Matlock U14 39pts Sheffield Tigers 10pts

addendums.
1.I am reliably informed by the try scorer themselves that the fourth try was a magnificent affair of gravity defying brilliance as James Hamilton-Cody devastated the Tiger's lair with a surge of some magnitude to touch down engulfed by stripes. Well done James i believe you beat your previous record distance of a one or two inches.

2. Wright apparently didn't convert his attempted dropped conversion and hence i need to change the adverb from "cheekily" to "irresponsbly"

MatlockU14 Tame the Tigers

Matlock U14 39pts Sheffield Tigers 10pts

First of all on behalf of the coaches, players and parents I pass on our best wishes to Harry Stephenson who suffered a broken jaw on Thursday playing football. I am told the surgery went well and hopefully there will be little long term effect and Harry is looking to return around Christmas. It was good to see him supporting us on Sunday though I’m not sure if he was trying to, or avoid, smiling. Make the most of the relative silence whilst it lasts. It was also good to see Julie and new baby though I didn’t get chance to say hello.

Now on to the game with Sheffield Tigers whom we had never beaten before but did not play them last year. Having noted their recent performances I was confident we should win. Due to the county trials on Saturday I wanted to rest the trialist as much as possible though they all wanted to play. Matlock started with a brand new look backline with two new starters Doyle in the centre and Andy on the wing. Along side this new half back pairing of Clarke and Wragg , Firth playing fullback for the first time and only Walker and Boulton playing their usual positions. In the forwards due to reduced resources we couldn’t rest as many as I wanted to start with but managed to rotate the players through the game. It was a little like 70 years earlier when flight command had had to scramble their forces to best effect during the Battle of Britain, though perhaps not as important.

Matlock chose to receive the kick and soon found themselves driving deep into tiger’s territory through well executed rucking and driving by the pack of forwards. The backs were also looking dangerous when they moved the ball. Clarke was consistently finding Wragg who showed his running skills and ability to bring the back line into play. Doyle managed to pick up his role quickly making strong runs. However a lack of experience in general in the backs did show in that several overlap opportunities were squandered by selfish running and or pour handling. Matlock’s defence was strong when the Tigers ran at them from inside their own half. Our Spitfires and Hurricanes flown by Doyle , Walker ,Clarke and Wragg were grounding the Tiger’s Messerschmitts with both skill and courage. The power running of bomber squadron led by Wright and Buswell and the ever present Hamilton –Cody allied with Braund’s and Hatton’s support was taking it’s toll and eventually after about 10 minutes the ball was provided for the backs about 20 metres out from the posts. The ball was moved right firstly to Wragg who found second row Savage lurking not for the last time in the centre where he took the ball and forced his way over towards the corner for what I think is his first try. Clarke struck the conversion well but hit the bar (just like his father after the game). Matlock uncertainly received the next kick off though the game continued in the same vane as Matlock’s forwards continued to win ball for their backs. On occasion they would drive the ball once or twice too often and need to think about changing the point of attack more quickly to take advantage of disarray in the opposition defence. The backs were also doing their best to avoid scoring by not being clinical enough in their running lines and handling. Despite these nagging but important points Walker in his usual style took the ball in the centre and set off on the ring road around the defence from the half way line down the left wing passed 2 of his players and then eventually spotted the exit to go between the posts for a strong running try. Clarke again found the metal work as the ball rebounded of the post. The half continued in much the same way in Sheffield’s half and Matlock with most of the possession. Matlock’s scrum winning their own ball and a couple of the opposition though did sometimes concede ground in the scrum. Boulton on the right wing didn’t see much of the ball but did well when he got his hands on it. Firth at fullback for the first time, showed his jinking runs and managed to uproot and dump a charging Tiger in the champagne moment. Andy ( I must find out his surname) on the left wing was getting a lot of ball but often too late which meant that he had cover to beat rather than room and time to use his speed. What he did do he did very well looking sharp on his feet and able to retain the ball in the tackle. One thing for him to think about is aiming for the corner rather than cutting back in but this will come with experience. The next try I think came from a concerted drive by Matlock finished by Hatton just to the right of the posts. Walker took over the kicking duty and removed Clarke’s magnet from the ball as he sent it through the middle of the uprights. I honestly can’t remember the fourth try so if any one wants to let me know I’ll add it in later. Half time came with Matlock a deserved 22pts in the lead.

Several changes were made at half time which seemed to add to the potency of the backs as Burns showed his ability to first outpace the defence from half way after good work by the forwards. One part of the play that was beginning to annoy me was that too many forwards were standing off in the way of the half backs. We need to think about where we are standing if not needed in the rucks. Also too often extra passes were slowing the ball to the wingers because of forwards in the line. Again we need to think about options here as support or dummy runners. If the ball is going wide or are we driving up the field? When we have pace on the wings we want the ball to be with them as soon as possible and then look to support their run or make sure we draw our opposition and use the overlap.
As the game went on Matlock seemed to become less coherent with defence not getting in to position and lots of penalties being given away. Sheffield took advantage of this and scored from a N0 8 pick up most disappointingly running 15 metres through some poor attempted tackling. Every now and then the old habits come to the fore. A little later Sheffield repelled a Matlock attack and moved the ball wide to their winger who ran in from the half way with only Wragg chasing but just unable to haul him in before the line. Where was everyone? This made the score 27-10 to Matlock. Matlock were never in doubt of winning and pushed home their advantage with two more tries. The first a typically elusive dance by Burns as he weaved his way from one touch line to the other and then back again to score having slalomed around the sprung poles that were Tigers. Finally Matlock got the ball to Andy on the wing who showed his pace and was brought down just short of the line but made the ball available for the panther that is Garratt as he collected and pounced over the line purring has he lapped up the milk of success. Wright rather cheekily drop kicked the conversion to give Matlock a 39pts - 10 pts victory.

I was pleased with all players, especially the newcomers and those playing new positions for the first time. However we do need to be cleverer in both attack and defence and also make sure we can play for the full hour without relaxing the effort.

Well done, next week away at Chesterfield who will be much better opposition and we will need to be more alert to counter their elusive backs who were also at the county trials. I’m sure we are up to it but it won’t be easy. Let’s train hard on Wednesday and take that into next week’s game. Our aim is to build up our performance both individual and as a squad ready to unleash our full wrath in the NLD cup on the 7th of November.

Cheers
H