Strong start to the New year

Both teams had good numbers on the day so format agreed upon was 15 a side with 3 x 20 minute periods so give every player as much game time as possible. 2 x flankers were added to the forward pack.

Wands kicked off and after a number of excellent midfield tackles, were able to force a mistake and turn the ball over. This set the tone for the match.
After a few phases, Cam ghosted through a number of defenders to score down the left channel, also adding the conversion to make it 4-0 Wands. From the tap restart, we again put in some big hits despite Highland having 4 or 5 big players, Aiden Jepp (playing Flanker), Sam Smith, Sam Wallis and Flynn were all leading the defensive push. Again, we managed to get turnover ball and Fin McIntyre accelerated away to score in the corner, the conversion missed on this occasion, 7-0.
Again Highland tapped and ran hard, breaking through our initial line but Fin M, playing at full back made a great open field tackle. Highland pressed on and won penalty ball, kicking to the corner. After 2-3 minutes of good goal line defence, they broke through only for our tacklers to get under the ball and hold the player up. Result was a goal line drop out. Highland failed to capitalise with the ball breaking free from a tackle and Sam W ran from our half and away from their chasing defence to score near the posts, Cam slotting the conversion, 11-0.
Wands turned the ball over soon after with an intercept and again Sam W managed to pull away from some desperate attempts to tackle him and score again with Cam converting again, 15-0.
Highland eventually got some good ball carrying through their big lads and a couple of missed tackles and despite some excellent defence (and a couple of penalties), they managed to score and convert at the end of the first period to leave the score 15-4.

Subs were made at this point Ruben on for Euan (right wing), Hayden on for James at 4, Matthew on for Kier at 11, Alistair on for Jack, drew in for Fin N at centre.
The referee allowed tap and play at each start of the new period after that which caught Wands off guard as we were set for the kick-off at the start of the 2nd period and, buoyed by their try at the end of the 1st period, Highland scored and converted again to make the score 15-8. The rest of the period was dominated by Wands showing a mix of creative play, bruising running and aggressive defence. We scored the next try which was a superb solo effort by Cam. Just outside our 22, he chipped over the top of the defensive line and picked the ball on the bounce then sprinted away to score with Fin M converting, 19-8.
We then suffered 2 injuries in relatively quick succession, Noah re-injured a knee which meant the introduction of Craig following his recovery from a broken collarbone. Then Aiden took a blow to the head in a tackle and was clearly dazed. This forced a reshuffle with Jack back into 1 and Alistair to 6.
Craig then did what he does best and burst through half of their defence to score with cam converting, 23-8.
Our next try was brilliant again with Cam opening his box of tricks. Running down the right flank, he was tackled but managed to flick the ball out of the back of his hand to Josh who handed off a defender to score near the corner, Cam again converting, 27-8. We finished the 2nd period strong, with Sam Smith, who had carried the ball well all game, getting a deserved score, Fin M converting for a 31-8 lead. It could have been more as Fin M, before being subbed was deemed to have had the ball held up over the try line.

3rd Period, Wands had a couple more knocks which disrupted our flow. James hurt his back in a tackle so Alistair moved from flanker to number 4 and Fin N played at 6. Cam's back was starting to tighten up so Fergus moved from 7 to 10. Hayden moved to 7. With coach Marc busy prepping hotdogs Craig scored again with Fergus converting to make it 35-8, only for Highland to respond and convert, 35-12. Craig then got his 3rd of the afternoon again converted by Fergus, 39-12 with highland again responding and converting 39-16.
Highland were getting clearly frustrated as our pace didn't slow and one of their forwards was instructed to leave the field and be replaced by the referee after a high tackle on Fin M as he went to chase a kick through. Euan Smith came on at 9 with josh dropping back to 15.
With all the substitutions and penalties, the game got a bit scrappy towards the end but Wands finished strongly. Highland tried to throw a pass across a static flat line with our defence set and Fergus ran between two players to intercept and run half the field untouched to score, Kier unluckily missed the conversion, 41-16. With time running out, we managed to get ball again with Craig bursting through tacklers and one Highland player hanging off of him as he took his time to ground the ball behind the posts, Fergus converting to make the final score 46-16 to Wanderers.
Aiden Jepp awarded MOTM for his ball carrying but more importantly his tackling. Bearing in mind this was the first time we had played flankers, it was a great effort. Aiden and Fin N both clearly enjoyed playing as loose forwards.

With exception of a couple of high tackles, the game seemed to be played in good spirits and the boys definitely enjoyed it.
This was the best defensive display Wands U!3's have given and probably the best overall game thieve played to date.
The lads have set a standard now that we should focus on achieving every match.

Big thanks to the volunteers who helped out on the day.