Back on Track

The focus this week was first and foremost was to get back to winning ways, after the disappointment of last weeks performance.

The message from the coaches was simple, play structured rugby and keep calm under pressure.

We started the game well and after a period of possession the ball was taken wide for Tim Hagan to score, conversion successful by Calum Meakin 0-7.

From the restart by Newcastle we knocked the ball on and put ourselves under pressure, eventually the pressure told and Newcastle scored and converted to bring it back to 7-7.

Not detered we started to play some nice phase rugby and eventually Gabe Machin crossed the line and Calum Meakin Converted 7-14.

Again some nice rugby being played, and the experiment of switching the centres around had the desired effect as the ball was fed out to Thomas Shallcross and then back to Kieran Anderson to score. Conversion again kicked by Calum Meakin 7-21

Now obviously under 16 rugby isn't for the faint hearted, once again we put pressure on ourselves and lost our way and Newcastle exploited this and went over in the left corner, conversion missed 12-21.

All credit though the black and whites were not in the mood to let the lead slip, some great play and a powerful run put Joe Telfer in for the next score, conversion missed. 12-26

With half time approaching there was just enough time for a great kick behind the Newcastle defence by Rory Ewan for Jake Threadgold to run onto, the ball sat up perfectly and he was in under the posts, Rory Ewan adding the extras. 12-33

Half Time 12-33

The half time team talk was to keep concentrating and stick to the game plan, the coaches asking for another try in the next ten minutes. The team taking this quite literally as it seemed to take nearly ten minutes for Thomas Shallcross to cross for the first score of the second half. Conversion missed 12-38.

The under 16's were playing with confidence now and this showed when a lovely dummy pass by Calum Meakin and some quick feet saw him under the Newcastle posts, he converted his own try 12-45.

The last try of the game came from some great rugby involving all the team as the ball was fed from Kieran Anderson out to Thomas Shallcross and then eventually made it back to Kieran Anderson to score his second of the match, conversion successful. 12-52

Full Time 12-52

A good day today and it shows what great rugby we can play when we stick to a game plan and keep our composure. There were patches in the game where we lost our heads and against different opposition we may have conceded more points. This is something we will continue to work on, but its nice to get another W on the board.