Transcript
Round 2 Tyros Match Report v Waratah @ EDF Saturday April 12, 2014 And the show stoppers keep coming ……… Back at our home patch; a clear day, dry if a little dull. More like the Autumnal temperatures you’d expect for rugby with a firm, fast surface on offer. We were down one Tyro – Declan was sporting four or so stitches in his chin. He was keen to play but his parents had to hold him back for the Junior Wallaby Training Camp at Riverview the following Wednesday. Our ref for the week was a former Beaches junior, Jackson Bartley. He and Declan Meagher (another former junior) were back at ECF to control the 8s, 9s and 11s (I think that was it). Both boys are starting out in the refereeing ranks, learning the trade and giving back to our great game. I’d spoken to Joe, Beau and Dom before the game and ‘strongly encouraged’ them to get Jaime and Izaiah N to run with them all game, to talk to them about where to be and show them how to support the ball – I reminded them that they were the only members of our team not yet on the score sheet for the season. Evan was given the honour of leading out the Tyros for the week. The boys lined up to shake hands and then stood and waited, and waited, and waited some more. One of the Waratah boys had the call of nature come upon him right at that moment, so the game waited while he answered the call back in the sheds. So, after the delay, it was a go. It wouldn’t take long for the scorekeepers to be called into action. We kicked off (nice place kick Ben). The ball went high and dropped down into the Waratah players. It bounced and pin-balled around the Waratah boys, bouncing and rolling back towards us. A quick pick up and pass on to Evan and he ran half the field to score, dragging a defender over the line with him. This was about 30 seconds or so into the game. Back we go to half way and form up our defence. Waratah tap off, run the ball to their right. Joe makes the tackle, taking the ball and player out over the side line. Joe throws in to our lineout, Izaiah N receives, passes to Beau who passes to our half back, Isaiah T. Ben is standing at first receiver. He takes the pass, runs a wide arc to his right and scores, untouched; maybe two minutes into the game. Ben is only four games in to his rugby education but he has shown he knows his way to the line already! Waratah tap off and send their biggest unit through the middle. He finds support right and they’re on the score board, going over in the corner. Play winds on until we had a Waratah break on the left. The young bloke with the ball saw Isaiah T and figured he out pace him to the corner. Not so. He’s quite quick on his feet is Isaiah. He’s grabbed him by the shorts and shirt, just enough to slow him down until the cover came across in the form of Beau. Our boys combined to ‘discourage’ the bloke in red from running that way again. This led to the first scrum of the game, set
on out line. Isaiah T, Ben & Joe bound up with Izaiah N feeding the scrum. The ball comes back our way (surprise, surprise), Izaiah passes to Dom and he’s off, length of the field, sweeping around their defence to score in the left corner. The Tyros are getting to grips (pun intended) with the idea of ripping the ball off the defender in the tackle. The photos show some pretty angry looking Beaches heads at ruck and maul time; desire and determination. Once the technique is cleaned up, things could get serious. Anyway, Evan rips the ball out, whilst literally sitting on a Waratahs player. He’s on the ground, gets up (no release) and charges forward. Once tackled, he passes to Joe and off he goes; Goose steps, high speed swerve and the Phil Gould ‘shimmy. shimmy whoosh’ are all used to great effect. He’s on the sheet for today (it won’t be his last). More great defensive work in our end from Isaiah T and Joe. Joe rips the ball, weaves through the traffic, gets claimed and offloads to Ben. Again with the right side arc, again untouched, again try time. It was time for the sleeves to be rolled up. Waratah held the ball for a while and retained it well. More strong defence from Joe – he’s always there or there abouts - and his technique is clean and effective; head to the side, shoulder on the shorts and drive. He and Beau are showing that real menacing attitude in defence; they are on the ball and they’re in the game all the time. A bit of controversy occurred next, with Beau barrelling one of the Tahs boys over the side line with everything he had. It might have ‘slipped up’ a little high, but again the intent and the desire. There was a brief break in play while the little guy checked everything was where it should be and then we re-started. Waratah take the penalty tap and the big unit goes right again for the same result. Back for our restart. Jaime got his first real touch with a strong run into the defence, providing a nice offload for guess who (Joe) to head left towards the goal line. Unusually, he was caught before he got there and was taken out. A scrum was set, Waratah send their big unit to the right again and off he goes. Isaiah T & Joe for the sandwich again, but he off loads to a strong running team mate. Joe is off in pursuit and grabs him in an upright tackle, hanging on for a good ten metres before bringing him down short of our line. Amazingly for a big boy (I told you he was quick) Isaiah T is first there for the rip and he’s away. The photos show the pair of them featuring repeatedly in the next few minutes, either tackling of winning the ball. Not one to off the ball for too long, enter Beau. Great cover pursuit again, forcing the turnover. Ben gets to the ball but Beau is back to his feet and flanks Ben all the way to the try line to score, you guessed it, untouched again. Half time and some respite for the Tahs and for the poor scorers; frenetic. Change sides and off we go. Tahs tap off. Beau is again chasing the man and driving the ball carrier sideways to the ground – training manual stuff. Isaiah T is there, wins the ball and sets off from our end. I was standing near Baden as Isaiah ran the side line like his dad wishes he could, all the way for a dive into the corner. Smiles all round. At this stage, we have six try scorers and eight players. Could it be done, could we get all the players over the line in the one game? From the restart, the Tahs tap and run; this time its Beau and Evan. Evan grabs the shorts and wrestles, Beau comes across in cover. Beau starts low on the shorts and then drives the Tahs boy up. Evan provides the hirdy girdy spin and the poor kid is over the side line. Our lineout. Joe throws in to Evan. Evan to Jaime. Jaime to Dom at Halfback. Dom to Beau standing at first receiver. Then it got pretty. Beau heads right around the defence. He cuts back off the right foot to beat the man, uses
the left palm to fend off the next Tahs player leaving the little bloke sprawled on the ground. Beau was all business; he’s got the head up, the eyes on the prize and there’s nothing going to stop him.. Who was in every frame of the sequence on his inside in support – Joe. It was back to defence. The same names kept showing up in the pics; Beau & Joe harassing the ball carrier, Isaiah T in cover wrestling the man over the sideline near the corner post. Then, it was Jaime’s turn. He took the tap restart 5m in from the sideline and set off. He saw space up the line and figured he could make it. The crowd were willing him on. He pushed off the cover defence (he may have been a ½ m of so over the sideline at the time) and surged forward, sprinting away to score his first try in rugby; a golden moment for the little man. The only one not on the score sheet at this stage was Izaiah N. The Tahs restarted, running the ball and pushing towards our end. It was Beau in cover, again. It was Joe on the rip, again. He’d had a few runs through the game and words were obviously ringing in his ear. We saw him a few times during the second take off and either slow down or stop, looking for one of the others. Anyway, he runs into the pack to be next to Izaiah. His offload may have been 1/2m forward but it was pure unselfish team play. Izaiah was off, seemingly on his own. His face was almost swallowed by the huge grin it was sporting. Evan was in support but Izaiah’s eyes were locked on the try line. He didn’t see the lone Tahs chaser slowly gaining on him as he was gliding to the try line. The defender has grabbed his arms from behind as Izaiah’s first foot touched the try line. His arms were pulled back as he fell over the try line. In the act of diving to place the ball, it was wrenched free and bounced away. The crowd went up in disappointment, exasperation, horror; you choose a superlative. Heartbreaking stuff. The game continued. Ben might have to get the nick name of spiders I’m thinking. He streaked away for another one – yep, untouched. There were ongoing attempts to get Izaiah on the sheet. Joe again out of our end with the offload for him; chopped down from behind. Beau and Evan pushing him into the left corner. Chopped down again. Nice offload though for Beau to muscle towards the corner. It was spun back the other way and Dom put the ball on Izaiah’s chest 5m out from the line. Izaiah ran all the way across the field and finally slid over in the corner. The players erupted. The crowd went wild (not so much the Waratah supporters if I’m really honest). The task had been achieved. Maybe the feeling was relief, maybe joy, maybe just the hope that our boys are really learning the important thing about our game; we, not me. The game wasn’t over yet. Beau pulled off two super full body front on hits; he just stood his ground and delivered. There was another great cover tackle down our left side with Ben and Joe, driving the player towards the side. What happens during the tackle? Joe on the rip, ball in hand. Full length of the field with a dive slide to end it. 13 tries to 3 was the result in the end. As I said at the start, the show stoppers keep coming. Get in early so you can say I saw these guys when they were just starting out.
