking for more focus in the team, and asked his players to build a set and they responded with a combination of barraging runs from the forwards and neat interchange from their backs. After the first score, the second and third came quickly and the coaches warned the boys about their focus. This time the warnings weren’t headed and the Eels were quick to take advantage for the score.

The Green and Black this time responded to the warning shot and got back to building sets, posting 3 more scores before the half-time whistle as the coaches rang the changes. Half-time 32-4

The half-time team talk was straight forward, more of the same, but work harder on line speed and harder on supporting the runner.

The second half proved to be a carbon copy of the first, but this time the defensive lapse didn’t come until the last two plays of the game when they allowed the Eels to make 40m and score.

The Eels tested Jesse, one of the U14’s with 3 or 4 bombs from kick-off, each one he pouched successfully before working his way towards the 50 to set-up another attack. The forwards were doing the hard yards up the middle with strong runs from Owen, Danny, Brendan and Myles, whilst Oliver, Adam, Henry and Luke led the field around the park.

The number of support runners started to improve, especially in the backs with Kai, Tristan, Teddy, Solly, Joe, Gabriel and Matt all delivering. Final 18-10

‘It was really pleasing to see the boys work so hard for each other this week.’ The coach remarked. ‘Even without some of the more experienced players on the park, the experienced ones who played led well, and the rest followed willingly, and that’s what makes a team performance!’