Submitted by Jo on July 6, 2010 - 9:49am
Submitted so far: Women's Aces, Bees and Men's B.
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In the freezing cold last night Women’s Aces came up against Dodgers. With our team numbers pretty low, it is a nervous lead up to games, wondering if we will have a team, and if we will have any subs. We did have 1 sub last night, and Swifty deigned to grace us with her presence for the last quarter of the game too, bringing us up to 2. Perhaps it was the low numbers causing us to conserve energy by running only when it was absolutely necessary, or perhaps we were matching our opponent’s speed, but whatever the cause, it was a fairly slow paced game. By the last five minutes we were literally walking it up the field. It seemed to work though as we defended smartly, everyone pulling their corner consistently and backing each other up on the step back inside. There was lots of talk too which made life a lot less stressful in the middle.
Line attack felt like it was a bit better this week too. The ball was used a lot more with everyone staying nice and wide and working the width. Inke had a great crack at the line off a K2. Tahlia ran through to score – I still am not sure why that wasn’t paid. There were 2 paid touch downs in the end but I can’t remember who put them down. Getting old. Next week we face the older younger girl’s team (i.e. 15 year olds rather than 12 year olds) so we’ll need to up our pace by about 200% and keep up the talk near the line. We had a crack at Marty’s 1s and halves rucking manoeuvre last night, but I reckon it will work a treat next week against a team that hasn’t seen us practicing it at training ;)
Oh yeah, we won! 2-1
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Womens Bees
Well the Bees were busy this week. We must send a massive thanks fo Katie and Swifty for filling in for us as we would have had no subs the first half and been one short the second half. Also a big thanks to Tiffany who showed her dedication to the side, braving the cold and cheering us on from the side lines.
We came up against Western Districts this week who were half the Wolves side which play in State League, some very talented, agile and quick opposition.
First half saw our best defensive effort so far. We slided across in defence well and backed each other up well when the line was broken. Our rucking was solid as it was last week using our sets of six, however was a little stiffled by us not initiating the touch often enough.
Half time came with some specific instructions and the second half saw us improve yet again and get some real confidence and drive forward with our driving. You could see our timing of hitting the ball with good depth and width improving. Our intiating of making the touch on the defence improving to reduce the time of the ball being on the ground.
Our defence became somewhat inspired and there was many shuffles and try saving runs by each team mate supporting one another at every opportunity.
We had some repeat sets of six attacking the line probably for the first time this season and this really showed the girls improvements, with some wraps being called and instigated.
It was a game that we all felt showed improvement and I am looking forward to some of our regular players come back into the side as they will definitely see the improvement and ensure we keep on improving that 10 % each week.
This week was more than a 10% improvement and was really exciting and enjoyable for me to watch. This team has heart and as those of you who know me thats something I love to see in a player.
Great game girls !!!!
P.S. Two weeks time we HAVE to win as is Cassie's birthday :)
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Mens B
The Mens B hit the fields with some recent good form and looking to add to their winning stretch of 2 games. I actually can't recall the last time I coached a mens B team to three wins in a row... maybe a reflection on my coaching :)
The first set of six saw us napping with the opposition crashing through for an easy score, lazy lazy defecnce. Fortunately this did not set the tone for the half and we responded straight away with our own score.
Coming back into the side this week was J Morton a AUTC stalwart who showed some very good discipline with mixing driving finding his half and having a go when making the attacking line, through out the game.
Justin Martyn another AUTC stalwart, half way through the half managed the best half run for the game and surprising not only me, but himself with his ease of getting through to pass off the score.
Spurlo would have to have done the best switch of the game, staying out until the last split second and then switching in to score an easy try... man of the match I heard from someone after the game, he definitely was up there. This was pleasing to watch as I have talking to Steve about his switching, ie early and deep or last option when the outside hole is not an option and late, so good to see him to pull it off.
Dave House was also a constant good driver, again pleasing to see him learning and applying when to take on his player and when to find a half and drive for someone else. Also some amazing switches that got through some very small gaps, which led to a score.
Paul and Bryce's driving was constant and you can tell that they have great ability in hitting the ball with good intensity and good gaps.
Andrew is coming along and the first few weeks saw him trying to find his place in the side, he is staring to find his place and tonight started getting involved in the attack more so with some really good drives and hole hits off the ball. Andrew also showed great defensive speed and agility, looking very light and nimble on his feet.
It was a solid performance against a solid opposition, will be interesting to see how we go next time we play them with more of their subs.
What was the most pleasing thing about tonight was the teams composure and set up on the line, at half time we all agreed that line attack felt and looked more controlled. This did flow into the second hald with our patience move scoring against two Mens State League players. This definitely was my highlight. It wasn't the smoothest execution, however showed the boys how it can and will work and with further practice and refinement we will be scoring off of patience many many more times.
Great game guys and lets make it 4 in a row !!
