Saxons Start Slowly but then Fire back!

Its difficult to please Mums on Mothers Day with the offer of standing pitch side in March, but the weather and the Saxons performance and progression during the Winchester A Festival hopefully meant Mums left the field with smiles and were proud of their Saxons.

The Saxons did start slowly against Alton and Trojans and what was apparent was that not all players had the same commitment in defence or attack. We are starting to play a level of rugby where the difference in teams is decided by the levels of teamwork and commitment shown on the pitch. If one player doesn't go up in defence for the first tackle, a gap is created which the attack can exploit. If a Saxon in attack makes a break but has no support players with him, the defenders take the ball back and turn an attacking scoring opportunity into a defensive scramble.

This was how we were for the first three matches, we know how to play, are as fast and strong as any of the opposition but some of us held back. We were certainly in contention with Alton and Trojans and our first try came against Trojans when the team took responsibility for the ball through several phases of play, broke up the Trojans defence and then released Josh W to work his way through the last 5 metres and remnants of the Trojan defence to score.

The Saxons were buoyed by this performance and held Winchester in the first half, but then relented when Winchester gave an abject lesson in commitment and teamwork. Winchester went on to finish 2nd in the tournament but we should not hide behind that, we were equal to them for 6 minutes, but not 12.

The next match was against New Milton and after some one to one coaching for a few reticent individuals, the Saxons found form and the transformation was dramatic. Suddenly we had players making strong breaks of the defensive line offloading to support players on their shoulders, attacks were dazzling instead of one-dimensional and New Milton were rocked back by our co-ordinated tackling and advancing defensive line. The Saxons were back!

We finished fourth in our group of 5 and met old freinds Jersey in the play off. The Saxons started where they had left off against New Milton and applied sustained pressure, playing nearly all the match in the Jersey half but there was no score so the Saxons finished joint 4th.

This was a good tournament for the Saxons who stepped up their games and responded positively to defeats. It was very apparent that when all the Saxons are confident and committed and work together we can hold our own against anyone. We have areas to work on, but the main point is all the players enjoyed it, went home fit and well and their Mums had plenty to smile about!