Golds' Mettle Tested At Old Reigatians

With the Blues at the Sutton and Epsom ‘A’ Festival (see separate match report), Chipstead U12s were still able to bring 17 Golds players down to Old Reigatians. As usual the coaches and players of our hosts extended a warm, friendly, welcome to the ‘Exiles’. This train & game session had the additional bonus of a coaching session from London Irish international Jamie Hagan. Both the players and coaches benefitted greatly from the ex-Leinster’s insights to training and technique for the scrum – and his ideas will certainly be incorporated into training back at the Meads.

The match itself saw the Golds up against a physical Old Reigatians’ team. In terms of the game, most of the damage was done in the first half as the Chipstead players found themselves on the wrong side of the rucks and mauls or not rolling away or releasing at the breakdown. So the penalty count against Chipstead gave the go forward impetus to the home team. That is not to say that the Golds did not compete and there were a number of notable try saving tackles by key players that deftly illustrated the grit and belief that the Golds now possess. Reigatians overall though were the better side in the first period; a state of affairs reflected in the half time score (0-15).

Things could only get better in the second half. Although a Chipstead communications breakdown from the Reigatians kick off gifted the hosts an early soft try. In previous years, the Golds heads may have dropped by now. But this 2013 crop is a tougher squad of players who are winning trophies and winning matches; and their backs to the wall mindset was reflected in the game. On a wide pitch we started to use the space creatively. The 9, 10, 12 partnership started to create opportunities, both out of hand and off the boot, and it was evident that we now had much more of a contest on our hands.

Finally the combination of space and pace provided the opportunity for a Chipstead try; a lovely worked passage of passing and forward running that finally got Chipstead on the score board. A similar passage of play a few minutes later was only halted by a well executed Reigatians tackle and a Chipstead knock-on. It was not all one way traffic however and powerful direct running by the host’s pack resulted in a final try for Reigatians. Final sore (Old Reigatians 25 – 5 Chipstead).

This was a tough test for the Golds today, and the physicality of the Reigatians play tested the mettle of the players. At the breakdowns the Gold’s needed to front up more and front up faster. So more positive aggression from the forwards please. The backs have shown again that given space and time they have the footballing ability to exploit opportunities and play for territory. The various partnerships, and teams within teams still need time to gel; but today was a further opportunity to build on the successes of the last few weeks.

To each player all we can say is; in terms of the final score, take it on board, absorb the lessons, and your own performance, and move on. Remember, the players who succeed are those who are honest with themselves and use games like this to learn and improve.