Saxons Score in the Sun

Sixteen Saxons travelled to New Milton where we met up with old friends Totton. The New Milton hosts organised a great warm up and some good coaching games which we will employ again, before we played Totton and New Milton in matches. With two teams available, the Saxons opted to split in half and change the whole team at half time to ensure everyone had the same game play.

The first point I would like to make is that the teams were randomly selected and yet were both strong in depth. Each team had strong attacking runners, strong support players and great finishers. The Saxon ideal of one team providing a strong flexible side is already paying off. Both Saxon teams defended so well, the opposition did not get the opportunity to play their rugby. The speed and unity of the Saxon defence meant the attackers were pushed backwards and had to make rushed passes which inevitably were missed and gave us possession. This was a our key strength that allowed us to turnover so much ball.

When we had the ball, there were some great breaks by players driving through tackles and then looking to offload to players in space. Support players are now providing options, with some in close and others out wide - the ball is getting to you now!

The first game against Totton was close and we finished the first half a try up courtesy of dogged determination from Freddie B after a Jamie S break. Totton came back early in the second half with a soft try before the fresh Saxons applied the pressure, took control of the game but could not find the finish. The coaches believe you were on top but the game ended in a draw 1 - 1.

The second game was against New Milton and a team we will see next week at Winchester. We made plenty of breaks against New Milton and our tackling and aggressive defence forced many turnovers our way. One such turnover was cleaned up by Taylor, offloaded to Will H and passed out to Will R who made a scintillating break which was finished by Freddie B - a true team try, to go with the great tries from Oliver, Ben D and Will R! The final score was GFRC 4 New Milton 3

The rugby was great to watch, you play with such determination in attack and defence and you can really see the strong teamwork amongst you.

Next week we will have a team at Winchester Festival and training at home, so rugby available for all.

Well done Saxons, you looked great! Album to follow.