4/20/2010 St Thomas Freshman @ St Pius JV

70-80 Degree Conditions, somewhat wet and muddy field. 

 

The first half was totally owned by St Thomas who punished St Pius for their hesitant play and missed tackles.

 

The 2nd half, on the contrary, was totally owned by St. Pius. In the first half St. Pius were not focusing on keeping possession - but following a half time by the coaches St. Pius decided to make sure they kept the ball at every tackle and breakdown - placing the ball cleanly and smoothly. This possession and the chance to run at the smaller St. Thomas players was quite fruitful for the St. Pius side as they punched in two unconverted tries. On full time, to attempt to tie the game, St. Pius feltook a scrum against the head and made some great headway down the field to score the try to tie ..unfortunately one of their players got isolated and did not release the ball. STH booted the ball out to claim the win. 

 

St Pius (10) 

St. Thomas (17)

 

Notes:

-ankle was extremely sore. at the start of the match I could barely run. As the game wore on the pain and range of motion improved to get me in good position.

-some strange things happen in these games. one tackle with lots of playres, ball drops to ground knocked by red, is a ruck formed? I let a player pick it right back up and go on running with players attached from original "tackle" or more like "hug."

-concerned about one decision where a black player drove straight through and lost his footing on the other side in front of the scrumhalf. Instinctively I penalized him assuming he entered incorrectly and dove over. In reality, maybe he was ok...all red players had gone to ground.

-I felt my scrummage corrections were quite effective - no collapses all game.

-played game rather tight in first half. teams adjusted and played to set parameters as game wore on, making for something quite entertaining. I was pleased with my "influence" on these young players to be productive.

-as quite a low level game, I found it quite easy to read. I would like to improve my ability to read matches, and get ahead of the players the effectively communicate preventative measures.