 |
| Rugby 7s Team 'Blog' |
|
U11 SHREWSBURY HOUSE SEVENS TUESDAY 16TH MARCH RESULTS V St Benedicts 'B' Won 22 - 0 Tries: Hassan Rubbani; Ben Barnard; Sven Winkler; Lucas Bamber Conversion: Ben Barnard v The New Beacon Won 12 - 5 Tries Hassan Rubbani; Ben Barnard Conversion: Ben Barnard v Cumnor House Won 31-0 Tries: Sven Winkler(2); Hassan Rubbani; Harry Rees; Ali Tilmouth Conversions: Ben Barnard (3) Eagle House won the Group Cup Quarter-Final v Feltonfleet Lost 0 - 12 This was an enjoyable and entertaining afternoon of rugby. We played well at the group stage winning comfortably against St Benedicts' 'B' and Cumnor House and getting the better of a tight game against a strong New Beacon team. It was good for a change to battle, compete and impose ourselves on the opposition and when this was combined with good handling and movement of the ball it made winning easier and the game entertaining to watch. The win against New Beacon was excellent as usually in tight games we seem to finish second best. It was also good to hear encouraging comments from the referees and coaches about our enthusiasm and teamwork. We made it to the Cup competition. We lost against Feltonleet eventually running out of energy, a bit of courage and belief. It was a tight game the difference being, we had 3 clear cut scoring chances and on each occasion Feltofleet made brilliant last ditch tackles within 2m of the line to stop us. Feltonfleet had 2 chances and scored, our final tackles tired (lazy) and lacking determination. Well done to everyone for working hard to improve making the Sevens fun and entertaining to play, watch and coach.
U13 SHREWSBURY HOUSE SEVENS WEDNESDAY 17TH MARCH Eagle House U13 1st VII squad: Riddell, Cook, Kirk (c), Dewes, Rubbani, Winkler, Williams, Wilks, Gaff
Group Matches Eagle House 5 Shrewsbury House 15 Try: Cook Eagle House 7 The Mall 26 Try: Riddell Conversion: Dewes Eagle House 12 Reeds 21 Tries: Riddell, Winkler Conversion: Dewes Plate Quarter-final Eagle House 29 Chinthurst 0 Tries: Rubbani (2), Dewes (2), Kirk Conversions: Dewes (2) Plate Semi-final Eagle House 12 Rokeby 7 (after extra time) Tries: Riddell, Wilks Conversion: Dewes Plate Final Eagle House 10 Lambrook 12 Tries: Rubbani, Winkler Today I just could not have been prouder of this bunch of boys. But the less said about the start of the day, the better. 3 pool matches against opposition we could have beaten, 3 defeats, looking jaded and uninspired. Then in the first Plate match something clicked. A fine 29-0 win against Chinthurst and we were up and running. The next two matches were simply epics. The semi-final was against Rokeby, on a steeply sloping pitch. Having failed miserably earlier on starting downhill, we chose to play up the pitch, only conceding a try on the stroke of half-time. It should have been no problem to use the slope to take the tie, but Rokeby just never let us touch the ball. Only heroic last ditch tackling prevented them from scoring a sealing try. From the last play of the match, we had a line-out just yards from our own line. It developed into a ruck, but Kirk quickly got the ball out to Dewes, who linked with Cook who in turn shipped it quickly to Rubbani, who made ground down the right wing to about half-way; he then offloaded in the tackle to Winkler, who then drew his tackler perfectly to put Riddell through for the equalising try once Dewes had slotted the conversion. One of the best tries I have ever seen in schoolboy sevens. So to sudden death extra time. We were lucky to win the toss and play downhill, but again Rokeby threw everything at us and again last ditch tackling saved the day, before another breakout down the left eventually saw George Wilks crossing the line to get us into the final. Phew. Surely the final could not have so much excitement. Just wait and see! We were up against Lambrook who had put us away 28-7 in our own tournament a few weeks ago, and by now we were without captain William Kirk, but two superb first half tries from Hamza Rubbani and Thor Winkler saw us take a 10-0 lead into half-time. In the second half, Lambrook’s star player drove over for a good try, but as he went to get under the posts George Wilks took a hard knock on the knee and clearly could not go on. Nobody left, we played on with 6. Three and a half minutes to hold on. Lambrook threw everything at us, but once again, phenomenally brave tackling saw us holding our line. With the last play, we had a scrum just 5 yards out. Hamza Rubbani and Adam Dewes did exactly the right thing, looking for Adam to kick off the pitch, but to his credit, the Lambrook scrum half flew at Adam, charged the ball down, and the try was scored to rob us of victory. Of course winning would have been nice, but in truth this team was already all winners after showing so much pluck and courage. The support for each other at the end, and acceptance of defeat as a team, was both surprising to me and very moving. That’s it for most of you lot with rugby at Eagle House. It has been hard work but ultimately very rewarding working with you. Most of you have improved hugely as players, but also as team players. I hope to hear of great triumphs in the years to come. PJB u13 DANESHILL 7'S WEDNESDAY 17TH MARCH Unfortunately it was not a successful day for the 2nd team. We arrived at the festival with high hopes of winning the tournament. The tournament was made up of smaller schools who we would not normally play against in the regular season. We were the only second team there which was not an excuse because I do feel if we had played to our potential we could have competed in the latter part of the tournament. We were in a pool with three other schools Dolphin, Yateley Manor and St Neot's. Dolphin were our first opponents and this was probably our poorest game. We just did not get going at all for the first five minutes and before we knew it we were a few tries down and not in the game. Our defence was extremely poor and that is exposed even more in 7's rugby. Dolphin scored four tries in the first game and we never really came close to scoring which was a huge disappointment. We had a good team that had been playing well against our 1st team but we looked unstructured and lacked effort. After some stern words we really got ourselves focussed for the second game against Yateley Manor who would go on to win our pool. We got stuck in from the beginning and it was hard to believe that this was the same team. We were winning the rucks and getting up quickly on defence and eventually the pressure told and Patrick Dow stole a lineout ball and sped in to score a try. Tom Cracknell converted. We carried on with this momentum and Toby Barnard was the next to score after running a lovely line. Unfortunately Tom missed the conversion. The game then became very cruel for us as we continued with the same effort but Yateley had two strong runners and they scored two tries in the last few minutes and the last was on the final hooter. Their kicker slotted both his kicks and we lost 12-14. The team and I were devastated after putting in all that effort and we were caught short by two lapses in defence. This meant we were out of the competition but we still had to play St Neot's. After all that effort the boys were very down and just could not raise themselves for the final game. I am sure we would have if we had won but this game was poor as we lost without putting up much effort. This team has potential and I really enjoyed working with them the last few weeks and I hope they enjoyed the experience.
U13 ALDRO SEVENS WEDNESDAY 10TH MARCH Eagle House U13 1st VII squad: Riddell, Morgan, Cook, Kirk (c), Dewes, Rubbani, Winkler, Barnard, Williams, Wilks Group Matches Eagle House 28 Feltonfleet 12 Tries: Riddell (2), Cook, Dewes Conversions: Dewes (4) Eagle House 0 Aldro 38 Eagle House 26 The New Beacon 19 Tries: Rideell (2), Winkler, Williams Conversions: Dewes (3) Semi-final Eagle House 0 Westbourne House 31 Final Aldro 15 Westbourne House 12 A very impressive afternoon's rugby from the Eagle House boys, and another significant step forwards in performance. Reaching the semi-finals in this tournament was an achievement in itself, beating two decent teams in Feltonfleet and New Beacon to get there. Some of the Eagle House rugby was sparkling. Our player of the tournament, Charlie Riddell, scored 4 tries, 3 of them from a worked move. Adam Dewes and Reece Williams used the perfect combination of skill and raw pace to score the key try against New Beacon. It was a difficult afternoon for rugby, with a strong downfield wind, and playing into that wind was tough. Twice you looked in danger of throwing away big leads because of this, but twice you toughed it out to secure the win. It's also worth noting that from early on in the tournament we were without Richard Morgan and William Kirk, and it would have been interesting to see if they could have helped us do even better. In truth we're not ready yet to take on and match bigger sides like Aldro and Westbourne House. You tried your hearts out, but we cannot escape from the fact that basic tackling technique is not what it ought to be, especially against bigger sides. Once the first tackle is broken it is very hard to recover as a defensive unit. This won't be solved overnight. but you have to recognise the problem, keep working on it, keep getting better at it. Shrewsbury House Sevens next Wednesday, a bigger tournament, but involving many of the teams who were here today. PJB
U11 TOURNAMENT AT ORATORY SATURDAY 6TH MARCH RESULTS V Cothill Bye v St. Andrews Lost 7-10 Try: Ben Barnard Conversion: Ben Barnard Having lost 0 -12 to St. Andrews last week we knew we had to improve. This we did dominating much of the game before snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. We took a deserved lead when Ben supported a good kick, chase and tackle by Sven to break through and score under the post. St. Andrews managed to get a try back with the last play of the half. 7 - 5. We could have put the result out of sight when a worked penalty move 'Fish 'N Chips' finished with us being held up on the try line. We looked to score from the resulting scrum but the ref called for it to be done again. This time St Andrews cleared their line. We worked hard in the loose to secure and retain posession but in the dying seconds Brendon got isolated lost the ball and from the resulting play St Andrews scored to win the game. A hard defeat to take but we had something to motivate us and on which to build. v Danes Hill Lost 7 -22 Try: Hassan Rubbani Conversion: Ben Barnard On a day of long breaks, without matches, lunch did not help us. All the fire from the disappointment at losing to St Andrews had evaporated and we put in a lacklustre performance against Danes Hill. Poor attitude in the warm up left some players cold, and bad, feeble tackling made it easy for Danes Hill. An under the weather Hassan came to life for a few moments to break through and score from distance but there was little else to get excited about. Mr. Taylor's blood pressure was on the up again!!! PLATE V Caldicot 'B' Won 26 - 0 Tries: Brendon Parvess (2); Mark Erridge; Ben Barnard Conversions: Ben Barnard (3) Against a young Caldicot 'B' team we dominated throughout. We played some nice rugby moving the ball wide into space creating overlaps making the game llook simple. Brendan scoring 2 tries out wide from the wing. Ben scored an excellent try with a lovely dummy and step inside and Mark forced his way over after a good break by Harry. This was better. v All Hallows Lost 0 -12 The score did not reflect the game where we had the best share of the posession and terratory but All Hallows defended stoutly and when their chances came were more clinical in finishing. We did not play badly but I was disappointed with the lack of team play as individuals took it on themselves to go alone. A game we could have won but the reality is we didn't and if you don't turn pressure into points you do not deserve to win. Overall this was a much better afternoon than our performances at the Eagle House Sevens. We need to take the effort, tackling, concentration and determination to keep possesion from the first match and blend that with the running and movement of the ball we saw against Caldicot. If we can we willl be more successful. We have one last chance to show that at the Shrewsbury House Sevens. Keep working.
U11 & U13 EAGLE HOUSE 7's FESTIVAL SATURDAY 27TH FEBRUARY U13 Festival placings: 1st: Aldro (after extra time with a golden try), 2nd: Lambrook, 3rd: Eagle House, 4th: Yateley Manor, 5th: Aldro B's by a conversion over Eagle House B's in 6th U11 Festival placings: 1st: Aldro, 2nd: St Andrews (Pangbourne), 3rd: Eagle House, 4th: Yateley Manor Well done to everyone who attended the festival; players, coaches, parents and referees alike. The standard of rugby was very high indeed and the sportsmanship from everyone was of the highest calibre. Congratulations to Aldro who won both U13 and U11 competitions and special mention to Lambrook who came so close to Aldro in the U13 final, but to lose by a golden try. It was indeed a clash of titans and a dry run for the Nationals when these two sides will meet again!
Eagle House U13 1st VII squad: Riddell, Morgan, Cook, Kirk (c), Dewes, Rubbani, Winkler, Barnard, Williams Group Matches Eagle House 31 Yateley Manor 0 Tries: Winkler, Rubbani, Dewes (2), Williams Conversions: Dewes (3) Eagle House 12 Aldro II 0 Tries: Rubbani, Cook Conversion: Dewes Semi-final Eagle House 7 Lambrook 28 Try:Williams Conversion: Dewes 3rd/4th play-off Eagle House 33 Yateley Manor 14 Tries: Dewes, Morgan, Cook (2), Riddell Conversions: Dewes (4) Final Aldro 5 Lambrook 0 (aet) All in all a tremendous afternoon of Sevens from the Eagles. Two excellent performances in the group stages, playing real sevens rugby rather than just playing the 15 a side game with fewer boys. Against Yateley we dominated from the start, and fine tries from Reece Williams and Adam Dewes were the highlights. We took the foot off the pedal a bit against Aldro II, getting lulled into a forwards tussle, which is the last thing you want to do against a bigger side, but ended up comfortable winners and topped the group. Lambrook was always going to be tough; they were a big, strong side. Yet our old failings returned: first complacency, then a lack of real drive, then some tactical disasters (DON'T run into contact against a bigger side in Sevens), then despondency. But you picked yourselves up after half-time, Reece scoring an outstanding try, and showed that you could match this side that was eventually unlucky not to win the tight final against Aldro (in extra extra time - well done to both those sides who fought valiantly). In the 3rd/4th play off we conceded the first try against Yateley but then got back into the rhythm of fast, wide rugby and scored some excellent tries, Charlie Riddell fully deserving his score at the end.
U11 Festival entries: Eagle House; Aldro; St Andrews (Pangbourne); Yateley Manor COLTS SQUAD (U11) Hassan Rubbani (captain); Harry Rees; Ben Barnard; Lucas Bamber; Sven Winkler; Ali Tilmouth; Brendon Parvess; Mark Erridge; Tom Walton; Harry Waters RESULTS Match 1 v Yateley Manor Draw 0 -0 We did not play well in this game looking like a team that had not played since before Christmas. We had the best of the possession and territory but a lack of commitment and some sloppy handling errors prevented us from scoring. None of the work in practice was evident with little teamwork or support play. Hassan did manage to score but it was disallowed for a foot in touch. Yateley had one good break but our tackling held up. Some harsh words were needed and said at the end. Match 2 v St Andrews Lost 0 - 12 Overall an improved performance against a stronger team. We struggled for possession, the opposition proving more determined and powerful at the breakdown and in the scrum. We again tackled well for most of the game before fatigue set in and St Andrew's scored 2 late tries. We offered little in offence with players setting off on their own, isolating themselves, and then not working hard enough to retain possession. Match 3 v Aldro Lost 7 - 19 Try: Harry Rees Conversion: Ben Barnard We were looking very tired at this stage and were forced to rest a couple of our stronger players. We battled hard in the first half generally making good tackles but Aldro retained possession well under pressure keeping the ball alive and when a missed tackle did happen they were clinical in turning the error into points. We were 0 - 19 down at half time. We changed the team in the second half and kept our heads up well. Although we did not move the ball around with any great control or team work we battled and fought hard. We gained due reward for this with Harry creating an overlap to score our only try of the Tournament which was well converted by Ben. We lost the game 7 - 19 but at least we won the half. We must build on this in our preparation for the Oratory Sevens on Saturday. All players need to come to practice with more focus and concentration prepared to listen and work hard. Remember we need to play the way we do in practice in matches. It works!! There will be changes for Saturday. We play St. Andrews again and have a chance to improve and show how good we can be.
|
