Old School Ties and Fez-Heads

I made up for the lack of recent actively with two matches this weekend. Saturday saw me take on a senior league game and Sunday it was U13 action.

Yet again on Saturday it was a close game, with the home side holding out for a 20-17 win, despite being outscored 3 tries to 2 and managing to miss 4 penalties in front of posts in the final quarter. The was some great individual skills on display, especially from Black 7, who I suspect should have been on the receiving end of my whistle more often than I managed.

It wasn’t may best day, rucks were a little untidy and all four props wanted to bugger about. Both captains channelled their front row’s complaints to me at the break. The black loose head side was the most troublesome with both props looking to turn in. Practically every scrum ended with them at 90 degrees to each other. The cause of this could be either one, but the actions of each looks like the other is committing a foul. Its very difficult to assign blame. A good chat with the prop in the bar helped me to understand what was going on which I hope will help next time.

The only flash point of the game was at 15 from time as yellow 9 tip tackled black 7. The player was winded but recovered quickly and his team mates were calling for a yellow card. Whilst he did take the legs through the horizontal, the ball carrier was already low down and the tone of the game had been very clean. A stiff warning and a penalty in front of the posts (which was missed!) was sufficient.

Sunday was a all together calmer game, London Welsh youth v Saracens. As happened earlier in the season, London Welsh, started very slowly and lost the game in the first 10 minutes. They were 29 points down at half time but they drew the second half. Reffing the kids does see me coaching them to a large degree. They won’t learn through penalties alone and verbal communication is used to a higher degree. The Welsh scrum was very weak and judging advantage for knock-ons became a lopsided affair, as Welsh were better served with opposition ball in open play than by loosing possession on their own put-in.

The youth game on the adjacent pitch was held up for 40 minutes as two ambulances arrived to treat a freak collision that rendered two lads unconscious. Never a nice thing to happen.

One Yellow and Penalty Try

The #rugby season has started quietly down at Level 11. Only two games so far and another week off duty to come.
The first week was a local match, I even cycled to the ground and it involved a side I’d encountered a couple of times before; the oppo where new to me. I gave a good long briefing to both teams about the summer law changes and new directives. Naturally, most of this was news to the players except the maul law. In retrospect, the subtleties of hands in at the tackle were lost and I think it left them with the impression that hands were fair game from everyone. It did prove useful as at least one turn-over came from the legitimate use of the new ruling. Well, I think it did!
Both teams were evenly balanced, though the loss of a prop and the subsequent 2/3 of the game played uncontested probably cost them the win. Neither team seemed to control rucks well, which made them messy but competitive. I played rucks loosely which allowed a bit of niggle to develop, but this didn’t spill over, despite the home team’s combative Saffa No8. A word of warning to players if you have a distinctive accent; keep your thoughts to yourself, otherwise it makes it easy for the referee to pick you out and penalise you directly.
One of my season’s targets is to get a better grip of discipline and it was an early yellow card for the defender on the floor, 10m out, kicking the ball back as the scrummy was about to pick up. Black scored a crucial try from the resulting penalty
Final score was 22-22, my first draw, four tries from each team but some tricky kicks to convert.
My second match was supposed to be a third team game in south London, but the club had bumped the referees up a match as they had botched their referee appoints (very naughty boys). The home side just managed to scratch together 15 with a couple of subs, were as the visitors had 8-10 subs which the home side foolishly, it turns out, allowed them utilise. There was some good early pressure from the home pack, but the oppo had a wonderfully skilful and youthful back three who twice capitalised on some half chances to score. It was a marvellous chip and chase game that the home side could not counter. The home side converted some pressure into a score as chip through was knocked on by the defending full-back, not attempt to catch, 5m out, penalty try. I ran play through another phase to see if they could get a proper score but it wasn’t coming.
The scrums were tricky all afternoon as both front row wanted to mess about, as ever a tough one to decide who is up to what, there were a couple of obvious free kicks and penalties but an awful lot of resets.
Eventually the youth and fresh legs made a difference and the score began to flatter the visitors in what had been real contest. Final score 17-45.

ELV in action; world continues to spin!

Finally the season arrives with a late appointment following a pleading call to the appointments manager. Fortunately it was only a short drive, as I had to get back to cook a four course meal for guests.
It was my first visit to the Reeds Weybridge (blue) ground and it boasts a most attractive setting. The pitch was lush and well marked, but there was a strong downfield wind and rain was threatening. Some confusion over the kick off time saw the home side already warmed up whilst there was only trickle of arrivals by the visitors. The wait time allowed some discussion about the ELVs, most players were aware, but their knowledge came from Super 14 and Tri-nations and free-kicks for handling in rucks was highly anticipated.
I have encountered the visitors, Economicals (black) a couple of times, and this time looked younger and fitter than their opposition, with a large bench to rotate through, something the home side regretted agreeing to.
The home side choose to play up hill and into the wind in the first half, and soon conceded three tries. They failed to protect the tackler and were turned over too often and this allowed the visitors to put considerable width on the ball. To be fair to the Reeds defence they worked hard to contain the onslaught which resulted in the tries proving difficult to convert. The pitch’s slope contributed to Economicals scrum being dominant and it was a surprise to see young and lean overcoming older and ‘wiser’. ELV-wise, setting scrums now involves getting the offside set at 5m, and extra couple of seconds for the front rows before the engagement. It was difficult to judge if they crept up as I was otherwise engaged with crocked feeds, binding and boring, unbound flankers and keeping scrum halves onside! Some thing to work on!
The side changed over at 27-0 to the visitors but the home side looked to make progress out of their claim that the slope was worth 50 points in the second half. A couple of good tries came early but increasingly they couldn’t breach the defence. I came close to awarding a penalty try when a floored black player caught a pass meant for a bullocking prop 7m out, but I couldn’t be certain it would have been a try given the number of defenders.
Soon after the new quick throwing law was used to great effect with the ball starting its flight a good 10-15m in touch, this added to general confusion within the oppo ranks!
In the final quarter the speed and fitness of Economicals took its toll on Reed and my good self, as pressure was turning territory into points. The penultimate try being a penalty try as the black centre was high-tackled 4m out, accidental but reckless so no yellow. Finally score 12-58 to the visitors.
Good points;
no injuries or fighting!
My fitness seemed a little better,
I managed to keep a check on back-chat
ELV didn’t prove too problematic
Good feed back from both team.
Needs improvement;
I was bit quick on the whistle when good advantage might have developed
I wasn’t picking up all the handling in the rucks that Reeds seemed to witness.