A game of two halves

The day started brightly for Fullerians, not just in terms of the weather. Playing on the first team pitch seemed to inspire them as they put into practise the game plan discussed before the game.
Earlier in the season we had lost by a solitary score to Harpenden, so we knew their game plan and how to disrupt it.
Early pressure saw Fullerians camped on the Harpenden line, with drive after drive held up short, and Max, Luke and Billie held up over the try line. The assault on the line continued for phase after phase, and eventually Max crashed over for the try, with Eamon bagging a fine conversion.
Fullers returned the kick off well, but instead of building on this lead they seemed to panic in possession, and started to try passes that were not on, and off loads which were just not there. Our defence held firm when Harpenden had the ball, our line speed allowing us to tackle before Harpenden could get the speed into their game, just as our game plan dictated.
Max came off with a twisted ankle, but Fullers pushed forward with a fine break by Jayden nearly resulting in another try. Tommy became the second casualty with a bump on the head, and Fullers started to lose their composure as they could not find a second score.
Just before half time Harpenden made a number of breaks along the backs, only last ditch tackling from the wings and Eamon preventing them getting through. Eventually the defensive line broke and Harpenden levelled the scores 7-7 for half time.
The second half started with Fullers in charge of the ball again, but Harpenden intercepted a pre-called play and ran to score unopposed under the posts.
Fullers picked themselves up, and a penalty led to an attacking line out on Harpenden's 5 meter line. Just as it looked as though Fullers were back in the game the lineout play went wrong, and before Fullers could realign Harpenden were scoring their third try of the game.
Chasing the game Fullers started to play as individuals, rather than rely on the structure that had served them well early in the game. When a Fullers scrum was lost against the head Fullers were too slow to reorganise, and Harpenden again ran in an easy try. As players tired the line speed and organisation started to fail, and Harpenden became the dominant team for the final few minutes.
The final score did not reflect on the good first half that Fullers put in. The players seemed to go away from the early tactics that put all the pressure on Harpenden when they were unable to build on the first score. We need to be able to keep that possession knowing that a score will come, rather than start to attempt risky passes and off loads. In the second half we became predictable, and the support that was very evident in the first half dwindled, leaving players and moves unsupported. Harpenden began to run at players back peddling, rather than using our line speed to put the pressure on them.
This was our worse defeat of the season to date, but it was against the best side in the league. We need to just have faith in our ability to play good rugby, but deliver it for the full 50 minutes, not just 25.