Missed tackles!

Some parents will remember the 0-8 loss against Saracens Amateurs two years ago in Div 2, a tight game where neither side could really dominate possession but ultimately Saracens' defence meant they were able to hold their narrow lead in a competitive fixture. Saracens were promoted to D1 at the end of that season and it was clear they have improved substantially since.

On the day they were too strong for us in both attack and defence, with strong physical ball carrying, variety of attack and most importantly a very robust defence with very few missed tackles. This was the biggest difference between the two sides in this game: OAs started slowly and missed tackle after tackle in the first half, meaning the game was out of sight before half time. The penalty count on both sides was mounting despite warnings from the referee and the first yellow card for Saracens was shown just before half time.

In the second half OAs were a little better and started to make progress with ball in hand around the ruck. In fact the sole highlight for OAs from the game was our ruck work - we were resourcing them properly and creating a stable platform to recycle possession for multi-phase attack. The tries kept coming for Saracens however and it wasn't until the 60th minute that we finally registered on the score board ourselves. The penalties continued on both sides and altogether four yellow cards were shown in the game, one for OAs and three for Saracens.

Overall this was a demoralising loss for the boys and there was a lot of honesty in the team talk afterwards. In truth the scoreline probably flattered Saracens - at least four of their tries came from our handling errors - but the big takeaways were (a) better attendance and intensity needed in training, (b) more tackling practice required and (c) more work needed on accuracy in the lineout. We asked the boys each to identify one thing they could improve individually from the game and to make a commitment to themselves to work on that skill.