Old Cats U15 vs Crawley

Well what a difference a week makes, not only was the weather a stark contrast to that when we played Old Alleynians, it was a completely different Old Cats team, certainly in attitude anyway that took the field against Crawley.

But definitely this week’s match was born out of the disappointment of last week, there had been much communication in the past week between the coaches and the supporters on what went wrong and what do we do to rectify it and it was clear some changes were needed to how we play and how we approach the game.
Still a few players down with injuries we still had a formidable team that turned up early for training prior to the match and it was clear the boys were approaching this match with a different attitude.
And straight from the start Cats took the game to Crawley, there was none of the usual complacency that usually results in the opposition starting with a 15 point lead.

1st Half
Old Cats opted to receive and strung some great early phases together
It was back and forth for the first half with Old Cats playing an aggressive form of rugby, one possible try went astray, but either side could have taken the lead, but the half ends 0 - 0

Second Half
Old Cats kick off and Crawley and the chase is good, but Crawley start to make good ground, the have brought their giant prop onto the pitch and he’s making good ground and making it difficult for OCs to turn over any ball over, eventually a big hit comes in and the ball goes to ground Harrisons on it and he’s away, with a run over half the length of the pitch to score under the posts , Seb ads the Extras 0 – 7 Old Cats
Kick of again to Old cats and an area that was a problem last week is a strength this week, with Old Cats setting up a good platform to attach and eventually make their way down the pitch. Its hard work at the breakdown and Ephraim’s making himself a nuisance at the breakdown to the opposition, steeling a lot of ball, the opposition don’t like it and he’s taken out illegally, Ross puts the resulting penalty in the corner 5 meters from the Crawley Try line.

The line outs deemed not straight, and Crawley are awarded a scrum, but a magnificent drive from the Old Cats pack wins one against the head, Paddy’s quick to react and drive for the line, the pack get behind him and he’s taken over the line for the try. It’s a fair way out and Seb just misses with the conversion. 0 – 12 Old Cats

Crawley aren’t happy and come out fired up, despite this, Old Cats look after the ball and make their way down the pitch, unfortunately a loose pass goes to ground, Crawley recover it and get it wide to their super-fast winger, Josh eventually brings him down, but the referee calls it high. Crawley have a penalty 5 meters from the try line and we all know what they are going to do! despite some desperate tacking on the line, Declan the Crawley mountain gets over for the try. 5 – 12 Old Cats

Old Cats kick off and put the pre match training to good use and apply the pressure straight away from the kick off, Crawley are pinned back and rush the kick which Ross recovers he takes it straight back to within 5 meters but he’s taken into touch.
Crawley line out 5 meters out the Old Cats back row are through on the scrum half who looses the ball, Beaus quick to pounce and he’s driving for the line, tackled short he stretches and he s over for the try. Seb adds the extras. 5 – 19 Old cats.

Old Cats continue to dominate the game out muscling the opposition, but time is up.
A fantastic result with all the players having their best game in an Old Cats shirt, they showed great physicality, determination and patience through-out the game.

The combined front row of Jon, JJ, Beau Alex and Harry pushed the bigger Crawley pack back and started to dominate in the second half.
Jesse and Ephraim worked brilliantly as a double act in the second row and covered the wider channels in defence.

The back row of Harrison, Will and Charlie where everywhere support every play and never taking a back step.

Paddy tackled hard and having tidied up his put ins in the scrum managed the breakdown brilliantly and with his sniping runs kept the opposition guessing.

Ben, sadly missed last week, marshalled the game brilliantly and continued to do a flanker’s job steeling ball at the breakdown, really getting the back line on the front foot.

Seb and Josh tackled hard and this week the also ran hard and direct, getting to grips with tactics practiced in training and using it to their benefit.

The wings of Callum, Toby and Chris continued to make good ground and managed the wide channels not giving the opposition any chances to go wide.

Ross at the back read the game brilliantly, tackled hard, gave us great ground with his howitzer boot and turned every desperate kick from the opposition into an attacking opportunity.

With a team playing like that it made it really hard to call the Man of the match, but one player stood out just above the rest and that’s Jon with a magnificent game all round, putting in big hits, driving hard at the scrum and closing the door on Crawley’s big prop when he tried to come through the lineout .

Tries – Harrison, Paddy, Beau
Conversions – Seb x 2