Home v West Bridgeford 11th Feb

Casuals Vs West Bridgford, Sun 11 Feb

Casuals hosted WB for this return fixture, after a comprehensive but defiantly proud defeat at their ground. We agreed to play two games of 7 a side, which definitely played into their hands with their larger numbers, but at least meant none of ours would be getting cold on the sidelines.

Q1 -
The casuals team on the top pitch made a great start...have we ever been able to say that before?? Archie was denied first in one corner, then in the other, by some great cover defence, and it ended with WB being first on the score sheet. And second. And third....

A desperate tackle stopped George just short, but following some good teamwork, and cracking clear out work by Sam, Owen got our first try.

A couple more WB tries finished the first quarter. It was a similar score on the lower pitch (3-0?), both Casuals teams needing to put on more pressure, and work harder at getting over the gain line (GOGL).

Q2 -
On the top pitch, Casuals gave WB a five try lead before starting to play in the last two minutes of the quarter, when George and Archie each got well deserved tries. Putting WB under pressure led to more mistakes from them, but we still struggled to work consistently as a team.

On the lower pitch, a tight attritional quarter played out, that finished a close 2-1 down, Spencer getting the try after great work from Stan. There was much better tackling and teamwork on display, with some fine handling from Edwyn and muscular drives from Stan.

Q3 -
The teams swapped pitches, and opponents, but WB's quality continued to show, despite the bullocking efforts of Stan in his game, and Spencer tackling everything that moved.

In the other game, our defence and breakdown improved, and Archie was ubiquitous, to use Rex's word! A great run from Owen saw him unfortunately bundled into touch. We lost the quarter 4-0, but were competitive throughout.

Q4 -
In the final quarter, there was lots of effort from Casuals in both games, but the better team won. Mikey made a strong break in his supersub cameo, and Sam bulldozered his way through a handful of players and ended up eating mud for his troubles. (Anyone remember that old Dallaglio advert??) George deserves a nod for his resilience - he got absolutely steamrollered by one of their larger players, then moments later it was only an illegal (high) tackle that stopped him from getting his own try after flying down the wing.

It was 4-1 on the other game, with Edwyn (I think) getting the consolation score.

Overall, I think a final score of 4-1 reflects the gap between the sides, and the ratio of the scores. Everyone tried their hardest throughout, and it was good to see us getting over the try line on multiple occasions.

The comments from the coaches were that the ring of steel needs work, to make sure we don't let them wriggle out of tackles, and we need to work on going round opponents rather than through them to get over the gain line. Lots of effort all round. Nathan, Sam, and Thomas were all praised for getting stuck in. Player of the week was Spencer, for really working hard on his tackling, and making lots of them!