Men vs. Boys

On a crisp and cool Sunday, Sandy Bay U14s took to the field to play the third game of their season. Their opponents this time, early in the morning at KGV, were USRC Tigers.

Coming off the back of a heavy defeat against VF in their previous league encounter, all involved were looking for a reaction to have the Sandy Bay U14s get their season back on track. Alas, despite the best intentions and extra preparation time, the chasm between the Sandy Bay U14s and the other three big teams in the U14s Premier league only become all the more apparent.

Sandy Bay U14s two main, inter-related, weaknesses were brutally exposed and, in the end, they suffered from another mauling. First, the team is simply too young, with six players in the team born in December 2007 or later, which is at the very tail end of their age group. Giving up several precious months in age exposes our second weakness insofar as our boys are, on average, several inches shorter in height and several kilograms lighter in weight, not to mention less experienced by a few months. At some point, those differences catch up, and as boys from other teams have grown faster, bigger, and heavier, they have at times in the past two matches, toyed with the Sandy Bay U14s.

The issues with the team ranged from 1 to 15 as well as the subs bench (lack of depth). Starting with the forwards, they were unable to protect their own ball in the rucks. Far too often, runners were left isolated and exposed. Criminally, even when they were not isolated, the Sandy Bay U14s occasionally lost their own rucks because of a lack of strength and an absence of solid rucking technique. The forwards' weakness extended to the scrum, leaving the scrum half and fly half rushed, and feeding off scrappy ball. As a group, the backs performed marginally better but they too suffered from a triad of problems: tardy line speed, lack of depth, and passing while static.

The team's weaknesses notwithstanding, there were certain players who—at an individual level—performed extremely bravely, including captain Gaspard Roubin, Matheo de Verchere (one of those belonging to the Dec 2007 category) and Ralphy Dray. They never gave up the good fight and poured not only sweat but also blood in the heat of the battle.
They were supported by a second category of players whose performances also deserve mention. They included Andreas Heinrich who continued his form from the previous Thursday's training session, Balthazar Crestel, and Tivizio Depoid (all three of whom fall into the younger age bracket), and Briac Asi Talatini, who it turns out fractured his arm in defending our try line.
Almost all others performed gamely but were simply left wanting as a team.

Final score 53-0.