Bicester U13’s v Reading Abbey U 13’s

With the match being changed from the Oxford Road ground to the preferred Chesterton ground, with the audience was captive simply as we were the only team playing!

With the full support of the Parents behind the scenes i.e. “in the kitchen” all what was required was a good performance from the Bicester Boys.

After having their confidence knocked over the last few weeks having played two very strong powerful teams on the bounce, the decision had come for previously considered positional changes to be made!

Having almost a full squad to pick from with the exception of Allan Hillman and David Champney who were both sick, plus the added bonus of a second new player Jack Cowling who had recently attended a mid week training session and was ready for his debut for Bicester as a late replacement for the “late” Sam Skellern.

Changes were plenty, for the record the new line up was as follows:

The Forwards were:

1.Oscar, 2. Liam, 3. Chris,

4. Jack C, 5.Ed Tolly,
7. Ryan, 6. Tim,
8. Giles,

The Backs were:

9. (Scrum half)
François, 10. (Fly half)
Ed Hines, 12. (Inside Centre)
Charlie, 13. (Outside Centre)
Max, 14, (Wing)
11. (Wing) Jack D,
Tom,
15. (Full Back)
Josh,


Replacements: 16, Jack T, 17, Sam S, 18, Will & 19, Luke.



Rest of the team were:
In the Kitchen:
Anne on Potatoes, Dawn on Chilli, Karen on the Bacon, Sam & Debbie Tea’s, Coffee’s & Serving:
Guest Appearance Chef of the Veggie Chilli: Big Chef Alan Taylor:
Front of House:
Pam, Hannah & Holly:
Clearing:
Rachel, Hugh, Alan T & James:
Washer Up: Mark Skellern:
Wipers: Chris White & Dean Bennett
Coach/ Referee: Paul
Coach/Longest Beard/Quiet: John
Coach/Loud: Mark
Security: Penny T (left by all at Kick off to guard the premises and food)
Changing Room Cleaners: To be confirmed as Writer was to busy eating the food to notice.
For all those who helped not mentioned in the above list a big SORRY! (buy me a drink next time I see you and I will give a little mention)

After the recent results had taken its toll on the boys confidence, the coaching team decided that positional changes were to be made, for a number of reasons one of the main ones was to attempt to counter the opponents recent Raw pace and Power deployed within the Centres, another was to try and be a little different in the pack bring in ball players to open up play opposed to simply “Pick & Go”.
Within the changing rooms prior to the game it was again explained that the present position being played by each boy would probably not be that they would be playing in a few years time, reasons for this is some times sheer size, weight, speed and at times aggression, once this is accepted then the boys accept that change is good and all part of their development, they had witnessed first hand the speed and organisation of a good team, so anything and everything is worth trying.

From the team detailed above it was clear where the major changes were to be made.

The faster forwards had been moved to the backs with Charlie, Max being played at Centres and Tom making the change to the wing, the normal half backs in Ryan and Tim were played as forwards in the two flanking positions.

François was asked to fill the roll of Scrum half with Ed Hines moving from that position to Fly half, the other changes were Giles returning to No 8, Ed Tolly going to lock from Hooker, Jack (Big) making his debut at lock, Liam returning to Hook, Oscar remaining as Prop, Chris moving from lock to Prop in the absence of Allan.

Jack D, remained on the wing asked to hold his position and his runs so that he could obtain a pass with space to show his pace.

The other player to retain his usual position was Josh who had maintained his form over the last weeks.

Warm Up:
The coaches also changed around their warm up procedures with Paul taking the forwards with Mark and John taking the Backs.

As the changes had intentionally been withheld from the boys until the morning of the match so as not to cause concern or worry, the warm ups were sharp and pressured in an attempt to quicken the thinking process of each player, it was hoped that natural instinctive play would result.

The Opponents’ Reading Abbey,

The coaches had no knowledge of the opposition, it was clear that they had some very large players who looked typical of the previous week’s team.

The Game kicked off with Bicester receiving the ball from start, the forwards carried the ball into their opponents setting up good ruck’s, from these, the ball was quickly distributed by François to Ed H, who was able to ask a questions of the opponents fly half defence with searching darting probing runs, Ed drew his man before passing to Charlie who open his stride to show his power and pace, with Max able to keep up and keep in Charlie’s vision Charlie was able to keep the ball alive by passing well for Max to take the game forward using good running lines Jack D, was able to see far more of the ball.

For the first 5 minutes of the game the pattern remained the same with the Bicester forwards having the better of the Reading Pack, holding their own Scrum well and turning over their opponents on a number of occasions, with the Big No 8 of Reading being swamped by the new fast flankers Tim and Ryan and well assisted by Giles who was seeing a lot of the ball and Reading players in his tackling.

With the forwards competing well in the open play Tim and Ryan were able to show their reading of the game often speedily collecting loose ball and shooting out of rucks quickly setting off away from the bigger forwards.

The first try went to Bicester after a good interchange between François and Ed H, bringing into play a run around set piece, Charlie received the ball taking the game a further 10m before he passed to Max who showed to go one way before cutting in back inside to cut through the Reading defence he had wrong footed, in the process Max went past no fewer then five players who were held off with a few timely hand offs before going over under the posts.

Tim quickly knocked over the conversion

Bicester 7 Reading Abbey 0

After the solid start the recent lost confidence was returning by the second, with all seeming to be enjoying all aspects of the game, Giles was combining well with his new Scrum half and his new Flankers, Francois was himself probing well around the fringe almost scoring with a blind side run from a 5m Scrum.

The front three Oscar, Liam & Chris were on top of their opposite numbers and debutant “Big” Jack C, was keeping up with play and showing good hands, Ed Tolley was playing his usual solid game again showing his increasing fitness and reading of the game.

Reading tried to get free of the Bicester shackles without success due to the Bicester boys strong tackling particularly on the wing from Tom who was showing his discipline regarding maintaining his position and good supporting play from Ryan, Chris and Liam.

After further surging running and good hands within the backs almost providing more tries, Bicester were able to score a second try with Tim quickly spotting a gap after picking up at a ruck diving over for a well earned try.

The resultant conversion from a far was duly missed.

Bicester 12 Reading Abbey 0

Bicester made a few changes at this point with Max being replace at Centre due to injury by Luke, and Jack C making way for Sam S, the game continued to flow with the visitors coming into the game more, and being rewarded after breaking through a few half tackles to go over in the corner.

This Conversion attempt was also missed as the length of kick was out of the kickers range.

Bicester 12 Reading Abbey 5

Shortly after this the promising start for Francois came to an end as he took a heavy blow to his knee from a set of an opponents studs, with Mark unable to get across to use the magic sponge treatment was left to the St Johns Ambulance crew who were successful in their attempt to ensure he went home for an early bath (or had he been tipped off by Professional Chef Dad about the Chilli??)

Into the match came Jack Taylor at scrum half who once warmed up was in the action taking the game to his opposite number.

Half Time

With Bicester enjoying the majority of the game and having the most chances to score the boys had settled well and were enjoying the game again.

At the restart Bicester had again made changes with Max returning to the action, Luke was repositioned to the wing with Jack D coming off, Will was put in to the second row with Sam replacing Chris at Prop.

The game started with Bicester restoring order and showing good control, shape and running lines, a similar game plan unfolded with the Bicester Pack taking control up front the backs showing again good hands. After a further 5 minutes Jack D returned at Scrum half with Jack T switching to wing with Luke coming off after a good showing on the wing almost going over for his first try, only to find himself the receiver of a forward pass after he had drifted off side.

When Reading managed to obtain the ball they started to resort to kicking for territory rather then trying to run through the home defence, this simply brought Josh Denton the Bicester Full back into the game, on one of these occasions Josh collected the ball on his 10m line and instead of selecting a defensive clearing kick ( ignoring Coaches screams to kick, even louder shouting voice required!) he chose to run, showing not only confidence but good lines and timing of his pass to Ed H, who continued in the same vain by himself showing strong running and similar timing of pass to Charlie who carried the ball to the half way line before safely passing to Max, Max realising that space was running out with the by line closing in fast saw that Tom had drifted inside looking for the “Switch”.

The switch was made with a clever reverse back pass, setting Tom away bursting clear from some 40m to score under the post with Josh the starter of the move some 90m down field on his shoulder offering support or possibly requesting a pass?

Excellent Expansive play for all to see which had even the Reading Abbey supporters applauding.

Conversion was put away by Tim:


Bicester 19 Reading 5

Bicester seemed to think that they were playing “Sevens” rugby for a period after this try and naively ran and passed on their own line without going forward, on one occasion the ball passed from one side of the pitch to another without the ball going forward more then 5m, where the running lines and timing of passing previously was excellent on this occasion it was all wrong, resulting in players receiving surprise passes with the ball finally being dropped under the post whereby Reading accepted the gift and duly converted.

Bicester 19 Reading 12

Bicester Coaches quickly gathered the team behind the post to confirm what was required from them, simply to return to playing in the opponents half and NO RISKY rugby in their own 22!

Request was heard, the boys quickly re asserted themselves re-employing the strong direct running lines and solid competitive tackling, dismissing fears that they might run out of steam after almost half the team being struck down with a sickness bug in the week.

After good play again by all the forwards who had stayed together as a unit well throughout the match, Giles leading his pack by example burst free to ensure that he maintained his try rate with a good score.

Conversion was taken from the corner some 35m from the post Tim went close only just falling short.

Bicester 24 Reading 12

Bicester had only a single slip after this score when it seemed that the Reading Abbey fastest strongest player broke through a few tired tackles with all thinking that the try was inevitable Max not only caught his man he tackled and rolled him holding him up until his fellow supporters assisted in ripping the ball free to clear the danger.

That last play seemed to drain the last bit of confidence from the Reading players with Bicester seeing out the rest of the game in charge, going on to score with Jack D going over after breaking from the blind side from base of the scrum with a brave run through several players.

The conversion again was close although just falling short.

Bicester 29 Reading Abbey 12.

Bicester Win The Game!

Conclusion:

The boys were asked to play in completely new positions in most cases, they were asked to trust the decisions of the coaches, this they did and the reward was there for all to see,

Good Play, Good Support, Confidence, new players joining in and just as important Parents seeing their Sons giving everything and enjoying themselves and being Sportsman in all senses.

No complaints this week, No apologies just a big

WELL DONE TO ALL.