Holt v Fakenham 06.10.13

A fixture against Fakenham at any level for Holt RFC is always a well contested one. Unfortunately this was one of those one-sided games that didn't really live up to the expectation. With a host of players away on Duke of Edinburgh Award Schemes and a couple more suffering from injuries it left Holt with just 11 players. This left holes all over the field and even with some lent players it was always going to be a challenge to say the least. Not that the Holt boys heads went down at all, they kept trying all morning, working hard and looking to break down the Fakenham attack, with some heroic defending and looking to make breaks from secured possession. Scrums were good, fairly even and the line-out was well contested. The centres had to work their socks off in the middle of the field and each player was having to do the job of two people.
Credit to Fakenham for some very strong team play. Credit to Holt for the effort put in. Next time though...

Below are a selection of pics from the day.
Guest photographer: Elsie-May Robson.

Bosh!

Matti getting stuck in.

A stroll in the sunshine.

Boot time.

Holt playing downhill

Team bonding.

Team bashing.

Skipper George watching the play.

Harrison, Matti and Ally ready and waiting

Shed playing in one of his seven positions, this week scrum-half

And here are a few pictures, as result of giving my camera to George's sister Elsie-May.
Well some of them, there were 180 to choose from...

Nanny!

Aaahhh, sweet.

Form a queue gentlemen. Well after Stewie.

Don't ask!

Resting or giving up?

A completely different game.

Refreshments.

At least it is in focus.

Caption required.

A ball. A very small ball in a very big sky.

Holt v Wymondham. First home game of the season.

Holt u16s. Sponsored by James Gray Haulage. Smart bunch.

At last a home fixture and a perfect opportunity to show off the new shirts and sponsor. We told the boys to stick their chests out for the pic. They tried.

A good crowd were watching this fixture against Wymondham, a team with some very tall and strong looking players but Holt were more than up to the challenge and put on a real show for everyone. The game was split into x4 quarters as had been the case in the last couple of fixtures. This gave the coaches of both sides the opportunity to try a few variations out throughout the fixture.

Wymondham were very strong and quite dominant in certain areas, ie the line-out and scrum but Holt forwards dug in deep to contest every ball and give their backs the sort of ball that offers opportunities around the pitch. The first 15 minutes saw Holt score x2 tries with no reply. One by Simmo, sniping around the blind side and the second by Callum after some great work in the midfield. Holt 10 - Wymondham 0

The second quarter saw probably the best try of the game after Ally chipped the defence with Shed and Ally running through the static line and although Shed was possibly tackled but definitely went A over B Ally just managed to gather the ball and score under the posts. Great inventive play. Callum added another after Wymondham looked like they were going to cross the Holt line, Titus made the break and Callum took a short ball and broke away. The Wymondham pressure was rewarded by a driven over try after a 7metre penalty. Callum finished the quarter with another streaking run down the left wing. Holt 31 - Wymondham 5

The third quarter saw more of the same with Holt looking to restrict the visitors forwards and get the ball to the backs to attack. Some notable work by Jack stealing as many balls as he could from tackles players. Robin and Ollie R working tirelessly in the second row. Ollie and Alexander putting up Dean really well in the line-out, even if he was about two foot shorter than the opposition jumper. Sam Crafer making a welcome return and making some key tackles, Caz supporting well and showing good hands and stepping, George leading the troops, Harrison, Jenks and Jack combining well. Matti, Ally, Simmo and Callum with Titus looking like a midfield to really be reckoned with. Tries in this quarter by Simmo, who went through the entire defence to score and then some brilliant last ditch defending on the line saw the secured ball spun wide and out to Alex Storey to score in the corner. Holt 43 - Wymondham 5

The final quarter saw a few more shifts around of personnel with certain instructions to a number of players to try things out, which is why fixtures like these are more about than the score. Callum scored another beauty taking a quick pass from Caz to score in the corner. Callum, the try machine added yet another to his tally getting away up the wing with devastating pace. Wymondham, to their credit did not give up and were rewarded with a converted try after one of their players seemed to evade several tacklers.

Some very positive play with certain areas working very well. Other areas clearly need to be worked on which only to be expected at this stage of the season. Overall a great performance and more importantly a really committed performance across the board. We're not choosing man of the match and turd of the week yet but all the Holt players could have won the MoM and it would be harsh to award the turd to anyone this week. So guess who got the shirts...

Below is a selection of pics taken by Amelia Ghanbouri. The official snapper of the Holt u16s.

Great line out strength by Alex, Ollie and Dean. Up against a jolly green giant though...

Jacko the stealer.

'I'm with you Callum, right with you , okay a little behind you but I'll catch you in a minute...'

Ahh, nice cuddle.

Try not to look at the silly pose by Ally and concentrate on Simmo. Try to anyway.

Look at the eyes, the eyes, look at the eyes.

Take that. Not the band, the hand.

'You ain't going nowhere' Support in a abundance though.

A look here and a step there. Bang. Gone.

Shed falls over with nobody near.

A Crafer crunch.

North Walsham v Holt (Training fixture) - Hot, hot, hot.

For a moment it was if we had been transported back into the 1940s.... nice look girls.
Shall we choose an era every week for you to dress up to?

On the lookout for some GIs.

It was good to see more numbers this week as we visited North Walsham for another 'training' fixture. Another ideal opportunity to try positions out, practice line-outs, scrums and backs moves. It also gives us coaches an idea of what is working and what needs working on.

The weather was steaming, which probably helped towards the far from enthusiastic warm-up and pre-match practice. However, things soon turned around when we gathered for the actual practice match. Walsham were equally looking to try a variety things as well and changed personnel throughout the game, they were also a bit light on numbers this week, so thank you to all the Holt boys that donned a Walsham shirt to keep things as even as possible.

Walsham might have been lacking numbers but they were not lacking in enthusiasm, really looking to take the game to Holt. Lots of elements of the play worked, some good running lines, re-cycling of the ball and strong defence. Of course there were plenty of areas that need improving on, the scrum was not as effective as it could be, too much shoving off the ball, we need to work harder with these new scrummaging rules making them work for us. The line-out was much better, just need to keep working on the communication and teamwork to make sure we control our ball and secure good ball for the backs. The rucks were varied and when we got our body positions correct you could see the difference it made. Running with the ball in two hands still is key and tackling low and early a must.

Below is a selection of pics from the day. More action next week when Wymondham visit Holt, our first home fixture of the season, so let's make sure we have plenty of bodies and we can keep fine-tuning all those elements of the game we need to.

Caz away.

Caz caught.

7 to 1 George, evens Shed.

Simmo and George enjoying themselves far too much.

Big bunch of babies

Holt Women's Institute weekly meeting.

You might be a Holt player but in a Walsham shirt you are a target...

Nice socks Robin. Nothing like drawing attention to yourself, how are you supposed to go undetected.. think stealth!

Jenks about to knock on.

A nice mess on the floor.

Jack sporting a lovely one. And this was before we started playing!

New season, new sponsor, new shirts and a trip to Bury St. Edmunds.

Well done to all of the guys who made it down to Bury for this our first competitive rugby of the 2103/14 season, albeit a training fixture split into x4 quarters of 15minutes.

We were made to feel very welcome by our hosts and their wonderful facilities, very impressive.
Being a bit short of players too, they very kindly offered us a selection of players to plug up the holes.

As far as the score was concerned Bury managed a score in each quarter with Holt replying right at the end of the last quarter, a well worked try by Callum exchanging passes with Alex Storey. The least Holt deserved for the effort and hard work put in by everyone. There were many aspects that really pleased the coaches, lots of individual improvements from last season, the determination, effort and even the fitness was looking good, well reasonable. However one feature was very much in evidence and that was everyone pulling together, working as a team and working for each other. Keep it up boys.

Great to see the boys in their new shirts, proudly displaying the new sponsor JAMES GRAY HAULAGE. We will do a full team pic but probably best to wait until we have everyone together at Holt.

Below are a few pics from the day, courtesy of Jo Storey.

Hurry up Caz...

Leave the shirt alone, we've only just got them...

Callum on his way to the corner

Feel the strain Tommy T.

Team conference

'Look at me I can fly' - pre-season session paying off

Nice shirts.