U16 Boys Lose a Second Game

Following the previous week’s loss to HKFC, the U16s coaching team had gone back to the drawing board. In doing so, the coaches had revamped the team’s set pieces, as well as some critical aspects related to their structure of play.

This past Sunday was a chance for the boys to implement what they had been taught on Thursday. Their opponents for a 2:20 pm Sandy Bay kick-off: Valley Fort.

Past results had suggested that VF were to be formidable opponents: They had, after all, drawn with league leaders HKFC in their first outing of the season. And so, it turned out.

The U16s started with almost the same line up except for one injury-induced change in their second row. The match kicked off with the sunshine flitting in-and-out, in concurrence with the cloud movements above.

As was the case in their game during the prior week, the boys were caught sleepy-headed at kick off. Within the first five minutes, VF had scored a try (converted) and added two further tries for good measure (one converted) within the first quarter. The U16s barely knew what hit them. They had not even been playing all to poorly nor were their spirits overly down. They simply were not turned up to the same extent as had their opponents.

During the quarter-interval break, the coaches introduced a further tactical change to help the boys slow down the pace of the game and retain the ball. It worked. For the remaining three quarters of the game, neither team was able to score through any effort of their own. The only additional score was a VF try that came from a Sandy Bay knock-on when Sandy Bay had possession. Aside from that one-off mistake that led to a VF score, Sandy Bay U16s shaded it in terms of the quality of rugby played, territory and possession.

All in all, it was another loss that was hard to take.

Final score: 26-0 to VF.

Naub