MHRUFC Sharks – Oundle BOOT – U12’s 02-12-2018

The Boot was a triangular tournament between Kettering, Oundle and Sharks. Ten minutes each way. Our first game was against Kettering who had just been beaten 5-0 by Oundle. The game started a little scrappily and was evenly balanced, with both sides struggling for fluency and Kettering having most of the ball. A fine individual try by Sharks encouraged the team and following this Sharks asserted control, with a nice move in the backs culminating in a second try just before half time. Consistent pressure after kick-off resulted in a third try and it looked as if Sharks were in control. Possibly as a result of complacency Kettering fought back with good movement along the line from a penalty in their own half resulting in an excellent try. Sharks responded with solid tackling, consistent pressure and quick movement along the line resulting in a try in each corner. Final score 5-1.

The outcome of the Boot depended on the result of the game against Oundle, who had several big players, and had showed good discipline and organisation in their game against Kettering. At the outset they put considerable pressure on Sharks who responded with determined resistance and a fine tackling performance. They gradually started to match Oundle in the ruck and were rewarded with a fine passing move and incisive running which resulted in the first try of the game. This was followed by another excellent passing move leading to a second try by Sharks. However, this spurred Oundle to greater effort and they responded with smart passing and sharp running to get one back. 2-1 at half time with Sharks having one of their best periods of play all season. There must have been something in the water Oundle drank at half time, because they upped their game significantly in the second half, especially at the breakdown. A cheeky try down the line from a ruck was a foretaste of things to come, with Sharks under relentless pressure, struggling to get possession and discouraged by some decisions that went against them. Despite heroic defense on several occasions they were unable to clear their lines effectively and a further three tries followed for Oundle. Final score 2-5, which did not reflect the relative strength of the two sides.

With the Boot going to Oundle a final ‘friendly’ match followed between Sharks and Kettering. The sides were evenly matched with the Shark’s coaches taking the opportunity to experiment with positions. The game was played at a furious pace with solid tackling although there was perhaps more competitiveness than fluency in the first half which ended 0-0. The second half saw a clever try for the Sharks from the kick off which gave them the freedom to move the ball around and a lovely try was scored in the corner from a smooth passing move along the line. This was almost repeated a short time later, but just failed with the pass going slightly forward. Final Score 2-0

All in all, a great team performance to be proud of, despite the lapse in concentration in the second half against Oundle.