Day1 arrived. The kids weren’t too early (thankfully) and we hit breakfast at 8am. After a bowl of cereal and a mountain load of toast later, we loaded the buses and departed for Greystone RFC. We arrived early and due to our hosts having conflicting fixtures, the boys had to change into boots outside in the sunshine. Kit bags were deposited in the Juniors office. Doc Dave then piped us all onto the fields in the sunshine. We’d arrived – this is what it was all for….
The P5’s split into 2 equal sides, Grey Wolf and Stirling Bridge. The first game saw both sides face big lads and new rules. After being on the back foot County started to tackle and ruck the ball well. Both teams stuck in but Grey Wolf found it difficult against a well drilled Greystones side , eventually loosing out by several tries . Stirling Bridge fought to get back in the match and were rewarded with tries by passing out the line and recycling the ball, with a few hard won turnovers thrown in for good measure.
All the players in both sides showed great commitment and began to gel as a team.
Unfortunately in the second game with no subs and injuries the long journey caught up with them.
Although great teamwork carried on, the difference in the laws and playing styles saw Greystones run out winners.
Both teams stood up heroically to larger more physical opposition.
The P6s were split into Castle and Monument and both played at the same time. As is usual for any County team, the performance in the first few minutes was slow to say the least. Castle were immediately 2 tries down. A huge tackle and an injury forced a change. We kept our structure and started to tackle more and restricted Greystone to only 1 more try in the half. 2nd half was a different affair with County going in really hard. The driving through rucks and tackling was totally different, to the extent that we won nearly every ruck in that half. The step-up in performance was astounding, resulting in the scoreline finishing 3-3. Monument’s first game followed a very similar pattern with a lacklustre first half conceding 4 tries. The 2nd half was different with County taking the initiative and they won the half comfortably. Final score was 5-3 to Greystone. The 2nd matches were played better – County having finally woken up. Castle took the lead early on but were pinned back by some resolute attacking from Greystone. County won the rucks but Greystone were better in the maul. Game finished 4-3 to the hosts. Monument let in several tries in the first half – something to do with lack of tackling! As usual, performance picked up in the second half and it seemed to be a more even match. The start let the boys down and so they lost the game 6-1.
We then mixed the teams up for a final game. The first team had a real ding-dong. The ball changed hands regularly with huge rucking/tackling and mauling. County were up with only a minute to go, but Greystone pulled a try out of the bag to equalise 4-4. The other team went in at half time 5 tries down. The 2nd half was truly a turnaround with us scoring 6 tries to equalise and finish 6-6. A great performance by all of the boys – many of them played as they’d never played before.
The P7 Teams of Castle and Monument took the field with some fear as the size of the opposition was revealed.
Castle started very slowly and quickly lost a couple of tries. The boys woke up and
started to play well, ball handling skills were excellent and using the space on the large pitches made for an even period of play with both teams attacking and defending their lines. Eventually county broke through and were only 2-1 down for quite some time. Grey stones though rallied and started to run aggressively and very direct. Some poor tackling led to a final score which made Greystones look much better than they really were.
Monument similarly was overawed at the start of the game and took time to come alive. Some good handling skills were on show, but again the tackling was letting us down.
Greystones ran out winners by a large margin which did not reflect the commitment and skill shown by the boys.
The second games were made more difficult by injuries to key player which weakened the teams. The out come of the second matches were similar to the first games and Greystone ended the matches’ clear winners again. The first day of tour has been a big shock as the law differences and the sheer size of the opposition has made it very difficult for the boys.
The traditional P7 v coaches match was played once we’d finally made it home. Too many of the coaches were intent upon watching the Womens rugby blitz/tournie at Greystone in sunshine. After what seemed an innocuous infringement, Thid was sent off. The 7s capitalised on the large gap in the defence and outplayed the coaches. The game was won by the 7s. Tea came and went and we all prepared for the evening’s trip to the bowling in Bray.
