First Rugby of the Season Kicks Off
Woodbridge U13a vs Farlingaye – Match report: Mr Simpson
In the first Match of the U13 season the U13A team played a very competitive Farlingaye side at Woodbridge Rugby Club. The game saw contrasting tactics, with one side bashing it up the middle and the other trying to move the ball to the wings and into space with fast fluid hands. After an initial period of passive defence against the very strong, direct tactics, the Woodbridge team realised that if we were able to stop the bash attack, we would be able to move the ball with speed and fluidity to the wingers and put them away in space. This meant that after the early conceding of tries the half time turn around was 5-3 to Woodbridge. A positive team talk of keep moving it wide and yes, we can beat them, enabled the boys to focus on the task at hand. With continued excellent tackling, especially from Year 8’s Oliver the Farlingaye attack was nullified and with the turnover ball being moved to the wings quickly several tries were scored by the Woodbridge Wingers, with Year 8’s Tom scoring 5 in total!
A great win for the first game of the season and well done to joint men of the match, Oliver and Tom.
Woodbridge Year 7, A team vs Farlingaye – Match report: Mr Gage
Woodbridge started off their season with a home game against Farlingaye. It was a close game which saw both teams moving the ball well and playing some excellent rugby. Farlingaye scored first after some great link up play breaking through the Woodbridge defense. However, their lead didn’t last long, a quick counterattack saw Woodbridge draw level. Some great defense from both sides meant neither team could break through. Farlingaye found a gap in the defense going into half time one try up. 10-5 to Farlingaye.
In the second half, there were plenty of opportunities for both teams to score. Some great defending on each try line meant the score stayed the same. Farligaye looked like they would hold onto the lead, until a great pick up and movement of the ball saw Woodbridge get around the outside of the defence to score in the corner.
A well-deserved draw.
Woodbridge U14A & B vs. Colcheter RGS – Match report Mr Brous
The first match of the season was forced to be a touch game due to the conditions. The lack of rain meant pitch conditions were too hard to play a contact game. We also had to break the game into quarters, so that both the A and B team were able to play against the opposition. The first quarter started well, with the A team matching CRGS play for play. We were definitely better organised than the opposition; we were quicker to recycle the ball, quicker to get it down the line and defended well but lost out a little on physicality. Both teams crossed the line once, with Woodbridge having a try disallowed. The second quarter saw the B team take the field. Again we were well organised and disciplined, but two very quick runners ran around the team to score three times. The third and fourth quarters were similar. All in all it was a pleasing start to the rugby season and highlighted the work we had done on quick play and recycling.
Woodbridge U14A vs Farlingaye – Match report Mr Brous
This game also started as a touch game; once again to the fact that we had had limited physical practice due to hardness of the pitch. It was played in thirds, in order to develop the game and to get the team used to physical match play. Each third more and more physicality was added and by the final third we were ready to play a full contact match. It was in the last 15 minutes that we really found our feet, with Year 9’s Seb going over for a try after we had camped in the opposition’s 22 for a good period of time. Our tackling and physicality improved as the game progressed and Joe marshalled the back line superbly, showing silky hands and a well-balanced run.
A narrow loss.
Woodbridge U14A vs Culford – Match report Mr Brous
In the first 10 minutes of the game, Woodbridge were superb, with us locked in the opposition half. We pushed and pushed for the try and it almost came. However, a quick counter by the opposition, who had 2 incredibly fast runners, ran around our defence and scored. Unfortunately, from the kick -off we missed our tackles and the opposition collected the ball to run the full length of the field to score again. It took us a while to get ourselves organised, and we were guilty of losing the ball in contact. Having started well, this poor spell cost us and we conceded a number of tries. To the boy’s credit, we progressed towards the last 10 minutes and got going again, slowly but surely beginning to recycle the ball, and supporting our players in contact. This is a team with work in progress but equally so much potential. With continued work on our contact position and tacking we know we will soon see improvements. A match lost but lessons learned.
