Pics and reports from Sub-16 games since November
We can include here in one place links to photo albums and also the reports from Sub-16 games since November, which have been appearing on our FaceBook page whilst the website has been out of action.
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Match Photo Albums (Most recent first)
Images from the Sub-16 games taken by Peter Fay and Michael Hultén can we viewed by clicking on the following links:
Match Reports (Most recent first)
St. Julian's 43 - 5 Loulé
Sub-16 Match Report by Craig Monaghan
After a rather noisy bus trip down to the Algarve the team arrived, changed and started our intensive warm-up. We targeted this game to play some of our players who have not had a lot of game time.
We had a poor lead up and this showed in the opening 15 minutes, continuously dropping balls and allowing Loulé to play - and play they did, as we went 5 - nil down. We then lost Afonso Mendes with a broken collar bone, which probably played on the guys' minds a bit…..they are a very tight group indeed! Some changes were made to personnel in key positions, but without losing the goal of playing players who have not had a lot of game time. At half-time we were 10 - 5 up. Let's just say it was a rather short and sharp message at half-time which seemed to work. Running in 5 tries in the second half and playing some of our best flowing rugby in glorious conditions.
Outstanding players were João Caneças (once again) who is flourishing at inside centre scoring 5 of our 7 tries, Tomás Silva, Christian (TinTin) Bader, our captain, who had an amazing game playing out of position at fly half (it may not be out of position for long), José Maria Novais, Matias van Zanten and Alec Gould, who had his best game yet at scrum half.
We move on to a tough game this coming weekend and will be working hard in order to ensure that we go undefeated through the preliminary pool. We hope to see lots of support at the game.
Our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Afonso Mendes.
Benfica 13 - 5 St. Julian's
Match Report by Craig Monaghan
On 13 December, playing Benfica in Sobreda in torrential rain and on a very muddy pitch, this team came of age. We knew this would be a tough game in that Benfica came from thumping their last opponents 57-0.
Playing a huge pack of excellent ball handlers and runners we played as a unit and tackled everything that moved, in very cold and extremely wet conditions that were was not conducive to the running rugby that is our strength.
We went in with a completely new back line and a plan to kick into space and create pressure on the kick. This worked a treat as we forced many mistakes on their return of the ball and through this strategy forced a penalty try. The winning of the game was sealed just before half time when Benfica were playing very well and placing huge pressure on our line. For at least 7 minutes of constant and hard running from the opposition we tackled wave after wave and forced a mistake…a pivotal moment in the game.
Winning 13-5 with all 13 points coming from João Caneças, who stood out. However it was impossible to separate anyone for man of the match because everyone deserved this accolade.
That makes it 4 wins from 4 games and we hope to continue that record into the New Year.
St. Julian's 14 - 3 Direito B
Sub-16 Match Report by Alan Carman
Last Sunday, 30th November, St Julian's sub-16 played host to Direito Bs. The visiting side were known to be strong, having racked up a big score against Loule on a prior weekend: however, we went into the game in confident mood, having also had encouraging performances and results in recent weeks.
The first half was tense and tight, with defence winning out over attack in most passages of play. The one notable exception was a St Julian's try, scored by Joao Canecas after his strong and determined running in the centre. He then stepped up to convert it into a goal.
Direito countered with 3 points, taking advantage of one
of a string of penalties conceded by the St Juliain's pack, but there was no further score before half-time.
After the break, the game continued in much the same vein. Defence's were stilll on top and points remained hard to come by. However, with about 15 minutes left to play, Tomas Silva capitalised on quick ruck ball and an exposed blind side to run in a try from outside the 22. This was converted to make it 14-3. Buoyed on, St Julian's took control of the match and looked comfortable from that point on, despite not adding further to their tally of points..
The stand-out performer of the afternoon and man-of-the-match was debutante Antonio Espirito Santo. He played in the back row and kept things simple, sticking to his primary mandate: he tackled like an EXO-cet missile. Physical wounds heal, but I fancy his image will be scarred across the minds of a few Direito boys for the foreseeable future.
St. Julian's 57 - 3 Loulé
Match Report by Craig Monaghan
After taking the field with somewhat of an experimental look to our side we started solidly. Scoring 3 tries in the first half sounds good but we 'blew' another 4-5 chances when players took wrong options instead of going wide. Being 3 tries up at half time with 21-0 on the board was not actually a reflection of our dominance. After the coaches outlining what needed to be done in the second half, the players responded with 3-4 team tries created by additional pressure and using the width we were lacking in the first half. We ran in a further 6 tries by the end to win by 57-5.
Player of the day was extremely hard to pick. With João Caneças scoring 4 tries with precision and power...apart from stepping over the deadline ball in his heroics - he will never live that one down.
Tomás Silva, Tintin Bader and Francisco Teixeira also had excellent games, but a near flawless display in his first game from Felipe Delclaux, who scored a hat-trick of tries, won him the Man of the Match award.
A relatively easy win, however we must keep our feet on the ground as results show that our game in 2 weeks will be against a team which also scored 9 tries against Loulé. We will need to have everything firing to maintain our unbeaten record in the championship. Boys need to all be at practices and train hard. The depth in our squad is getting stronger each week.
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