Away to Dundee

Low on numbers this week with 10 travelling and Cameron meeting us in Dundee. It was heavy underfoot after all the rain these last days. It started as a development game as we needed to borrow a player (winger) each half to make it 12-a-side, 6 player, uncontested scrums, 30 mins first half followed by a shorter second half. With a rain shower during the match fair to say everyone was muddy and saturated by the end. Whilst Dundee were the better team, scoring 12 tries in total to none, there were a number of positives.

I really admire how these boys stick to the task and keep their heads up despite playing clearly better teams (at the moment). It is for me, the coach, to instil confidence in them to do the basics well in a competitive environment – the stuff we practice in training – principally tackling, (simple) passing, support at the breakdown and ultimately retention of possession.

Boys need to learn to have 100% intensity (that becomes evident during the match) at the kick off whistle. As England found yesterday, it’s a big hill to climb once you fall behind. Most of Dundee’s tries were as a result of a turnover, a few passes wide and strong straight running. Generally, because we are not getting to the breakdown quick enough (and strong once there) we lose possession. To counteract this we fell into offloading too much or pick and go which became easy to defend. At the breakdown there are too many spectators hovering watching rather then getting involved. They need to get involved or move to form a flat defensive line. Some of the offloading was very good but we need to mix it up. The battle at the breakdown is key. With ball in hand sometimes there was too much hesitancy. Run hard and straight, leg pumping. Running sideways is easy to defend. Jacob and Joseph both had a few penetrating tuns over the game line – we need more. Hunt in packs. Whilst there were some really good 1 on 1 tackles (both Lewis’ and Malachi) many opposition were slowed down by one player and others were hesitant to help the tackle. It wasn’t all one sided, Dundee didn’t score for 12 minutes late in the first half with some great retention and the ball hitting the wings a few times. We were a few metres from the try line a couple of times.

What went well:
- Determination to the end - admirable
- Scrum half/stand off axis was good
- Offloading (generally)
- Handling was pretty good considering the conditions
Things to work on:
- Support the runner. Too often the runner was tackled and possession turned over due to late and /or weak ball protection at the breakdown.
- Retain possession (at rucks and limit kicks)
- Work as a team – up together; work in pods (attack and defence)
- Tackling low

Injuries: none
Player of the match: Ryan Lawrence

Clothing better this week. But if your player was cold during the match today (when it was wet but still 10 deg), they need to wear more next time. Assume they will get wet in warm up. Some today only turned up with under armour when they need a training top as well (and preferably a training top in addition). Beany’s are good. We will provide a game shirt but that will be given just before kick-off so they start off the game warm and dry.

Next week Orkney. Will be fun.