RFU National 2 East - Westcombe Park v HRFC (L34-20)
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First Impressions: Westcombe Park v HRFC (L34-20)
Venue: Goddington Lane
Crowd: Approx 150
Weather: Damp, and Cold
Havant Rugby Football Club
westcome Park RFC
First impressions is just a short sharp back-brief of 'what just happened on the pitch' for anyone who couldn't get to the game. Sadly No time to access match video, just a fading memory so all observations carry a health warning for their clinical accuracy. If you want the formal review and comment, best wait for Will K’s piece to camera later in the week on the new HRFC youtube channel.
Match images are now available at:
https://windandsurfimages.zenfolio.com/p462128469
First Impressions
Match Summary: Described as a 'must win' by the coaching staff, the boys clearly needed to exercise their demons after their visit to Guernsey last week. Following what would have been a fairly intensive training week putting right those quick fixes and establishing a proper level of coherency, they were probably well regrouped but this game was never going to be a gimme - it was going to be hard against a side that seems to be generating some momentum but we always stood a chance of getting some return on a decent performance. Damp and cold, negligible wind - it was clear the boys had arrived in a focussed mood and the first half was a clear demonstration of their solid defensive commitment. Westcombe Park with what looked like a bigger scrum, generated some expansive phase play, playing to the corners and looking to saturate and breach the defence, but Havant held firm for most of the time. Indeed their defensive shift in the first half was very impressive, both on our own line and deep in the opposition red zone, with the only real challenge being presented by the WP 6 and 8 who were clearly strong and capable runners, who carried well, breaking tackles as they went and routinely seemed to provide the target for the WP support runners in attack. While both teams were level at half time (10-10), the balance of play was probably aligned to the WP output, who seemed to be penetrating further on their attacks only to be denied by our impressive defensive effort. The positive takeaway - we looked to be in control, hadn't suffered any injuries and might now be able to turn up the pace in the second half.
Second half was somewhat different, not with standing an early Havant penalty to take the lead (10-13), WP continued to build on their first half performance and were making Havant work hard to live with them. What scraps of possession we got were intermittent and largely too far from the WP red zone to enable any real momentum to build. Approaching the end of the 3rd quarter, Joel got a card for a high tackle, and this seemed to create the space that WP needed to kick into gear. They quickly got another converted try (17-13) and looked set to turn up the pace. Happily Havant survived the JK 10min absence unscathed, but for a penalty (20-13). ... and then like many of the games in this league, there was suddenly a burst of WP try scoring, our defence was stretched and through good support running, WP scored twice in relatively quick succession. (34-13). What had looked like a Losing Bonus Point performance suddenly looked very bleak - Happily in the dying minutes of the game, and probably one of our very few attacking approaches to their line, Alfie Wainscoat managed to get over after a passing move and underlined the potential that this squad has got. L34-20 - No points and a few handbags for out troubles!
Clearly as the coaches will have already identified, if we can't routinely dominate every stage of our first phase possession then we are denying ourselves a proper attacking platform and committing to having to live off scraps from defensive spillage or turnovers. The reality of today's output seemed to highlight there is still some work to do in our lineout and while the scrum did well to hold its own against some big lumps - we probably weren't seeing the quality of 1st phase possession we needed to give our backs a chance to properly exploit their opponents. In a similar manner while our backrow did very well containing a lively and robust WP threat for most of the time - we weren't really able to really replicate any regular threat in any meaningful manner.
A Solid performance defensively which the boys should take heart from, but for second half loss of focus we might have been more competitive throughout the second half and prevented WP getting their tails up and effectively exploiting their pace.
Match Story Board
1. Damp and Cold .. Playing in red to ensure no clash with any WP strip
2. Early exchanges were physical and tough...
3. Damp conditions made the ball slippery and possession changed hands numerous times as players mishandled..
4. Scoring efforts were largely balanced in the first half - Haz Young Burrowing deep to get under the WP Lumps for Havant..
5. Second half - saw a slight change in WP intensity and more opportunities from their better runners being developed. Havant held their ground for most of the time ...bar one short window in the last 10 mins..
6. Consolation try by Alfie W who muscled his way over the line in the dying moments.
7. This is a tight group and there'll be some honest reflection this coming week as they work out how to overcome the challenges they are currently facing.
Next Job: Canterbury (Hooks Lane)
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