Of the 15 taking the pitch against Easley, 13 were 8-10th graders. I think “young team” is a too-often used coach’s cliché. Certainly all the kids are young. But the bromide is befitting here. All the teams we play are going to be bigger. All will be older. We will be outmatched physically and athletically. Faced with these circumstances, the only thing we can do is tackle low, play with as much tenacity as we can muster and get better each week.
And we will get better each week. Last Saturday, we were thrashed by Easley. Our tackling was high. So we worked on that Tuesday. And we’ll do it again Thursday. You learn more about a team in defeat than you do in victory. And how we respond to this loss – and any other looming losses – will be telling. To be sure, the sweet taste of victory will be savored more after sampling the sourness of defeat. Here are some photos of the game.
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Hi Coach Roberts and Spartans, sorry, but the SHJ is undergoing some modifications and have not yet re-installed the photo community "Zoom".
ReplyDeleteAs I go through last weeks photos, I see the Spartans have increased polish on some plays, made point-blank blocks to kicks, had increased deciveness to rucks and scrums, and good play variations to the line outs.
I was fortunate to photograph five games last weekend (2500 photos) and am beginning to see some differences in team methods. Of the teams that won their contest the successful teams are the ones that use what this novice will call "hammer and anvil" (maybe ‘partner’) tackling. The teams that had two tacklers on each play were in a better position to stop the next play or to advance the ball.
This may be elementary to experienced Rugby fans but I recognized it most in the BC-Irmo game. Both teams had at least two tacklers on each defensive play and the game was decided by just one conversion.
I had thought that depth (more than 15 players) played the most decisive part but BC had at least a full b-side compared to Irmo's half dozen reserves. The final score did not reflect this previous assumption.