Tame the Lions

The All Blacks travelled over to P'borough to take on the Lions and after a slow start came away 3-1 winners in the 4 game format.

The All Blacks made up of Gray, Jacob S, Archie, Ollie R, Noah, Jude and George D. Starting the first game with 6 players due to the late arrival of Noah were under the cosh from the off as the much bigger Lions side tore through the defence with relative ease and Harb struggled to get any parity in attack. Lions finished well deserved winners and Harb knew they needed to tighten up the defence in the next game.

With the arrival of Noah Harb were up to full strength and he straight away led from the front with his tacking knocking the Lions runners back. Gray, Jude and Ollie showed particular strength in the tackle halting the Lions runners and this leading to first turnover of the afternoon for Harb to then start using the space with Jacob and George in particular exploiting the Lions width of defence. With Harb growing in confidence they pressed the Lions line time after time with Archie sneaking over from close range. The off loading game then started to click with George, Jacob, Gray and Ollie all getting on the scoreboard thanks to some great support play and running lines. Harb took the spoils and were ready to right the wrongs from the first game in the soon to follow rematch.

Following a 10 min breather Harb took to the field and from the first moment onwards they showed they meant business with Jude, Gray, Jacob, Noah and George coming to the fore in defence leading to hugely impressive 6 turnovers in the game. The counter attack caught Lions on the hop with Jacob, Ollie and Gray making great headway into the Lions half and Noah, Archie, Jude and George always on hand to recycle the ball and keep the attack flowing. Special mentions in this game to Jacob "The Eel" for finding gaps in the defence and wriggling through. George for selling the most outrageous dummy sending the whole Lions team the wrong way. Archie "Side Step" H for his brilliant run. Jude "The Rock" for his solid defence. Gray "The Brave" for his fearless tacking and Noah "The Chop" for his brilliant tackling. Avenging the defeat earlier in the day this was by far the All Blacks best performance to date!

The final game saw Harb turn the screw once more with Jacob now finding gaps all over the field whilst George, Gray, Jude, Ollie and Noah tackled like the brave players they have proved they are and Archie once more recycling the ball with great vision and skill.

This was a fantastic mornings rugby, once the players got over the slow start and grew in confidence in the tackle they forced a bucket load of turnovers proving defence wins games. Superb performance in the last three games and a great tactic of lulling the Lions into a false sense of security in the first game.....maybe just let the parents and coaches know what your plan is next time to save our finger nails!

Once again the whole squad made it onto the scoresheet showing the expansive offload game the All Blacks have created is really paying off.