Today we welcomed our arch rivals Ealing Trailfinders, these games are very competitive and so today proved. Most pleasing were the lessons learnt from previous weeks and each group is progressing very well making squad and team selection more difficult every week, which is a nice problem to have.

A TEAM - Great victory in gusty conditions over a strong Ealing team today and all the A's can say they contributed to the result. What was very impressive today was our pick up and drive from the base of rucks and mauls. We also successfully changed tactics in the first half after Ealing restricted our normal expansive game by coming up lightening quick on defense and pressuring our inside backs so we reverted to North Hemisphere style type rugby and kept it tight! Passing and tackling was of a high standard but can work on holding the ball tighter when we go into the tackle. Overall good effort and great result

Overall Scores - Wasps A 6-5 Ealing A
Man of the day: Alexander Shaul

B TEAM -
A vastly improved performance left the B squad with two very happy and content coaches! Suddenly, a lot of what we have been working towards came to fruition. Teamwork, passing and great rucking leading to loads of possession enabled the team to put in their most accomplished performance of the season. Led by Theo's charges and fierce tackling, allied to William's sleight of hand and foot, the entire squad were fully focussed and committed. We still need to recognise players in a better position rather than go into contact, and also get all our tackles in, but this was a really pleasing leap in the right direction. Having been on the wrong end of a few beatings by Ealing in the past, the kids were overjoyed to post a 13-5 victory this time.
Hard to single out players as they all played well, but the two aforementioned boys, plus Guy for his never say die attitude, stood out.
We also mixed up the two sides for some tackling drills, which I think was beneficial to all

Overall score: Wasps B 13-5 Ealing B
Joint man of the day this week - Theo, William and Guy

C team ‘Black’ and ‘Blue’ squadsPre- and post- games we worked on rucking and tackling and this certainly began to pay off. The Blacks lost 2-1, but this was actually a good result and it could have ended differently if we’d got round to playing another half. Players in this group still have a way to go in rucking and structure, but we saw some improvement today, particularly against a side that had both a material weight and height advantage. No real man of the match, but Benedict shows some real promise on the wing if we can get him more ball, likewise training up Fred at scrum half makes good sense, as he showed good awareness and position. The Black team did not have a front row nor a #10, so I’d like to start to get a clearer idea in my head about C squad front row choices going forward.

The Blues lost their game to Ealing 5-2 but despite the loss the performance included some good work at the mauls and with the ball in hand. Tackling was also better. Rucking is still an unperfected art!
Very impressive performance by Nathaniel. He had a great attitude, showed no fear and gave it 100%.

Well done all and thanks to the coaching team.

Waheed