Great Team Performance Wins Shield Final

Last season’s Shield final the Development squad drew with Totts to share the Trophy, however this year they wanted it all to themselves.

For the past 2 weeks this final was on then off and then on again and then was postponed last week due to Vectis only being able to field 12 players. However this week it was on but we were unsure of how many they would bring across the Solent and of what calibre.

Only when they arrived did we know that again they were only able to field 12 players and thus we had to drop down to a 12 man side. Not great for us as we feed off our flankers and our pick and go ball from our 8! However it was what it was and more importantly we had a game to play!

My only words of wisdom to the boys before the game were, do the basics well and score the first try and then it’s ours.

To say I was nervous was an understatement, we usually start very slow out of the blocks and have to fight a step uphill battle to get back in the game, however the boys did not let us down!

Straight from the kick off we put Vectis under pressure and kept knocking their big boys down to stop them running at us. Then with only 5 minutes on the clock Lucas gave a great pass to Rodrigo and he opened up the fuel tanks and sprinted over half the pitch fending off the Opposition to score between the posts. A classic strong run by Rodrigo had us in the lead by 5 points and then Lucas slotted home an easy conversion to make it 7-0.

Vectis re-started the game and the ball did not go 10 meters, however Brad caught the ball well and instead of stopping and waiting for the ref to blow he started running at Vectis down the left hand side of the pitch. This caught Vectis a little off guard and before we all knew it Brad had scored a great try just left of the posts only 2 minutes after our first one! Again Lucas stepped up to a trickier kick and slotted it right between the post. now its 8 minutes on the clock and we were winning 14-0

The game could not continue as this pace as I know for one I don't think I could have handled it!!!

With still 15 minutes to play Vectis started to play to their advantage and kept giving the ball to their big lads who kept time after time running at our lads but we kept them at bay for the rest of the first half to give us a 14-0 lead into the break.

The second half kicked off and at one stage during the second half I thought it was going to kick off, as one of the Vectis player decided to lay one on Tommy, but unfortunately for them it was Tommy and he stood his ground. The ref called a stop to the game and informed Vectis and their coach if they had any subs then the lad would of been tactically removed from the pitch. Fair play to the Vectis lad though as when the ref asked who threw the first punch the Vectis lad admitted it and apologised. Apart from this incident the game was being played and supported in good sportsmanship by both teams and it was a one off, in the heat of the moment type of incidents.

There was still plenty of the game to play and Vectis were really holding their own and winning allot of the scrums. But with only 4 minutes left to play Rodrigo completed an almost carbon copy try as he did in the first half sprinting over half the length of the pitch and fending off tackle after tackle and then ran clear to score another trademark try. After these two tries and similar ones this season I think his new nickname will be "Hot Rod"!

So now it was 19-0 and time to rest "Hot Rod" and bring on the big guns and so I did, Big Jon came on to play out on the wing and Vectis straight away started their attacks down his wing however what they did not know was he is called Big Jon not because he is 4ft nothing but is because he puts in the tackles great than his size and two or three times he took down players bigger than some of us coaches!

The Final whistle went and at last we were able to win the final and keep the trophy all to ourselves. Unfortunately for us there was no trophy to keep....... However we did not need the hardware to prove what we had done we had the memories and big cheesy smiles to prove it!

A great team performance and one better than last year. It just shows that this squad it developing well as a team and earning the rewards that are coming their way.

Well done to each and every one of them and a well-deserved final victory to them all.

On top of this the seeded squad wan their Bowl final last week so two big wins in two weeks from one big U14's squad. Well done to you all and bring on the leagues next year!

Onwards and upwards

The future is Red and blue, the Future is good for all of the U14's

Barnsy