Sub-16 V Direito B

Match Report by Craig Monaghan

Over our 5 previous matches we have been notoriously slow starters and to start well was our focus this week and in the build up to Sunday´s game.  Each player was asked to think deeply on 3 aspects they had to contribute and get right and we had a discussion on these prior to the game.  This paid dividends as we were 20-0 up after 20 minutes and had played with ferocity and accuracy.  In appalling conditions our handling was very good, however what stood out was the defensive pressure we had placed on the opposition.  So much so that they did not want to run at us and were forced into simple errors and kicking for much of the first half.

We played every player from the 24 that were selected and a sign of the strength of this team it did not really negatively affect our progress although the points accumulation did slow.   There were many standouts in our win but the player of the day was Jeremy Frost, who won most of our line out ball and was very disruptive at their line outs, and had his best game of the season by far.  Other notable performances were from Tomás Siva, Manuel Carneiro and António Espirito Santo.

This leaves us winning our mini-conference undefeated with 6 wins from 6 games and in good shape moving into the next phase of competition.  It is important that we take time to celebrate winning this mini conference, but also that we keep our feet firmly on the ground, as we will go up against some very good sides in the final phase.