News & EventsLatest NewsCalendar
Enjoying That Winning Feeling

Enjoying That Winning Feeling

Tim Marshall22 Feb 2016 - 11:42
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.waspsfc.co.uk/news

Wasps FC U14's v Richmond FC | Match Report

On an extremely windy but mild Sunday morning , Wasps were left without 10 players ( 8 of them senior 1st teamers ) for the visit to Richmond RFC .

Of course , it would have been an easy to excuse any defeat with so many players missing this week but after 4 back to back wins stretching back to the start of December 2015 this Wasps side had anything but defeat on their minds .

The start to our match was once again absolute top notch , exerting our strength in every aspect of the field – powerful running , great support play , quick hands across the back line , quick to the breakdown , it was there for all to see .

After only 4 mins & 2 phases of play Henry Raschke saw a gap in the Richmond defence & exploited it , powering past 3 defenders to score in the corner . Up stepped Owen Farrell , sorry , Luke Talbot to smash the conversion over from the left touchline , managing to practise his crossbar challenge at the same time , good thinking Luke .

Wasps continued in much the same way & what is now particularly pleasing to see is our decision making , our whole game management seems to be working really well right through squad .

More good work from the forwards allowed the ball to come out quickly to the backs & this time we moved it across to the right wing to give Scott Robinson the chance to stretch his legs. Scott duly obliged & crossed the try line , once again putting it down in the corner after beating his way past 2 covering defenders . Luke faced an even tougher test with this attempt at the conversion from the right touchline but his eye was well & truly in & once again he nailed it !

The pattern continued with further tries from Luke & Harry with one of those tries converted to give Wasps a half-time lead of 26-0 .

There really wasn`t too much to talk about during the half-time break except maybe the need to not be complacent & keep the focus . So , the boys were given plenty of time to fill their lungs & reset for the 2nd half .

Just as we`d mentioned about the need to keep our focus , we began sloppy – not quite getting it right positionally & panicking at the breakdown . We were always going to be faced with an onslaught from Richmond but we must try & not panic . Our defence has been great all season so there was no need to rush in from all angles & concede penalty after penalty . Eventually , Richmond created an overlap & pulled one back . Conversion missed .

Just a little re-group was needed & we began to take control once more , to be fair Richmond gave as good as they got in the 2nd half & it wasn`t until Oliver Walker-Hall bagged his 1st try of the season that the result was in the bag .

Kicking duties were passed on to Scott Robinson who very smartly arrowed a diagonal bullet straight over . The 2 schoolmates from Sussex both had their shooting boots on & every spectator appreciated their precision , which was nice to see .

Richmond hadn`t finished yet & credit to the whole team . With the last play of the day , they saw a couple of gaps in the Wasps defence & with some neat passing went over for their second try of the match . Missed conversion .

Final Score : Richmond 10 Wasps 33

Above all else this result & performance showed what a strength in depth we have now got . To be missing so many players who would ordinarily be in our starting line-up shows how far we have come this season .

We had some guy`s playing their 1st games for Wasps & they stepped up & played their heart out .

We scored 5 tries with 5 different scorers & that is a sign of a great team .

And for the 3rd match on the trot the opposition Head Coach said , “ We are the best team they have faced this season . “ High praise indeed .

Patrick Cryer ( Coach ) asked at the beginning of the match to try & play the game across the width of the pitch & to use our wingers . 4 of our tries were scored in the wing position . Need I say more !

Of course we are not the complete side , if I was to pick out 2 things we could have done better with, it would be our focus which waned a little & our 2nd half tackling which was too high – resulting in a high penalty count against us .

But in No Way am I being critical here , just things to work on .

I would like to single out a couple of players Karim & Rory ( Wasps ) who rather sportingly played for Richmond when they had lost a couple of players & also our new guy`s – Ben & Troy who were making their debuts . Well Done guy`s .

The Pro`s are on a run of 5 straight wins in all competitions & so are the U14`s – enjoy that winning feeling lads – it really does taste rather nice !

We are so proud to be able to showcase our stuff on Sat 9th April 2016 after the Wasps v Exeter Champions Cup Quarter Final & hope to see as many from the club as possible for support.

Further reading