Submitted by jeffkd on June 10, 2010 - 3:19pm
AUTC Aces, Men's A, Mixed C
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Womens A
AUTC A Womens team racked up their first win in the second game of the winter season against the upstart underlings and pretenders to the A-team throne, AUTC B. This despite the latter team's questionable tactics of bolstering their meagre numbers with not only their male coach but one of the A-teams own players! (Swifty will henceforth be referred to for the remainder of this epistle as ‘Turncoat Swifty’).
Continuing on from last week, AUTC A rucked the ball forward with aplomb, forcing the B-team to concede ground consistently. On getting to the line the team segued seamlessly to their attack plan- which consists mostly of passing the ball somewhat aimlessly along the line in the hope that one of the opposition defenders suffering from narcolepsy would suddenly fall to the ground in a deep slumber leaving a yawning gap through which the A-team could stroll to score. Such a situation failed to materialise so AUTC A relied on their relentless rucking to bust through and score or get around the opposing winger midfield. AUTC B put up a valiant effort and kept in the game with some tries in reply.
In the second half, inspired by a rousing speech (possibly) from the better looking of AUTC A’s two coaches (allegedly) the team looked more threatening on the opposition's line. There were a few more ticks in the chaos box but the coach (the good looking one) was happy with the trade-off to see more zest near the line. Once Roola unleashes his meticulously planned line attack move - a move so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel - the team should all be on the same page, resulting, hopefully, in reducing the indecision and increasing the scoreline. (NB: It should be noted here that Marty and Roola desperately hope that this is the case given that the team is called the 'A-team' and this is a chance for them to live out their A-team fantasies of childhood. Marty already has a celebratory cigar ready to be placed nonchalantly in mouth once the team scores using ‘The Weasel’ whereupon he will turn to Roola (who is ‘Mad Dog’ and not ‘Face’ as he claims) and say with a wry grin “I love it when a plan comes together”.)
Yes- it is all about us.
Things to work on next week:
DEFENCE was for the most part solid but a bit quiet. More voice in attack and defence across the board rather than just the usual suspects.
RUCKING- keep the go forward but look to go a bit wider off the ruck- that way when we come across a team that send up shooters we won't get jammed in.
ATTACK- more of a plan on the line and less panicked passes on 5.(Virtually every set of six ended with a forward pass or poor pass on the fifth ) Let's look for that change of direction once we have them committed in defence. Getting a bit deeper will make the changes of direction more effective and give the ball carrier more time to get the pass right.
TEAM AWARDS:
‘Turncoat Swifty’ wins the newly coined ’Person Whose Loyalty was Tested and Found Wanting’ Judas Award.
'The Moustache of Shame' this week breaks with tradition (of one week) by being awarded outside the team and goes to Marky Mark who, as opposing team coach, scored a plethora of black marks for sundry rubbish forward passes, getting caught running from half on the third touch and giving up 20m getting chased backwards before being caught.
Sadly, even the Best Try Celebration Award was stolen by the B-Team with Cassie Smith's unbridled ‘dance like no-one is watching’ celebration on sneaking through a gap in the A-team's defence to run half the field and score. ‘Turncoat Swifty’ was wise enough not to indulge in similar antics when she scored one against her own team.
MENTIONED IN DESPATCHES (sp?): Katie for playing an attentive controlled game and Inke and Jo for trying valiantly to put something together on the line in the second half.
More 'Grrr'.. in 'girl' on the line next week I reckon..
Marty
***
Mens A
Men's A started with more players this week, and cruised home to a comfortable win. The coach estimated that everyone was going at 120% and asked us all to calm down. Roola disagreed, and after breaking through from half he chose not to hand off for an easy score instead deciding that the team needed practice at running through the gaps. So he wheeled around 180 degrees put all of the defenders onside and asked his team to do the team thing for him. It was a special move resulting in a score that my language skills do not do any justice. Anyway the point is we won and that we have a date with the defense side next time we take to the field.
***
Mixed C
After last week's somewhat chaotic start to the season, the AUTC Charlie Cheesecakes came out fighting this week, putting some serious smack down on the 'White Stripes'. This week was all about support in attack and sliding in defence.
The team was more cohesive and much sharper in seeing and attacking their gaps. It was an exciting game to watch and from the end-game comments,a fun game to play.
Things we did well:
1. Hitting our gaps
2. Support in attack
3. Slide defence
Things we can improve on:
1. More depth in attack to enable us to more easily run on to the ball (as an idea, you need to clearly be able to see your next players number)
2. More width in attack (wingers near the sidelines, particularly in our offensive half)
3. Greater communication/talk from the links/middles
Most Improved: Dale Jackaman for only stepping one player (instead of the usual three) and initiating the touch for some really good 'forward' momentum/ground
Best Male: Marty Schubert for his 'sweet as' line attack
Best Female: A tie this week between Laura Teakle and Cassie. Laura for her fantastic talk (which brings that much needed stability to the team), and Cassie for her awesome support in attack to score two tries.
Score: AUTC Charlie 8 vs White Stripes 3
