A tough encounter, but some fine individual perfomances

Despite the scoreline, Fullers Bs played some good rugby in the cold conditions, with some notable individual performances. In particular, Harry Martin and Simeon stood out for the forwards, both making great efforts at the breakdown to be first there. Good rucking skills from Harry Martin, who showed what can be accomplished with a good body position (even against bigger opponents). Simeon tackled well, and continues to exhibit very good technique. He also carried well in the loose.
Owen Rackham was very impressive again at scrum half, and more importantly in defence. Owen shows week-in-week-out that you don’t have to be physically big to stop your opponent. Well done O.
In the back division, Harrison and Sam continued to build on the great partnership they have in the midfield. Both players have come a long way this year, and it was good to see them making tackles and trying to get the team going forward. James Evans also deserves a nod for his tackling and all round good play. James covered a huge amount of ground and put his body on the line on a number of occasions. It was heartening to see some of the boys who we have asked to think about defence put some good work in: Jamie Howie made a great try-saving tackle on the right wing, thumping his opponent into touch when it looked certain Hemel would score their fourth try. Nathan too did some very good work on the ground. A final mention goes out to William-the-new-boy. Despite his inexperience, William played well when he came on, in particular he showed some good bravery diving on to loose balls (many players – both A and B team members – could take a leaf out of this young man’s book).
Despite their best efforts, the team lost their game without scoring a try. As the Hemel team was the same one that played our A’s earlier, it’s worth considering why one team won comfortably and the other did not.
Tackling – every match report highlights this as a weakness. It will come, but players have to WANT the physical contact that is an essential part of rugby.
Body position – very poor in the forwards (with the exception of Harry M). Most of the time forwards are almost completely upright trying to ‘push’ their opponent with their hands!
GREEDY PLAY – too many scoring opportunities are completely ruined by PLAYERS NOT PASSING. Making line-breaking runs is great, but if the end result is to simply give the ball over to your opponents, it is, frankly, a waste of time and effort. TALK TO EACH OTHER AND PASS TO THE SUPPORTING MAN. Simple.
Result: 0 – 5 (might have been 6).