11s Back on the Right Track

Teamwork and individual brilliance wins the day for the 11s.

After last weeks disappointing start, the coaches tried to get the lads ready to compete from the first whistle. The omens weren't good as the lads couldn't work out the coaches instructions to split into 2 teams!!! What hope did we have! Expectations lowered and the bar seemed to beckoning even before the whistle had blown!! Oh ye have little faith, Pete and Lee!!

Fleetwood kicked off, the ball went straight to Ben who then ran 6 miles forwards, backwards, sideways, upwards, downwards until he scored the opener! What a great start! Could the lads keep it up? Well Ben certainly could, running in two more tries with a little help from his team mates! Pete and Lee's expectations began to grow but then Fleetwood dampened them, grabbing one back from some strong running.
Then came the try of the season so far. Fleetwood kicked the ball deep into the Blackburn half, it was picked up and the attack began. The ball was moved from side to side 5 times followed up with some commanding rucking to finish with a passing movement down the line to Noah who finished off a magnificent team try. However, Fleetwood didn't lie down and had some strong and quick runners, pulling 2 more tries back to make it 4-3 after the first third.

Blackburn were first out of the blocks at the start of the second third. On the attack, the ball went out wide to Reuben who brilliantly picked up a poor pass from his toes and cut inside, making sure he didn't go into touch. He then linked with Alfie who ran a great angle to score in the corner. Blackburn again, made their way into the Fleetwood half and following a ruck, the bullocking Rocco drove over with three Fleetwood defenders hanging onto him. Rocco is learning quickly and becoming a handful with ball in hand.
Blackburn scored again through a run down the wing by James who then cut inside changing his angle of run well to score. Fleetwood sneaked another to stay in the game but then came a piece of individual brilliance from Bryn. Probably still on a high from Wales's LUCKY win the week before, Bryn had the covering defence in front of him and with only a metre between him and the touchline, he stepped off his left, feigned inside, holding up the defence, came off his right and scored untouched in the corner. Superb!
Fleetwood then made the mistake of giving Ben space and he duly obliged by twisting and turning, breaking tackles and scoring to put Blackburn 9-5 ahead at the end of the 2nd 3rd!

Blackburn relaxed at the beginning of the final 1/3rd, making mistakes under good pressure from Fleetwood who capitalised on them and ran in two tries to bring the score to 9-7, making the Blackburn crowd a little nervous. However, we needn't of worried as good pressure and tackling forced a Fleetwood player into touch giving Blackburn a free pass. The ball was passed to Charlie who took it at pace and broke through several tackles, running 40 metres to score. A well deserved try for the lad who had his best game of the season being more involved in the game with his rucking, running and tackling. Blackburn's penultimate try came through some great interpassing between Taylor, James and Ben with the latter finishing it off. Fleetwood again came back to score but the game was over for them and with their defence looking tired, Ben capitalised with his 6th well deserved try. Ben leads from the front and his work rate is fantastic, not only scoring tries but tackling anything that moves! Final score Blackburn 12 Fleetwood 8. Pete and Lee were looking forward to a satisfying and celebratory beer!! Well done to the lads who didn't score, namely Rheon, Olly, Obi, Davey, Reuben, Taylor and Caleb. They all contributed to a great team win with some great rugby played especially the team try of the season so far. (There will be more, hopefully just as good!)

Squad: Olly, Caleb, Reuben, Obi, Noah, Rocco, Bryn, Davey, James, Rheon, Ben, Charlie, Alfie, Taylor