Chipstead U10s (‘Exiles’) at Camberley – Match Report

Despite a number of the squad on Church parade with cubs and other groups, Chipstead still took 19 players down the M3 to Camberley. We fielded two teams against a strong Camberley squad.

• Chipstead ‘Exiles’ – Blues

The Team: Luke, Elliot, Finlay, David, Tom, Oliver, Rory, Inigo and Marcus.
The Ref: Peter

After the observation of the two minutes silence Chipstead “Blues” took to the pitch to face Camberley “A”s. The final scores of 0-0 and 0-1, with Chipstead victors by one try, could give the impression of a dour set of games with little competitive edge and limited excitement for the spectators. Nothing could be further from the truth. The story of the games is a story of four distinct periods characterised by courageous forward play, resilient defensive play and assertiveness at mauls, rucks and scrums. The game was played to Festival continuum rules and the physicality of both matches was of the sort of intensity one would associate with the business end of a Festival.

Camberley started the first game with some probing runs to test the Chipstead defence; which held up to the early challenge. Possession alternated between the two teams with both sets of packs trying to break through with direct running. Often however both teams were running into a wall of opposition players and rucks and mauls were the common theme of the first half. It was not as if a more open, passing game was not trying to break out of the mêlée; however both teams looked as if they were up for a session of attrition over artistry. Many a break over the gain line ended with a scrum or penalty, often for a careless handling error or over enthusiastic tackle. However this was not a dirty game and the penalty count was low given the frequency of bruising encounters. The second half of the game did see more running into space, with Chipstead probably edging the game in terms of possession and invention. However no team was able to cross the try line. Final result, 0-0.

After a 5 minutes break to recover and reflect the teams took to the pitch for ‘round 2’. Chipstead started and from the opening move worked a superb break down the left wing which unfortunately ended in an unforced error and a scrum. This however set the tone for the second game with more open play by all 18 players on the pitch. The physicality was still there but the words of the both sets of coaches were obviously still fresh in the mind of the boys with a greater predisposition to get the ball out wide. It is ironic therefore that the Chipstead try came from a lovely piece of individual ‘pick and go’ off the back of a ruck as Chipstead, camped on the Camberley line, sought the break the deadlock. Final score 0-1.

If truth be known, but for the want of a pass at the right time or a decision made differently Chipstead could have scored a couple of tries in the game. Over both matches however at no time did you get the impression that the Chipstead line would be breached or our goal line threatened. This was a full on set of games involving all the players and both teams (and parents, carers and coaches) can be proud of the work ethic and commitment on show. Importantly what were also on show were good ball handling, excellent support play and increasingly proficient rugby technique. Chipstead’s scrum more than held its own and won the majority of the set pieces, including a number on the Camberley put in.

It would be churlish to be overly critical of this Chipstead performance. We won, so job done. The talk after the game from Simeon and Mark highlighted the positives and the areas for improvements, and these can be developed on the training field. As the players came of the pitch they could reflect back on another good set of matches and another creditable win. Well done.

• Chipstead ‘Exiles’ – Golds

The Team: Richard, Jay, Finlay, Xavier, Tom, Lewis, Oliver H, Geoffrey, Louis, Lewis.

After the observation of the two minutes silence Chipstead “Golds” took to the pitch to face a strong Camberley “B”s Team. The final scores of the matches 6-0 and 5-0.
Sometimes scores can be misleading as to the effort put in.

At the beginning of the matches the coaches made it clear to the team that everyone had to play a part and focus on their tackling. To put it simply if one player did not make the effort to tackle and to get involved in the match the whole team would suffer.

Team selection was difficult due to the numbers available and we had to play team members out of their usual positions especially in the forwards.

The first match kicked off and we quickly conceded two soft tries due to the boy’s weak tackling. Some vocal encouragement from the side-lines from parents and coaches focused the boys.

The tackles came in with every player not backing off, so why may people ask the score lines? The ruck and maul count went up as the boys made the tackles, we committed too many players to the breakdown and as a result when Camberley won the ball they had an empty backline to run through.

Once the hard work of the tackling the opposition had been done and the ball was on the ground for the taking too often Chipstead players looked at the ball and did not dig it out allowing Camberley to retain possession and attack again.

Lastly when we did have possession the ball carrier got isolated without support and we lost the ball the breakdown.

However this not meant to sound negative as some of the tackles were the best we’d ever seen and in particular one try saving tackle, from one of our new joiners this season, had both sets of coaches – Chipstead and Camberley – commenting positively.

Every player put maximum effort in for which as coaches is all we ask; now we are in a position of players confident in the tackle. We will now focus training on the breakdown and attack.

Well done to all the players. John and Paul