Stafford U16's vs Whitchurch U16's

Stafford U16s made their way to Whitchurch on Sunday for a game that hasn’t yielded much joy in terms of results in the past. It would be an excellent test of the fortitude of the Stafford team against an always strong and physical Whitchurch side.

Both teams started strongly with the majority of the play in the centre of the park, but it was Stafford who got the scoring underway on 14 minutes after two quick penalty taps from Max after Whitchurch infringements just in their half. The ball was taken forward by Ben with a powerful drive before being fed by the backs with quick hands from James to Jack who snaked his way over to the right of the posts, the kick being well converted by Dylan. 0 – 7

The contest continued with not much between the two teams. A yellow card to Whitchurch for persistent chat to the referee could have swung the game in Stafford’s favour but it appeared to fire Whitchurch up and they came back, running in their first score under the posts from deep after a number of poor Stafford tackles. The kick was easily converted 7 – 7

With game in the balance simple errors started creep into the Stafford game, more to come about this later….

Despite this it was Stafford who would score next from a lovely backs move from a scrum near the half way line. Max fed the ball through hands via Morgan to Jack who pierced through the Whitchurch defence at speed. He managed to weave his way through breaking a couple of grab tackles to go on to score in the left hand corner. The kick was just too far out for Dylan to convert. 7 – 12

The toll on the Stafford was starting to tell with Ben having to come off part way through the half with a recurring shoulder injury, Kyle coming on to take his place.

The response from Whitchurch was instant. A precision kick at the restart enabled them to put a lot of pressure on the Stafford receiver and the ball was turned over. With Stafford instantly on the back foot Whitchurch recycled the ball and again poor tackling and defensive structure gave Whitchurch an easy way in to put another seven points on the board. 14 – 12

Once again Stafford didn’t make the ten meter line with their restart and only some resolute defence from the Stafford team prevented Whitchurch from going further ahead. The half finished 14 – 12

The next 20 mins of play were to be the death knell for Stafford. Another poor Stafford restart from the Whitchurch kick gave away possession and within a few minutes Whitchurch had extended their lead 19 – 12

With Stafford unable to buy a decent restart the ball was once again given away putting Stafford on the back foot and unable to gather their composure Whitchurch went over again to further increase their lead. 24 – 12

Finally the Stafford restart made the mark and they started to play again. Some great defensive work won the ball back and led to a nice series of phases with Stafford making good territorial gains into the Whitchurch 22 resulting in a Stafford line out 5 meters out. A mix up on the lineout gave Whitchurch possession and the big boot from their number 15 cleared their lines to the halfway line and their resultant chase closing the Stafford winger down and winning a penalty for holding on. The penalty kick gave Whitchurch the platform to win their lineout and from the resultant play they worked the ball over for their next score of the match 31 – 12

With the rain starting to fall gently Stafford finally woke up and with less than 10 minutes to go they rallied pushing Whitchurch back to their 22. A series of three yellow cards for Whitchurch players for consistent offending gave Stafford hope of getting on the score sheet in the second half. Despite Max trying to rally the troops they couldn’t get their composure and structure right to take advantage with the Whitchurch defence holding strong and kicking clear when turning the ball over to relieve the pressure. FT 31 – 12

So uncharacteristic silly mistakes, time and time again, in terms of kicking to touch, getting depth on the restart and decision making and execution around lineouts and tap penalties cost Stafford their chance of competing. The team did the right thing in terms of rotating the kickers and mixing up their set plays but nothing seemed to come off for them, perhaps just one of those days. It was good to see the lads keep going to the end so difficult to knock their commitment. A couple of honourable mentions this week for James R for continuing to improve week on week after a long lay off and to Ellis for stepping up from the backs to fill in at flanker for a half, both players making a real difference in defence.

So lots to consider for training ahead of the visit of Birmingham Moseley to Blackberry Lane this coming Sunday in terms of being more clinical in their execution, as they showed in the first 20 minutes they are good enough to compete at this level.

Thanks to Whitchurch for hosting us and we wish them all the best for the remainder of the season.