Muddy and Wet but Not Out!

A wet and cold wintery morning made conditions tricky with lots of mud and a slippery ball to contend with but the Knights team having not played a match for a few weeks looked keen to get back into match-playing action. It’s been a challenging season so far but despite the scoreline, this was a performance the team can build on.

One of our problems when playing at home is it takes us a long time to get into the swing of the game and this was unfortunately continued. So, by half time it felt like the game was drifting away from a Knights-needed victory seeing Norton running in four tries. What we need is to start the game with a lot more focus and intensity right at the beginning and take the game to the opposition rather than letting them bring the game to us and putting ourselves under pressure. We need to turn this mentality around.

Most notable in the first half was a try-saving tackle from Wilf, playing fullback, when Norton broke through our line. Harry, Jayden, Josh, and Charlie did a few breaks through Norton’s defensive line. Thomas made a good tackle forcing a knock-on which gave us an advantage.
The second half was a much-improved Knights team (why do you wait until the second half?) and Norton only scored one try until the last five minutes of the game so it was a really even match and Norton had the hill as advantage. Knights pressured and harried the Norton defence a lot better and were unlucky not to get a try when Harry broke through following a great intercepted pass by Yoshi who ran half the pitch. William showed great attitude after getting the ball kicked in his face, he came off for about thirty seconds and was straight back on to get his revenge. Rylee gave another impressive performance so it felt like there were a few more leaders in the forwards willing to take the game to the opposition.

The scrummaging looked much better today when we contested and pushed as a unit, a couple of times we won their ball which gave us advantage and we made encouraging breaks. A thumbs up to the pack for this marked improvement, there is more to do but it gives you something positive to build on. The last five minutes of the game was all about concentration and the fire in the belly not to let them run in tries. They scored three tries in that time which gave a score line which wasn’t really deserved. Try not to let this happen again and it’ll make the game more enjoyable and the result a lot closer.

After the game we could see that a few of you were upset with the scoreline and the performance so think about what you can do to improve your game and work on it in training. Recommended is to spend less time playing computer games and watch some rugby on youtube (look at what your position does), throw a ball around at home, raise your intensity in training, cranking up the gears and then bring this onto the pitch, starting quick like you did against Nailsea and Backwell. We can see good discipline and team spirit is there. By working a bit harder, pulling together more closely as a team, playing for each other, you’ll get the win you deserve.