Show Of Strength.

Blues V Golds

The first match was against the other Gosport Blues Side. The two sides demonstrated contrasting styles of play. The Golds were able to keep the ball alive through long periods of passing and offloading. This was contrasted a great defensive effort by the Blues, tackling in pairs the Blues managed stem most of the Golds attacks. There was some great individual tackling led by Ben, Jamie Palmer and Tom. However when Blues managed to get the ball Golds defence was decidedly average with Golds allowing the Blues to score a number of easy tries. The Blues varied their attack well, sometimes punching through the centre and then moving it wide. The slow start by the Golds defence allowed the Blues to build up a 4 - 1 lead at halftime.
However Golds tackling improved in the second half with some great work from Jamie R and eventually it was Golds expansive play that prevailed. The Blues were caught on the hop by the Golds renewed vigour after halftime, they'd almost gone into cruise control assuming the game was in the bag an error which almost cost them the match. Golds tries by George (3), Marcus(2), Jamie and Stanley. Blues tries by Tom (3), Max, Ciaran,Rhys, Ben and Harry.

Final Score Golds 7 - Blues 8

Eastleigh B V Golds

This match started where the warm up match had left off with Jamie R tackling an Eastleigh player, turning the ball over and allowing George to score. Soon after George turned provider with nice off load to Stan who ran in another try. It was at this time Eastleigh resorted to giving the ball to their big (very big) man. Before Gosport knew where they were he had run in 2 unopposed tries. Gosport were unfortunate not to score when Charlotte made a short run and passed to Chris who was in space. Chris' great run was only stopped inches from the line by some fine Eastleigh defence. Shortly Afterward George scores again direct from a penalty.
At half time the score is 4-3 to Gosport, with all of Eastleigh's tries coming from their big man. At half time it was decided that this man need to be marked closely. He never scored another point, with Marcus and Jack making sure that he could barely take a step without being knocked down by one of them. Eastleigh only managed one more try during the match with Gosport managing another five, both Bailey and Jack running in long distance efforts after great turn overs from tackles from Jamie and Stan. Final Score Gosport 9 Eastleigh 4 Tries: George (3), Marcus(2), Stanley(2), Bailey and Jack.

Eastleigh A V Golds

Fast running out of time on a great mornings rugby the match was reduced to 5 mins each way Gosport maintain their defensive pressure with Eastleigh unable to make headway with their attacks. However on Gosport's first foray with the ball aggressive Eastleigh tackling forces a poor pass and they score from the resultant turnover. Undeterred Gosport continue to keep the ball alive against a determined Eastleigh defence. Unfortunately no tries are forthcoming. Neither however are Eastleigh able to make a further score due to and equally determined Gosport defence. Once again this defence forces a turnover from which Bailey picks up the Ball and passes to Jack, who manages to skirt the touch line to score in the corner. Unfortunately a tiring Gosport side then allowed Eastleigh to score from the kick off. Eastleigh continued to press in the second half and certainly would have scored if had not been for Stanley scything down their winger with a quality tackle.

Final score Gosport 1 Eastleigh 2.

Eastleigh A V Blues

Despite assurances from the home team that they'd mixed and matched their two teams as the Vikings had, this was quite clearly Eastleigh's strongest side and this led to a very entertaining defensive battle by both teams. After the warm up game against the Golds, Ben and Jamie Palmer were on fire in the tackle, there was such commitment from Ben that I lost count of the number of times he had to come off for treatment having been caught by a flying boot. Jamie Palmer showed great maturity in his defensive game, running direct lines across the pitch from breakdown to next tackle a skill that some older back-row players can't master as well. The strong Eastleigh defence however caused the Blues to revert to playing a tight running game, always looking to break the tackle instead of pushing wide, the scoring was opened by Ben who received an off load from Ciaran and went round the last defender to score. Eastleigh came straight back and it was another week with a team whose main strategy seemed to be give it to the 'big un'. Unfortunately it took the Blues 'til halftime to realise this and close him out. Gosport pressed forwards again from the restart and were retaining the ball well despite the best efforts of the Eastleigh tacklers, Max was caught with a high tackle 5m from the Eastleigh line and Gosport had a penalty. Max played the ball and found Olivia on his left shoulder, in previous weeks being a true team player, Olivia would probably have put it through her hands on to the next player - BUT NOT TODAY! With an eye on a half gap, Olivia ran at the defence with the ball held out in two hands, unsure of her intentions the Eastleigh defender bought the half dummy and Olivia sped through the hole that had now opened up to score the Blues second try. Gosport defence held Eastleigh out for 3 - 4 minutes, then within a couple of metres of the Blues line Eastleigh shipped the ball to their main attacker who powered through to even the scores. With the first half running out the Blues pressed forwards and Tom off loaded to Harry, who powered wide of the defence to score. Eastleigh passed to their crash player straight from the restart who ran through for a 'soft' try. Halftime Blues 3 - Eastleigh A 3.

After a quick halftime chat the Blues had worked out what needed to be done to close out the Eastleigh attack. The home team started the second half and the first time the 'big un' got the ball he was stopped in his tracks by Rhys and Tom in a double tackle, not really having a plan B, the ball found its way back to the crash player after another couple of phases, this time he was hit and driven backwards by Ben, a tackle which led to one of Ben's spells on the sideline receiving treatment. Unfortunately Eastleigh took advantage of the extra man and scored. With Ben 'repaired' the blues forged forwards again and Harry having a taste for the try line ran in support of Rhys and received the ball from the tackle to score his second. Eastleigh came straight back to take the lead with less than a minute on the clock. The Blues pressed up the middle from the restart but Eastleigh strengthened their defence, sure that they'd done enough to close out the game. Ciaran made a powerful break to the left with Ben in support and opted to pass just before the contact. Ben ran into the first tackler and spun himself out of the contact, he then side stepped the last defender to score - final whistle.

Eastleigh A 5 - Blues 5

Eastleigh B V Blues

Having played through the normal coaching time the final game was only 5 minutes each way, it was apparent very quickly that the Blues were too strong for this side. Ben again opened the scoring receiving the pass from the start and running through unchallenged to score. The Eastleigh team were unprepared for the Blues defence and turned the ball over after only two phases, this time Ciaran powered home from the turnover to make it two. Again Eastleigh relinquished possession on their attack and Harry hoovered the ball up looking to press forward, unfortunately he was caught in the eye accidentally by an Eastleigh players finger during a 'loose tackle'. The ref stopped play and Gosport restarted with possession, Rhys made another looping run and off loaded to Harry who crossed the line. This time Eastleigh managed to retain the ball, despite the best efforts of Jamie P who was now a man on a mission. They pressed to within a couple of metres of the Blues line and then strung together some good passes to push the ball wide and score. Halftime Blues 4 - Eastleigh B 1

The second half saw Eastleigh restart and adopt the same tactic as their A side, using their biggest player on crash ball after crash ball, eventually crossing the line. Gosport responded with two quick tries one from Max from the restart and a second from Ciaran from turn over possession. Eastleigh scored on their next possession and fittingly Ben scored the final try of the game, after a fearless defensive display.

Final Score Eastleigh B 3 - Blues 7

Teams

Golds
Marcus
Jack
Charlotte
Chris
Jamie R
Stanley
Bailey
George M

Blues
Max
Ciaran
Tom
Rhys
Jamie P
Olivia
Ben
Harry

A solid all round performance, the only comments are the teams need to play as a unit and not have the same players constantly surrounding the ball at the breakdown and looking to pass to each other. This will lead to more tries being scored as everyone will be less tired at the end of the match by sharing the workload and the opposition defence will find it more difficult to work out where the next attack is coming from. Think about how we have defended against teams in the last couple of weeks who keep using the same players in attack - close out those players and you close out the game.

REMEMBER - It's not just what you do when you've got the ball that wins games, it's what you do when you haven't.