Bad Day - Good Match

The coaches had asked the lads to get focused from the start and close space on what was a cold, windy morning (which then turned to horizontal rain).
Wands started the first period strongly contesting the ball in all areas. Our first try came from Craig who broke a couple of tackles inside their 22 to dot down, Cam converted for a 0-4 lead.
Mackie then responded by using their big runners to run right up the middle after every re-start, Wands responded by placing their strongest tacklers in the midfield at every restart. This immediately worked and Mackie knocked on in the tackle. Following a period of sustained pressure, Wands scored a cracking team try where the ball went through multiple hands left to right, each ball carrier drawing their defender before passing which allowed Craig to score his second try, Fergus narrowly missed the conversion kicking into the very strong wind.
Mackie then got on the board due to a couple of missed tackles but their handling was very good. Conversion missed. 3-7 to Wands. We also unfortunately had a try for Ruben ruled out for another Wands player tugging a Mackie player back in the build up to the try.
The final score of the first period came from another turnover and Sam W broke a couple of tackles before striding away under the posts, Cam converting. 3-11.
All the good we did in the 1st period was almost undone in the 2nd, maybe due to the changes, cold, conditions and a bit of complacency with the score. Mackie scored straight from our drop out with their number 10 catching the ball and running right up the middle almost untouched to score under the posts, which was converted. 7-11.
We did respond well initially. The referee call a high tackle and as Mackie wandered about Josh took one of his trademark quick tap penalties from the mark just inside their half and ran the length to score near the corner almost unchallenged, Cam converted 7-15. Mackie then ran in a further 3 unanswered scores (some debate whether 1 x try involved a forward pass or not), converting one as our tackling and breakdown work stopped. 17-15 to Mackie.
We shuffled a little again to get players game time and the final period saw good defence on both sides in really challenging conditions.
We scored a great individual try again with Cam chipping over the top, then hacking on before skipping out of a tackle to score under the posts with Cam also converting. Mackie responded with a converted try to regain the lead 21-19.
Craig then got his 3rd of the match through good teamwork then individual power to finish, Cam converting. 21-23 Wands.
On the final play of the game, Mackie played the exact same as previous using their big guys to drive one side then their 9 & 10 reversed the play to the left where their backs were waiting. It looked like they had a walk in to win but Cam managed to scramble across quickly and tackle near the goal line. In the tackle, the ball squirted out forwards for a knock on and the ref blew for the end of the game.
Well played to Mackie for firing back after the first 15.
MOTM Cam: 1T, 5C, 1 match winning tackle.
Honorable mentions to Craig for 3 x Tries and his tackling, Josh for his sneaky try and Clement for putting in a shift tackling and strong running with ball in hand.
Lots of positives and lots to work on ahead of hosting Mackie back at Groats this Sunday.