Paviors RFC

The U15’s welcomed Matlock to Burntstump for a match between 2 teams who both had 22 players. Matlock came out of the blocks quickly and put Pavs under lots of pressure which seemed to take the lads by surprise and our tackling wasn’t good enough at this stage and they scored 2 tries in their early forays, converting one of them. Paviors got back into the game and the defence shored up, but we rarely troubled Matlock defensively in the first half because their line held strong and their line speed was very good. This put our attack under pressure and our passing was not accurate enough. They were able to get one further try before half time to finish 0-19. In the second half Paviors improved in attack and realised that they could get back into the game if they played as a team. Ruck speed improved and they had a lot more territory but were let down by some final rushed passes when there was space to score that didn’t quite go to hand. The extra pressure in the final third of the pitch did eventually lead to a try by Fin when the ball was recycled quickly and their defence was too tight giving space for a dummy and run to the line. However, Matlock played a good kicking game which forced Paviors to try and attack from deep or clear from inside the 22 and there were 3 occasions when good kicks from Pavs led to penalties for Matlock when we chased up too quickly and were off side. This was one of the reasons Paviors struggled to build on the better 2nd half performance and gave Matlock ball in good positions. Although Paviors were much better in the 2nd half and had chances to claw the deficitback, a Matlock lineout on their own 22 led to a maul and their Nr 8 took the ball down the unattended blindside and ran the length of the pitch to score. Paviors heads were dropped by this sucker punch and Matlock finished the strongest team running out 38-5 winners. Positives from the game were a solid debut from Josh G who made some good tackles, strong scrums including a few against the head and quicker rucks, especially in the second half. Plenty to work on as well for the players and coaches. Especially Mauls (that the lads realise they need more confidence in), remaining onside from kicks, defence line speed & first up tackling and channelling their frustrations more positively.