Norwich 10s Tournament

Well done to everybody for yesterday, a much improved performance from last week with spells of some very good rugby. Still lots to work on but you wouldn't want us coaches to be idle on a Sunday morning, would you?

The tournament gave us plenty of opportunities to try different combinations out and also to ensure as many players as possible got as much pitch time as possible. Due to the healthy size of our squad we were also able to loan several players out to other teams, well done to everyone who was 'volunteered' for this. Never an easy thing to do but very valuable, to not only the individuals but also the other teams and the tournament as a whole.

Game 1. Holt v West Norfolk
Holt came out the winners in this first game, looking sharp and awake. Simmo scored the first after Theo took the ball in deep into the West defence and the recycled ball was spun out through Jack and back to Simmo. Ally then added a second after a couple of great scrums. A few changes at half time and straight from the start Simmo had a chance to stretch his legs and break through to score. West pegged one back late on with a good run from one of their stand-out players.
Holt 3 - WN 1

Game 2. Holt v Norwich.
With a virtually completely re-jigged team for this game it was going to be interesting to see how certain combinations would work. Dean certainly made an impressive start, making a great straight run to be held up 2 metres short. However Jenks soon got the scoring underway following some good quick re-cycling. Dean then got his first and well-deserved try for the club. For someone who has only been with us for three weeks and never played before this was very encouraging. Miles off-loaded to Shed, who passed it on to Dean, who ran a great straight line to score in the corner.
At the beginning of the 2nd half Norwich pegged one back and then added an equalising score coming from behind a scrum 5metres out. Lots of positives in this game. Alex made some great tackles along with Harrison, strong, hard and more importantly finished them off. Tommy T got stuck in and made good use of his height in the lineout. Shed was very involved, making breaks and popping simple good passes to continue the momentum. Ollie Ross looked strong, driving into the opposition in the loose. Very pleasing performance all round.
Holt 2 - Norwich 2

Game 3. Holt v North Walsham.
This was going to be by far the toughest game of the morning and was very evenly matched for a long period of the 1st half. Jack made a great break through the middle of the NW team and the move should have produced more but he had no support. If someone had been running off him a simple offload could have produced a score. Every runner should have a wingman! NW scored a try breaking up the wing, however the player was clearly in touch but the ref, unsighted, gave the try. To everybody's credit the players accepted the score and moved on. Well done. NW did then add 2 more tries, another break down the wing and one where we were clearly standing off and not attacking them in defence.
The second half was a much better half and everybody upped their game, tackling hard, particularly Callum and Simmo and also players always looking to break. The scrums were good, the lineouts well contested with George hitting his man and more than once Holt winning the lineout on a NW put in. The game ended with no further scores being added by either team. The area most evident of needing improvement is the ruck. We had many promising situations that were turned over by poor body positions. Something to work on in the next few weeks.
Holt 0 - NW 3

Game 4. Holt v Wymondham.
A slow start to this game cost Holt 2 early and easy tries. Wymondham were pegged back by a try from Dean after Caz distributed well in the line. The props were very evident,  Jerry working well and making several breaks in the loose, Alexander continued to make big hits all morning.
More changes were made at half time and although Wymondham scored a further couple of tries, including one right on the final whistle, the game was however far less one-sided than the score suggests. Take away the gifted early tries and this would have been a much closer game.
Holt 1 - Wymondham 4

Overall a lot of good rugby, some very encouraging signs and plenty to work on. Well done everybody, hopefully nobody too seriously injured, a few knocks and bruises but we were playing rugby, not girly football.

See you all next week for plenty of training and official match photographs. Please wear black shorts and socks, we want to look our best for our sponsors.