First surprise of the day - we were at Finchley and it wasn't raining, second surprise we thought that we were only playing Finchley & there were the boys from Saracens!!
Our first match was against Finchley A and on a pitch that was only slightly flatter than then foot hills of Everest two very evenly match sides took the field. We took the opportunity to try people playing in some different positions. Oscar Patterson started the game at scrum-half, Gus Baker had another outing at lock and Tom Blackler started at outside centre.
The game kicked off with the home team applying most of the pressure. They had a very effective scrum and it appeared to take a while for our players to find their rhythm especially up front. Not stopping the Finchley runners early cost us a try in the first half as a number of their runners repeatedly broke the gain line until they were over our line. Going down by a score galvanised the Wasps team into action and with strong encouragement of Fergus McWilliams they upped their game.
The second half continued in the same vein, William Sawyer showed great adaptability playing scrum half for the first time in his life. Quick hands and the standard of tackling we have grown to expect of William were very impressive. Moving the ball quickly into the hands of Alex Sharp-Neal allowed him to apply the after-burners and score in the corner to bring us back to level terms. Becoming more competitive in the rucks and mauls made for an interesting contest but we conceded a penalty within 15m of our line which Finchley took quickly and ran through our defence to score.
Final score Finchley 2 – Wasp 1.
Man of the Match: Alex Sharpe-Neal
The second match against Saracens A was a very different affair. It was very impressive to see the team gelling so well as a unit & the characters developing. It’s not just the coaches’ job to fire-up the team. Fergus is really developing as a captain & leader on the field. Max Raphael joined the scrum with Eddie Bannister and Ben Sanders in the front row all of whom played well. It was great to see Ben stepping up to A team rugby playing well on both the set pieces and loose play. Once again Alex Sharpe-Neal showed his pace with two well worked tries as it was now our turn to break tackles. James Pye and Gus Baker provided a great combination of “go-forward” running with stiff defensive tackling. The first half ended with us conceding a try but very much in the ascendant.
The second half saw Sam Beverley coming back into the front row to give Ben a well-earned rest and fresh legs brought end more power to the forwards. For a period it seemed that took the ball into contact, us or Sarries, it was Sam that appeared with it. A good supply of ball gave the backs and especially Oscar Patterson real room to play. Sarries were beginning to feel the effects of the relentless pressure they were under allowing William Sawyer to score a great winger’s try. Oscar Patterson, back at scrum-half, was ensuring that we made the maximum use of our increasing dominance with two very individual tries as the Sarries backs started to miss those all-important early tackles.
The final score was a very impressive Wasps 5 – Saracens 1
Man of the Match: Sam Beverley
In summary we had a good morning’s rugby with all of the players contributing all around the field. We need to focus on starting the games aggressively and ensuring that those vital first tackles are made. The morning showed all of the coaches how lucky we are to have the strength in-depth across the whole squad & let’s continue to build on this platform through the season.