The Indian summer of the last two festivals gave way to an English winter with rain, mud and shivering parents aplenty at Wimbledon RFC prompting one of our cherubs to ask why is god so sad?…. (a god crying/rain reference).
From the relative dry of the team tent Eric talked the boys through the plan for the day – the gist was tackle, clear them out at the ruck and don’t lose the ball!
Still in the 10 by 10 foot tent Colin ran through some rucking drills. Perhaps the pivital moment in the preparation for the first game against Dorking came when Colin incentivised the team – a Krispy crème doughnut for a win!
Unusually the team played a blinder in the first game. Tackles were made, Dorking wingers were dumped in to touch, balls were offloaded in a timely fashion, the breakdown was won and doughnuts were feasted on in celebration of a 2-0 win. The triumvirate of coaches (Jonathan, Eric and Colin) were pleased as punch and the rugby gods continued to weep at the beauty of it all….
Perhaps it was the long delay between games, or the lack a Krispy crème bonus scheme – but the now soaked Chobham were soundly beaten by the aptly named ‘Warriors of Wimbledon’ who were a class apart all day. Perhaps 5-0?
Back in the tent Colin lifted the boys spirits and introduced the tactics that served so well in the C’s and B’s last season. On first hearing Frank Marshall’s quote comes to mind:
‘A bad plan is better than none at all’
But, it does actually work. For those who haven’t witnessed the silver wear it delivered last season – The players to the left of the scrum half are the smashers – Oli, Jonty and Euan on this occasion – they wear the opposition down and suck in the defence at which point Will (scrum half) whips the ball to the right where the pace men led today by Owen, Archie and Patrick run in the tries against the weary opposition. It almost worked against a large Esher side but the slippery ball escaped Chobham hands too often and in the last second of the game one of the Esher heavyweights with 3 or 4 clinging to him touched down, earning Esher a 2-1 win in a game Chobham probably deserved to win based on their dominance in the first half.
The final game of the day was against a very good Effingham side with burgers, courtesy of Wimbledon, on offer at the finish. Despite the earlier doughnuts, Chobham were giving away a few pounds and this told as their heavyweight made life difficult. It was great to hear the Effingham parents remonstrating that too many players were tackling their Lomu. Matt Damon’s half time team talk:
He’s freaking killing us. But listen, if Lomu gets the ball, whoever’s there… Jack, Wyatt… hit the (bleep) guy, hold onto him, hold him. Help will come, help will be there.
And help did come but despite a plucky team performance Chobham were once again on the wrong side of a 2-1 score line.
The boys started and finished the day well. The first game with the promise of Krispy cremes and the last a tasty cheeseburger. Feed them and they will score….