Saxons on the Rampage at Fareham Heathens!

Photo: Ben A enjoying his first competetive Rugby Match for the Saxons!

What a great day! We have trained and played together for a few weekends now this season and the last competitive game the Saxons played was at the Isle of Wight Festival in April this year where we had mixed results. Have we moved on and developed from last year?

We have worked on running and passing, tackling, rucking to keep the ball, mauling to win the ball and then passing out to Saxons to attack the gaps and spaces. We have played Fareham Heathens every year and they have always been close matches and I recall they edged us out at our last encounter at Overton. When I saw the Heathens team on Sunday they were clearly bigger than us, player for player, and I thought we were going to have our work cut out in the match.

You worked hard in the training session with Heathens, you mixed well with them, I hoped that you would know some of them from school and other groups and you did, which is great and is all part of being in the rugby family.

When the match started we saw a different side of the Saxons, you were ruthless in attack, you attacked at such pace and offloaded the ball so well in the tackle that the Heathens were kept on the back foot and could not dominate. These weren’t reckless passes, they were considered, safe offloads to players expecting, wanting, the ball. The passes were kind and the receiver carried on the attack. The Heathens were pushed back and within the first two minutes we could have scored with a Liam C try in the corner, but he was denied by a desperate Heathens tackle. The pace you played the game at was relentless.

You were inventive in attack – what I mean is; a player would get the ball and start an attack and players would join him and form around him quickly ready to support, whether receiving the pass or getting stuck in to ruck or maul the ball back, selflessly, for another attack. When you received the ball and attacked you looked up and to both sides to know who was there supporting you, and you passed to them at the right time! This is a sign of a really mature team who know they can rely on their team mates.

You tackled the big strong Heathens well, often working in pairs to stop them and then ripping the ball from them or driving over them to ‘Clear out’ and win the ball – you were awesome. When arriving at a breakdown (tackle) there used to be some hesitation about the right thing to do; should I clear out or.... on Sunday you were clear, you joined together and made sure you secured the ball.

Last year you looked at the ball and wondered what to do, this weekend you went in and got it, again Liam C was brilliant at this in the rucks. The usual suspects winning (ripping) ball around the maul were Taylor and Jamie S, Jamie S put in a great try saving cover tackle into touch as well. Freddie B, Ben D, Matthew C showed beautiful poise, pace and vision, dancing their way through the defence and providing beautiful offloads that kept the ball alive for other Saxons to continue the attack. Will H lead the ‘charge through the centre brigade’ with Tom W, Callum, Alfie and Ben P fearless in direct assault and bursting through the defence against seemingly bigger, stronger players. This is fantastic, you have so many options for attack available to you Saxons.

The change this year has been the introduction of the kick for restarts – again we have practised them and the restarts by Ben B were perfect, well done, you absolutely looked the part and we were ready as a team to advance and get the ball back! When Fareham kicked to us, we had James T ready to catch who immediately set up a counter attack; no second thought, ‘I am in, coz I know my team mates are behind me, if they can keep up’

In Defence we were quick to engage and we did it with 2 or 3 of you (aka in numbers) to put pressure on the attackers. The result was pressure on the attackers which resulted in rushed decisions and passes which you capitalized on. You did not let Heathens play their game, you set the terms of the gameand it was your game that we saw.

A sign of a good team is one that can accommodate and involve new less experienced players. You set James D up for a bursting run up the right wing where he showed great change of pace, looked like he still had another gear and crossed the line to score a try on his competitive debut. Ben A looked after the ball, nearly got away and was in the perfect position to finish an attack but didn’t get the final pass – well done, it will come.

Well done Saxons, the coaches and parents were very proud of you and when you were asked what you enjoyed about the game your answers were the expected :Winning and scoring tries, but also pleasingly: teamwork, respect, passing, clearing out, watching the game, catching the restarts. We know we will have tougher matches, but we will face them together and play our fast and furious running, passing and tackling game.