4th Grade Away v Knox

Knox 19 – 14 Brothers

Unfortunately the 3s & 4s squad didn’t arrive ready to warm up at 10am as planned. This saw us scrambling to put a team together and prepare for the game ahead. Something that really impacted our ability to win this game.

We really need to commit to getting the squad to the game early so we can set our team, get switched on and have 3s sitting in as reserves.

Luckily a few colts (Nathan Lee, Marc Meathrel & David Tong) turned up early to fill in and get a team on the field.

Our veteran Mick Bird, playing his 396th game, was selected as captain and set about getting the guys to focus on First Up Tackles as the way to win the game.

Mick’s experience, and warning, proved to be insightful as Knox put on 3 quick tries, all from missed first up tackles, to get off to a 19-Nil lead.

From there the team got serious about playing rugby, tackling and setting a platform for attack, which saw us respond with a converted try before half time. It was a well deserved try from a series of well disciplined phases that involved both the forwards and backs breaking the defensive line to put pressure on Konx and ended with a pick-and-go from Mark Meathrel to score under the posts.

Re-energised and focused the team put on a real display of 4th grade rugby in the second half which saw us camped in their half for most of the game and put real pressure and the Knox defense.

Our back-line looked the goods with Brad Wasser and the Colts, Nathan Lee and David Tong, putting on a great attacking and defensive display. It’s a pity they weren’t rewarded with some tries for their efforts. The forwards settled down into setting a platform for attack and got some great Go-Forward happening with a special mention for Harry Glover.

That continued pressure eventually saw us rewarded with another try to Peter Crawford‘s mate, Harry Glover – welcome aboard Harry – that was converted by Mick Bird to put us in contention at 14-19.

With the smell of a win in reach we got a little undisciplined and failed to set our platform to capitalise on a couple of more opportunities to score when close to the line. Some thing we can improve on.

My take out from this game…..

We can win games if we;

1. Get to training
2. Arrive at the game early to get set and focused
3. Make those first up tackles

All up we were the better side for 3 quarters of the game and showed some real potential to win games in the future.

Well Done Guys!!

Milestones

Mick Bird keeps sneaking up on that exclusive 400 Club with 396 games. Only 4 more to go.

Player Points

Points were hard to pick with so many fine displays of rugby on the field, particularly in the second half. Well done to everyone.

3 – Brad Wasser

2 – Mark Meathrel

1 – Harry Glover