Nov 13 - West Norfolk (H)

W 76 - 12  Report attached

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Match Report – Wymondham -v- West Norfolk, 13^th November 2011

U13 Team – Wymondham 76, West Norfolk 12

The next fixture in the rugby calendar was a home game against West Norfolk at the home ground of Wymondham High School.

As has been the case in so many previous games, the Wymondham team took their time to ‘crank-up’ and initially appeared a little tardy on the pitch.  To their credit, West Norfolk scrummaged and rucked well and benefited from some big, weighty forwards to give them some momentum.  Wymondham soon regained their posture and the tries started to flow.  A good break from Casey Hawes secured one try and another followed from Dominic Smith when Owen Sharpe ripped the ball from West Norfolk hands, moving it out through Joe Milligan. 

Nevertheless, Wymondham just seemed to lack some of the determination they have displayed in previous games.  Their rucking needed the necessary drive-through to clear the ball from the breakdown and the backs were often too flat, resulting in slow ball-handling and a lack of pace as players could not run onto the ball.  Too many tackles were insufficiently low to bring the larger players down and this was the key reason why West Norfolk managed to penetrate Wymondham’s defence to score two tries.

Wymondham nevertheless prevailed and notable performances included that from Dougal Broom who made good ground by ‘pick-and-run’ moves and safely caught high balls from drop-kicks at the re-start.  Max Ross and Alex Bainbridge also had good games with Max demonstrating the art of effective rucking and Alex breaking through West Norfolk lines to gain good yardage.  Several more tries followed by an ever-strong Owen Sharpe who repeatedly powered through the lines of defence to score a total of six tries.

This was a game in which Wymondham dominated their opposition but one that they could, in truth, have played much, much better.  Notwithstanding the score-line, Wymondham needed to show more controlled aggression and a determination to win.  These qualities will be sorely needed next week when the team face Holt at home.  Rugby is a team game more than anything else and it takes more than one player alone to win matches.  The numerous tries that were scored therefore reflect the effort of those who set up the opportunities as much as the individual who placed the ball past the try line.  A total of 12 tries were scored, eight of which were converted.

Tries:  Owen Sharpe (6), Dominic Smith (3), Daniel Wood (1), Casey Hawes (1) & Charlie Blower (1)

Conversions:  Will Findlay (7) & Joe Milligan (1)

Man of the Match:  Dougal Broom