Building on the Basics at Bolton

First of all well done to all of the players today. Rossendale seemed to be running away with it but Bolton came back in the last 10m quarter with some hard straight running and piercing passing to win the 4th quarter. Well done.

Rossendale had 13 players today and each worked hard for the full 40 minutes and again put into practice the training ground skills they have been learning. The team for today included :

Camron
Callum
Ieuan
Jack
Jason (C)
Rowan
Ryan (MoTM)
Jamie
Michael
Vinny
Taylor (1st Match)
Ollie
Harry.

As with previous weeks the coaches moved people to new positions so as to develop their all round knowledge of rugby and the various positions on the field. The lads in new positions included :

Rowan (Scrum Half)
Harry (Fly Half)
Ryan (Winger)
Vinny (Winger)
Jason (Second Row)
Ieuan (Full Back)

The First 10
The coaches had asked the lads about the previous weeks game and where they felt they could improve. The feedback was that of wanting more support. Whether going to ground or in running for the line there was a need for support. The lads themselves talked about creating options for themselves and this is exactly what they did. The result was three tries to nil. Jack took quite an impact during this period with his 'run at them' attitude but he recovered to come on in the 2nd 10m period. As well as the tries the first 10 saw notable runs from Ryan, a great dummy and kick by Ieuan from full back and great positioning by Harry, Ryan, Michael and Oli. They were always available for the pass. The score was 0-3 to Rossendale.

The Second 10
During the break the lads were buzzing with how well they had supported each other both in the rucks and being available for passes. The lads highlighted themselves that as well as supporting the ball runner they wanted to now get the ball through the hands. As soon as the whistle went the lads did just that. Each of them made a few yards and passed. Sounds easy but the lads were nailing every pass and two of the three tries in this period came from Ollie out on the wing. Another notable move was a one two between Rowan and Jason which takes a fair bit of effort to slow down after the first pass to be ready to take a pass back. Well done lads. You set a target to pass wide and you did it. What was truly awesome was the way the lads looked where the support was before arriving at the defender so the pass when they needed to was easy and went to hands. Jack, Jamie, Michael and Ryan were very good at this although all of them were on the button. The score was 1-3 to Rossendale.

The Third 10
During the break the lad were rightly buzzing about their performance. But they then decided to try and step it up and picked up on the tracking for tackling and defensive line as areas they wanted to focus on. The game flowed just as it had in the first two quarters and ball went through the lads hands with Rossendale picking up 3 more tries. Some quick thinking by Ieuan saw a quick tap to restart before the ball was passed right across the pitch to Harry, Ryan and Michael before Rowan picked up at the breakdown and drove over the line. The best of the three however was Camrons first ever try. Two seconds earlier Camron had piped up with 'I've only had the ball once', next thing he is in support and ready to take a pass, the ball came to him and he measured his run angle and reached the try line before reaching the touch line. Now there is a happy lad and well deserved it was too. He played his role perfectly today. The score was 1-3 to Rossendale.

The Final 10.
The sun was out, the game had gone well, the lads had 45m of warm ups and Bolton turned it on. This was great for the lads as suddenly they were on the back foot and their defense was tested. It finished 3-2 to Bolton and so we have some ideas for the next training session to help with the defensive side of things. Vinny who had been solid through the match took a knock towards the end but got to his feet just at the final whistle, so well done to Vinny. The move of the match was from Ryan. Michael, Jamie, Ieuan and Ryan had really developed a great understanding through the match and were passing to each other well and regularly but the move of the match was for Ryan's rucking. Callum went to ground after a great run and Ryan was faced with 3 Bolton lads and so he did what all great players do and he took them on and stood there over the ball long enough to hold them off so Rossendale could play the ball out wide. Awesome. His interlinking with Michael and Jamie had been excellent all match but this extra effort to ruck saw him get MoTM. The final quarter finished up 3-2 to Bolton. Well done to Bolton.

One point to note -The ref is always right, so listen and do as he says-

Finally, it was a fantastic match which saw weeks of training and match coaching come together. The lads who had new positions played very well as indeed did all of the lads. Enjoy the week, enjoy being on a high, roll on the next match.

*Not many pictures today as the camera batteries ran out, oops.