Round 1 Marist v Grammar at Marist
Match Report 5th May 2018
The first game of the 2018 season against Grammar saw six new faces in the Royals team of last year that went through to an undefeated ACT Junior Premiership. Welcome to Lachlan, Griff, Seb, Walt, Cooper and Fletch who all did very well in the pre-season trials and have brought some great skills into the team and made us an even stronger unit in 2018. The U11 age group has some quality depth across the two teams which is great for competition for spots during trials every year.
We have 6 reserves this season and the coaches have come up with a playing roster that should allow each boy a full game every second match at least, barring any unforeseen absences in which case it could be more. Each boy will probably play more than one position, which we think is good for their development as young rugby players and also helps them if they want to try out for Junior Brumbies rep footy next year, where playing a couple of positions gives the boys more time on the field during trials and gives the ACT selectors more options to fit our talented boys into their rep squads.
It took a few minutes for the Marist boys to find their groove with a couple of early promising runs being pushed into touch. Marist then set up camp in the Grammar half for the rest of the match and some terrific rucking from the forwards in attack and defence piled enormous pressure on Grammar to the point where their dangerous inside backs never really got any decent ball. The Marist forwards dominated the breakdown, counter-rucked extremely well, and really set a strong platform for the backs to exploit. Char led the team fantastically well from loose head prop and was a constant menace to Grammar at the ruck. He also kicked a whole bunch of conversions! Well done Char!
Fletch directed the team to a high standard from halfback and grabbed 2 tries, as did Walt out wide making the most of his second half. The tries came steadily with Lachy H, Hunter, Char, Bede, Koey and Sam all crossing the line. Marist decided to give Grammar some more possession by kicking it back to them after scoring but the ruck pressure and tackling from Marist soon had the ball back. The tackling all game was excellent so keep it up boys! Seb in particular has probably caused a few nightmares to the Grammar outside backs with some huge defence, awesome effort!
Marist kept piling on the points in the second half with tries to Benny M, Joey and Walt’s 2 tries and another from Fletch. The end score didn’t really reflect on how well Grammar tackled, they just couldn’t deal with the ruck and tackling pressure. Happily for the coaches this Marist team has 18 boys who can all run the ball with skill, pace and power from all over the field. The result was a 72-0 win to the Marist lads.
A great start boys, off to Broulee next weekend, who had a dominant win over Easts so we need to keep up that same level of intensity this Saturday!
The first game of the 2018 season against Grammar saw six new faces in the Royals team of last year that went through to an undefeated ACT Junior Premiership. Welcome to Lachlan, Griff, Seb, Walt, Cooper and Fletch who all did very well in the pre-season trials and have brought some great skills into the team and made us an even stronger unit in 2018. The U11 age group has some quality depth across the two teams which is great for competition for spots during trials every year.
We have 6 reserves this season and the coaches have come up with a playing roster that should allow each boy a full game every second match at least, barring any unforeseen absences in which case it could be more. Each boy will probably play more than one position, which we think is good for their development as young rugby players and also helps them if they want to try out for Junior Brumbies rep footy next year, where playing a couple of positions gives the boys more time on the field during trials and gives the ACT selectors more options to fit our talented boys into their rep squads.
It took a few minutes for the Marist boys to find their groove with a couple of early promising runs being pushed into touch. Marist then set up camp in the Grammar half for the rest of the match and some terrific rucking from the forwards in attack and defence piled enormous pressure on Grammar to the point where their dangerous inside backs never really got any decent ball. The Marist forwards dominated the breakdown, counter-rucked extremely well, and really set a strong platform for the backs to exploit. Char led the team fantastically well from loose head prop and was a constant menace to Grammar at the ruck. He also kicked a whole bunch of conversions! Well done Char!
Fletch directed the team to a high standard from halfback and grabbed 2 tries, as did Walt out wide making the most of his second half. The tries came steadily with Lachy H, Hunter, Char, Bede, Koey and Sam all crossing the line. Marist decided to give Grammar some more possession by kicking it back to them after scoring but the ruck pressure and tackling from Marist soon had the ball back. The tackling all game was excellent so keep it up boys! Seb in particular has probably caused a few nightmares to the Grammar outside backs with some huge defence, awesome effort!
Marist kept piling on the points in the second half with tries to Benny M, Joey and Walt’s 2 tries and another from Fletch. The end score didn’t really reflect on how well Grammar tackled, they just couldn’t deal with the ruck and tackling pressure. Happily for the coaches this Marist team has 18 boys who can all run the ball with skill, pace and power from all over the field. The result was a 72-0 win to the Marist lads.
A great start boys, off to Broulee next weekend, who had a dominant win over Easts so we need to keep up that same level of intensity this Saturday!
Round 2 Marist v Broulee at Broulee
Match Report 11th May 2018
Round 2 of the ACTJRU season saw the U11 Royals boys make the trip to the coast for a 1030 kick off against last year’s Div 2 grand finalists Broulee. Despite the severe weather warnings for the coast the pitch had drained very well and Broulee had set up their Gala Day brilliantly with shelter around the field and plenty of hot beverages in the canteen to help keep the rain squalls at bay.
This was the first game of wet weather rugby the boys had played in a long time so the coaches focused on keeping the passes short and making them easier to handle with a wet ball. Marist immediately put some good pressure at the ruck on Broulee and the ball moved wide to the left corner for Cooper to score the first try out on the wing. Conversion unsuccessful and Marist ran the next kick off back strongly. Unfortunately three other good attacking raids in the Broulee 22 broke down due to passing and catching or loose carries in the backs. Broulee tried a clearing kick that bounced well for one of their speedy backs and he ran length of the field to score under the posts and with the conversion we were down 7-5.
Marist kept up the defensive pressure but Broulee were getting on top in the scrums and some solid tackling in the centre channels kept them in the contest. Eventually Joey spotted a hole in the inside backs and darted through for a second try under the posts to give Marist a 14-7 lead at half time.
More rain moved in for the second half and a string of penalties to Broulee in our half meant the boys had to do a lot of defending. They showed some real grit to hold out the Broulee forwards and regain some field position but we lost a lot of our shape between forwards and backs that stopped us capitalising on our opportunities. Bede Fogarty took on his opposite flyhalf in the face of a rushing Broulee defence and beat him one on one to score another try. 19-7 to Marist. Shortly after Lachy Y made a bullocking run down the short side and with 2 defenders clinging onto him dotted down for another 5 pointer.
The final quarter of the game saw Marist camped in the Broulee half with some strong running from the forwards such as Griff, Jacob and Lachy Y getting close to the line but the Broulee pack fought hard in contact and if our body height wasn’t spot on we were held up in the tackle. Jacob finally managed to wriggle over for our last try out wide after another run just near full time to make the final score 29-7.
This game was a good test for the boys, the weather and a determined opposition exposed a few things the coaches need to work on as we go forward which made it a valuable experience with the game against Eddies this weekend shaping up as another good contest.
Full credit to the lads once again for their excellent commitment in defence the whole match, which really set the platform for a gutsy win. Keep it going for this weekend at home boys against our traditional rivals!
Round 2 of the ACTJRU season saw the U11 Royals boys make the trip to the coast for a 1030 kick off against last year’s Div 2 grand finalists Broulee. Despite the severe weather warnings for the coast the pitch had drained very well and Broulee had set up their Gala Day brilliantly with shelter around the field and plenty of hot beverages in the canteen to help keep the rain squalls at bay.
This was the first game of wet weather rugby the boys had played in a long time so the coaches focused on keeping the passes short and making them easier to handle with a wet ball. Marist immediately put some good pressure at the ruck on Broulee and the ball moved wide to the left corner for Cooper to score the first try out on the wing. Conversion unsuccessful and Marist ran the next kick off back strongly. Unfortunately three other good attacking raids in the Broulee 22 broke down due to passing and catching or loose carries in the backs. Broulee tried a clearing kick that bounced well for one of their speedy backs and he ran length of the field to score under the posts and with the conversion we were down 7-5.
Marist kept up the defensive pressure but Broulee were getting on top in the scrums and some solid tackling in the centre channels kept them in the contest. Eventually Joey spotted a hole in the inside backs and darted through for a second try under the posts to give Marist a 14-7 lead at half time.
More rain moved in for the second half and a string of penalties to Broulee in our half meant the boys had to do a lot of defending. They showed some real grit to hold out the Broulee forwards and regain some field position but we lost a lot of our shape between forwards and backs that stopped us capitalising on our opportunities. Bede Fogarty took on his opposite flyhalf in the face of a rushing Broulee defence and beat him one on one to score another try. 19-7 to Marist. Shortly after Lachy Y made a bullocking run down the short side and with 2 defenders clinging onto him dotted down for another 5 pointer.
The final quarter of the game saw Marist camped in the Broulee half with some strong running from the forwards such as Griff, Jacob and Lachy Y getting close to the line but the Broulee pack fought hard in contact and if our body height wasn’t spot on we were held up in the tackle. Jacob finally managed to wriggle over for our last try out wide after another run just near full time to make the final score 29-7.
This game was a good test for the boys, the weather and a determined opposition exposed a few things the coaches need to work on as we go forward which made it a valuable experience with the game against Eddies this weekend shaping up as another good contest.
Full credit to the lads once again for their excellent commitment in defence the whole match, which really set the platform for a gutsy win. Keep it going for this weekend at home boys against our traditional rivals!
Round 3 Marist v St Edmunds at Marist
Match Report 18th May 2018
Marist hosted the Gala Day versus St Edmunds in fine style and our U11 Royal lads were on Oval 4 at 930. The morning was quite cool with some lingering fog still around at kick-off time. Marist received the kick off and put together some good phases to work our way into Eddies territory before a knock-on handed the ball to the opposition. The Marist defence has been excellent all year and despite Eddies enjoying quite a bit of possession they couldn’t make any inroads on attack.
Marist received a penalty for an Eddies infringement and the forwards and backs interacted well to get into the opposition 22. Opposition teams so far this year realise that our backline is very dangerous with plenty of pace and dazzling footwork so they have been trying the rush defence. Fortunately the referee was on the ball this match and he pinged Eddies for repeated offside play which created plenty of chances for our ball running forwards to wreak havoc up front with ball in hand. Hunter took 3 hitch-hikers over the line for a try, while Char pounced on a loose ball in goal to score and Jacob showed his pace to make it a trifecta for the forwards. While the opposition try and shut down our backs it just creates more opportunities for or forwards, most who can run and step like backs anyway! Take a bow Sam S!
The boys came off at half time with an ok lead but most looked fresh as daisies and hadn’t even broken a sweat! The coaches impressed on the lads that they needed to lift the tempo a bit even though the structure and defence was solid. In particular, a few options in the backs weren’t taken that could have increased the score if the ball had been moved into space faster.
The backline responded to the message and they chimed in with some nice tries to Ky, Joey and Walt that eventually iced the cake for Marist in a 34-0 victory. Well done lads! Unfortunately we now have about 3 weeks of no rugby due to long weekends and a bye but Wednesday training is still on so we can maintain the focus for Gunghalin in Round 5 on 16 June.
Full credit to the Royals lads once again for their excellent commitment in defence the whole match, which really kept the pressure on Eddies. Many thanks to the Eddies boys for playing the match in the traditional good spirit between the two rivals, they never gave up and represented their school very well.
Marist hosted the Gala Day versus St Edmunds in fine style and our U11 Royal lads were on Oval 4 at 930. The morning was quite cool with some lingering fog still around at kick-off time. Marist received the kick off and put together some good phases to work our way into Eddies territory before a knock-on handed the ball to the opposition. The Marist defence has been excellent all year and despite Eddies enjoying quite a bit of possession they couldn’t make any inroads on attack.
Marist received a penalty for an Eddies infringement and the forwards and backs interacted well to get into the opposition 22. Opposition teams so far this year realise that our backline is very dangerous with plenty of pace and dazzling footwork so they have been trying the rush defence. Fortunately the referee was on the ball this match and he pinged Eddies for repeated offside play which created plenty of chances for our ball running forwards to wreak havoc up front with ball in hand. Hunter took 3 hitch-hikers over the line for a try, while Char pounced on a loose ball in goal to score and Jacob showed his pace to make it a trifecta for the forwards. While the opposition try and shut down our backs it just creates more opportunities for or forwards, most who can run and step like backs anyway! Take a bow Sam S!
The boys came off at half time with an ok lead but most looked fresh as daisies and hadn’t even broken a sweat! The coaches impressed on the lads that they needed to lift the tempo a bit even though the structure and defence was solid. In particular, a few options in the backs weren’t taken that could have increased the score if the ball had been moved into space faster.
The backline responded to the message and they chimed in with some nice tries to Ky, Joey and Walt that eventually iced the cake for Marist in a 34-0 victory. Well done lads! Unfortunately we now have about 3 weeks of no rugby due to long weekends and a bye but Wednesday training is still on so we can maintain the focus for Gunghalin in Round 5 on 16 June.
Full credit to the Royals lads once again for their excellent commitment in defence the whole match, which really kept the pressure on Eddies. Many thanks to the Eddies boys for playing the match in the traditional good spirit between the two rivals, they never gave up and represented their school very well.