Saxons find it hard against strong Heathens

The Saxons and Heathens enjoyed a varied and fun training session on Sunday; we know most of the Heathen players from before and the Saxons go to school with a lot of them, so it is always a friendly and fun encounter, but both sides are able to turn up the competition in the matches, which is what rugby is all about.

Right from the start the Heathens showed that they are a well drilled, strong side who play very clean and controlled rugby. The Heathens applied good pressure from the start and reminded us that we have to learn to consistently deal with big determined runners at short range. The first session saw three unanswered tries for the Heathens, not because they were much better than us, just that they were smoother, less hurried and linked their play better together; the Saxons were not firing in the first session.

The Saxons blasted into the second session with a quick try from the restart, scored as a flowing move with pace and determination. We faltered again as the Heathens regrouped and that session finished much closer but two tries to one to Heathens.

The final session was even closer, with two tries each and the Saxons placing the Heathens under considerable pressure right to the end, finishing with a break through a ruck right at the end.

The Heathens played good strong rugby throughout and looked assured and settled. We played some blistering rugby at times with clean breaks and dazzling individual displays, but often the support play was not there and moves broke down or the commitment at the ruck was lacking. You have all the ingredients Saxons, you just need to bake the cake!

Jake Mitchell was picked out for player of the week, playing in only his second competetive match he was a strong and straight attacking runner, tackled some big runners correctly and was vey competitive. There were a couple of wayward passes, but his attitude and commitment were excellent, well done Jake.