Saxons Find End of Season Success at Vectis Isle of Wight Festival

You have only gone and done it again! Last year at IOW Vectis you put in a performance of the season and finished as runners up in the Cup competition. This year you finished as runners-up in the Plate competition.

The difference this year was how you went about it, the teams you beat and challenged and the whole team performance made the difference.

Our first match was against Vectis who I am sure we have never beaten. They are a strong team who play hard and direct rugby. Just like last week in the first match at the Fordingbridge mini- Festival, the Saxons roared into the match and took control of the game. The first half was played mostly in the Vectis half of the pitch. The Saxons moved ahead with a great break and finish by Jack who scored another scintillating try in the second half. The second try was made possible by drawing the opposition into the contact area and then moving the ball wide because we had kept our shape and attacking line. This gave Jack the chance to go around the defence and score in the corner. Vectis fought back but we held them up before the line and pushed them backwards in the dying moments of the game. Vectis had some big strong runners but you defended well, held them up and pushed them backwards. You won the fight up front, dominated the mauls and then used the the backs to move the ball to Jack who could exploit the space and gaps.

This is how we want to play our rugby and you can do it against tough teams. Saxons 10 Vectis 0

The second match was against Beccs Commandos who looked impressive in their opening match, but again the Saxons dominated, tackling them backwards and then winning 70% of the mauls and turning the ball over. There is a rule in the New Rules of play that once the ball is cleanly run in a ruck you have 5 secs for the scrum half to play it (gives time for attacking line to form, but also allows time for defending line to recover and re-organise – best used if we win a ruck defending our line and allows clearing kicker to get set). I have never mentioned this rule before as you have never won clean, protected ball in rucks before. It has normally been desperate panic ball from broken rucks. Yesterday we had two or three Saxons bound on at the ruck advancing and clearing out and providing clean protected ball at the base of the Ruck! This in turn meant a good scrum-half pass from Alfie and others and time for the Fly-Halfs Matt and Will to consider their options and play thinking rugby. They were good and it helped that they had good ball. Rucking like that is so important and sets the base for our rugby.

While the forwards were winning the ball up front, the backs were enjoying running and moving the ball, with breaks down the wings and through the field. James D nearly got round the outside several times. Reece, Alfie, Ben B, Jake and Liam made breaks through the middle and Ollie was charging through and making a nuisance of himself. The Beccs were defending well and the game was getting pretty tense in the second half with no score when the Coaches called for a ‘Jack ball’ from a free-pass inside our own half. Jack danced his way through three defenders and hit the afterburners and that was our first try. The second try came from Jack jinking through defenders on the left wing before engaging hyper-drive and pulling clear. Saxons 10 Beccs Commandos 0

The final Pool match was against Windsor Pirates who appeared to have a well balanced team like us and played with spirit and determination. I think we dropped off the boil and let them get into the game and suddenly we were not winning all the rucks, we got tackled and pushed back and found ourselves on the back foot. The game was still close, but we never got the momentum back. Jack scored another good try, but it was catch –up rugby and we ran out of time. Saxons 5 Windsor 10

Windsor won 2 games and drew against Beccs while we won two lost 1 and were second in our group. Windsor went onto the Cup Final and were runners up to Bracknell, the same team we were runners up to last year! It could have been you Saxons, you were worthy, but actually I am glad we ended up in the Plate, because we met with Alton the Hampshire County Champions and a team from Heathfield. First up Alton....

The Saxons were unbelievable against Alton. They turned it back on and were tackling as a complete team. They were rucking hard and winning and stealing ball. We wrapped up their big runners and held them up - Tom Wilson. We kept our shape and tackled them on the wings when they tried to get round us. We ran the ball from our own try line and set Jack free who made up half the pitch and was one shirt pull from Alton away from breaking free. It was level at half-time and we came out fighting even harder in the second half with Jack almost getting a way again. Alton unfortunately broke our defence and scored. Alton scored again in the final seconds, but it took nothing away from a massive performance. We played Alton in our U12 Festival in Nov 15 and they beat us 30-0.

Our last match was against Heathfield who had come through a Pool beating Trojans Bs, Alton Bs and another touring side. After our performance against Alton, we just let rip again for our final 12 minutes of U12 rugby. We were doing everything right and having a great game. The players were really enjoying themselves, Jack got a hat-trick of tries and Liam added himself to the score sheet. Heathfield showed they were a good side and could play rugby and looked keen for sections, but we just over-powered them and moved the ball too wide for them. Saxons 20 Heathfield 5

So what has changed? Has anything changed or was it luck or a good day? I can tell you what I think, we are playing like a team that works together and fights for each other. If you remember the Trojans festival in Oct 15 we had the usual 5 or 6 players doing all the work, making all the tackles, trying to make the breaks and taking all the knocks and injuries. Now we all step up, no-one shies away from the tackles, you all chase everything down, you dive on loose ball to win it rather than look at it. You keep your shape and lines rather than join the spectators gallery at the back of rucks and mauls. We have players taking the ball forwards, giving it something and then giving it – Ben P under a massively high and wobbly high ball catching it cleanly, taking it 10 yards up the pitch and giving a lovely offload to set up a counter-attack. Connor fighting through with great body position and the ball protected and presented on his hip, Callum stealing the ball with a monstrous rip, a growl and then charging 30 yards up the pitch shaking defenders off with delighted Saxons binding on and driving him on – wonderful man of the Match performance!! We fight for the ball and win it and can then use it with attacking running players and we have plenty to choose from. As one player is tackled the ball is popped up or re-cycled to another attacking Saxon. It is hard to defend against.

James Taylor was an excellent Captain on Sunday, with a Captains performance of tackling, breaks, rucking and cleaning up the ball, well done.

Thank you Saxons, what a way to end the Season, Coaches and Parents were very proud,