Under 11's V Swansea Uplands 21/02/10

21st February 2010

South Gower 7 - Swansea Uplands 14

Tries: Callum Carson

Conversion: Kieran Charles


Uplands had 15 players and we had 16 so i reluctantly agreed to play 15 aside. I say reluctantly, as we have never trained at 15 aside and it did make a difference.
The game was pretty much even all the way through but unfortunately we made too many wrong decisions and silly knock ons and missed tackles which gave Uplands the win.
We started well and after good rucking by our forwards, they presented clean ball to our backs on the 2nd phase. Kieran passed to Callum who threw a dummy and scored a good try. Kieran converted.
With the last play of the half, an Uplands player went through 4 missed tackles to score and convert and end the half at 7-7.

Half time:

South Gower 7 - Swansea Uplands 7

Second half started and it was nip and tuck most of the way. Again, we were hampered by silly errors that had crept into our game and at times panicked with possession. Too be fair to Uplands, they put us under pressure and we never really got our game going. Uplands open sided had a great game and put Kieran under enormous pressure every scrum. To be fair to Kieran, he passed before tackled most of the time but our delivery needs to be quicker and we need to be more streetwise in delaying their pressure. Again, with the last play of the half, the Uplands ran through their backs and bumped off 3 of our tackles to offload and score in the corner. They converted. End of game.

Final Score:

South Gower 7 - Swansea Uplands 14

To be fair on our kids, i wont be agreeing to another 15 aside game until we start training them on how to play it positionally, which due to the lack of space illuminated on training nights, won't be happening until the clocks go forward. Our main points to take and learn from the game will be to be more aggressive in the rucks, not to panic when in possession and for our backline to defend as one and not leave dog legs which we did too often today.
We were rucked of our own ball far too many times today and some of the passing decisions were wrong which only put our backline under more pressure. Also, we need to cut out the silly knock ons which ruined our game today.
On a lighter note, some of the play was good, some of the passing and support was good and for our first outing at 15 aside with no training at all, then i am proud as a coach for the effort everyone put in. Well done boys.
Training Wednesday, everyone, that means everyone to turn up please as we look forward to playing Gowerton at home Sunday at 10 aside rugby !