Long after you hang up the boots there will always be those games where you wonder ‘how did that happen ?’. Saturday was certainly one of them. When Liam Andrews kicked the conversion just before the referee blew full-time, Brothers Colts had turned a 31-12 deficit into a 33-31 victory in the space of 10 minutes.

The day began in normal chaotic subbies Colts fashion with only 12 players available. Macquarie University were very generous and in the true spirit of rugby offered to match us in numbers but when they had surplus they provided us with three of theirs so it was 15 on 15.

 

The early signs weren’t great as we went behind 12-0 pretty quickly but just as quickly we got it back to 12-12 thanks to Nathan Le’s excellent ball handling skills that saw him recover the ball before it hit the ground and plant it over the line. Harrison then took advantage of an unprepared defence to stroll over untouched. The lack of reserves began to take its toll as we fell into the trap of throwing it wide before we’d sucked in some of their forwards and we turned it over as players got isolated.

Uni started piling on the points and it looked for a minute as though the scoreline could get ugly. But then we started playing like we should have from the start – the forwards kept it tight and rumbled forward, making some good yards against tiring opposition forwards. We retained possession for multiple phases, gaps started to appear and we put people through them. Good, simple rugby. In the end Harrison’s second try, on the bell, happened from 20 metres out without a finger being laid on him.

None of this would have been possible though if players had dropped their heads when we got behind. So full credit to everyone involved who played hard until the very end because you just never know what can happen. That’s why it was important to be the last to score in our first game against St Ives even though we lost – it sent a message that the team plays to the final whistle. 

You don’t win that kind of game without everyone putting in however it is worth making mention of a few – in the absence of many of our tight five Maks Klimczak had to take on even more of the hard graft in the middle and he did this very well, Will Mazor in his first game showed amazing aerial skills to contest kick off and drop outs, was tireless in attack and defence and scored a try. All this after having worked in the morning and driven up from the Shire. Ryan Foley in his second game was exactly the same (except for the aerial skills and the try). And it would be remiss of me not to mention Jacob Smith’s chip kick while we were hard on attack in the opposition 22 with only a few minutes to go. Needless to say it didn’t come off. 

 

So the lessons from yesterday:

1. There is a great spirit in the team and you all play to the final whistle. You can’t coach that.
2. Don’t go too wide too early – the forwards need to be in a position to get to the ruck. We haven’t normally got reserves so the closer play is to them the easier it is for them to get to the ruck and they expend less energy. The last 15 minutes showed exactly how we should have played from the start. 
3. When in doubt, take the tackle. We haven’t trained enough together to make the miracle pass a high percentage option. Too often the ball went to ground when we should have set for another phase.
4. Much better discipline regarding the referee yesterday. In more than a century of rugby nobody has ever won an argument with one and there’s no reason to think any of you will be the first. 

Next week we play Colleagues who had a big win against St Ives on Saturday but who lost to Mosman in the first round. We should have all our players on deck for the first time next week and it will be our first game at home (Roseville Chase, 2 PM) so there will be a free drink and BBQ after the game. Great if people can get to training on Wednesday and stay around to watch some or all of the seniors game on Saturday.  

There is also a club victory song and I will hand out copies of the words on Saturday in the event we win so you can all join in the fun. Your coaches can lead the singing as they know the words off by heart.