Zero to Heroes

Man of the Match Josh MM

Putting the poor start against Huddersfield down to letting the kids run around doing their own thing as a warm up, this time we were going to be more structured, efficient and effective from the start.
Good plans soon went out of the window, easily distracted by the mud!! The warm up soon regressed as far as pass and catch to see if they could manage even the very basic basics. No they couldn't, all they managed was finding space...... to avoid the flying mudballs!

However,we may use this warm up again!! As soon as the whistle went the kids found their rugby brains and were straight into top gear.
Knowing that Wetherby were very good at holding the player up and ripping the ball, we went to deck early and rucked out, incredibly effectively.
Josh, Rory PS and Tom making good yards with the ball and immediately cleared out by the nearest player, huge progress for all the kids involved. With a brief break for halftime and a quick recognition of their performance, the good work continued to secure the 1-0 win. Highlighting not only the effective rucking but also the tremendous defensive effort, primarily from Josh and Tom but very ably supported by all the other players. The few missed tackles were soon covered by other players to keep a very impressive team clean sheet.

The tempo could not be maintained and with a fresh Wetherby team lining up for the second match, tired minds and legs started to show.
Rory and Josh were caught in possession too frequently and Josh resorted to handling on the ground too often for the refs liking!
The standard was still high, with more good tackling from the Georges, Harvey and Lewis, but tailed off rapidly by the end of the second half, to leave a tired, disillusioned outfit picking fault with each other over a 6-1 loss.

Danny was needed to have a stern word and rallying cry, but in his absence i left them to see if they could find their team ethos again.
A quick huddle (and a few more mud pies) and they put their faults behind them and were raring to go again.
Another fresh looking Wetherby team proved hard work, particularly the rucking of tearful Fergus and the powerful running of Jack.
An honourable draw was secured thanks to tries from Tom and Josh, allowing the team to leave the field with their heads held deservedly high.

Well done to all of them and thanks to the well drilled Wetherby team too.

Matt