COLTS

Newport defeated Briars 69-14

The Colts are still a side that is changing personnel week to week. Saturday saw us play an experienced opposition who were able to capitalise on every mistake that we made and convert it into points. The missed tackle count was 18, which gives you an indication of Newport’s abilities. The Colts however are still too slow off the ground after making a tackle. This leads to them over committing at the breakdown and exposing us out wide to attack. Newport had a great back line and as a result put points on us. The scrum shows a lot of promise but we really need to improve our lineouts!

Quite a few positives out of the game however, the boys played with discipline, passion, never gave up and demonstrated a great capacity to attack. We are still suffering from a lack of ball, only having 20% of possession but we were able to turn that into 2 tries. If we can address the lack of communication in defence and increase our possession through lineouts and general play, the Colts will start to put some victories on the table.

The highlight of the game for me was Micky T's intercept, great ability to read the attack followed by a distinct lack of pace ;p
Points - Darcey 3, Tom 2, 1 Pete Ananin, Micky T and Richie

Coach: Pete Kelly  

4^th GRADE

Newport defeated Briars 29-0

After last week’s display against St Ives, I wasn’t too sure what to expect from our 4^th Grade side heading into the toughest road trip in Div 2. However, after our usual disjointed preparation the team surprised me and played 50 minutes of committed football. While the score line doesn’t reflect the side’s level of commitment, at no stage did I feel that they gave up or stopped trying against an extremely strong Newport side. The match was punctuated by a number of standout efforts, none greater than Nick’s whose work rate in attack and defence was outstanding. As a team we are fortunate to have someone of his ability in our side each week. Micky T was awesome for us, backing straight up from Colts and providing us with great stability in the set pieces and a dominant force in defence. Cheech is improving every week and pulled off the best tackle I’ve ever seen him make on a Newport 1^st Grader and special thanks to Ben who stepped up from halfback to make his debut in the forward pack on short notice. It has been a tough start to the season for 4^th Grade which has pitted us against two of the strongest 4^th Grade Teams I’ve seen in my years in this grade, however we are back at home this week and if we can take the momentum gained from the positives of the last two weeks into this weekend’s clash, I’m confident we can pick up our first win for the year. Points on the day went to Nick Russell (3), Micky T (2) & Cheech (1)

Coach: Damien Johnson  

3^rd GRADE

Briars drew Newport 12-12

Well that was definitely one that got away! El Capitano certainly shoulders some direct blame for negating to take a pretty easy penalty with 5 to go, however we had more than enough quality field position to score tries. We must start capitalising on our opportunities by building combinations in the backs and getting the forwards used to working in pods and building phases. We have probably spent over 60% of this season without the ball and it shows with our for/against at 35/46 for the year. Through our toughness in the tackle and resilience at the line we still find ourselves in fourth position in the competition, even though we are the second worst attacking team. A major positive, but this only proves we need to play more for territory and work on our ball control.

We prepared fairly well and started the game solidly. If not for Newport's fullback we could have found ourselves leading into the second half, but instead we trailed 12-0 after 20 minutes. We need to identify players that must be controlled earlier on and work harder not to give them space. Once we realised our line-speed was slow, we immediately put pressure on Newport resulting in a poor pass from their half being swooped on by Guddo for a try out wide. We then forced a mistake and with some quick ball delivered by effective clean-outs, the backs put on a great string of passes resulting in Matty busting over for our 2nd. A top conversion saw us square things up going into the break.

The 2nd half was primarily Briars, led by Reuben at 12 with some barnstorming runs. We showed ability to get to 3rd and 4th phases, which was not present in the first half, but still showed a lack of respect for possession at times. With some better support in the second half we probably would have found ourselves over the stripe a couple of times. I think we can all say that we had the wood on our opposite numbers for the majority of the 2nd half, but credit to Newport who were able to hold us out.

Other notable performances came from Jack, who after a bit of a shaky start showed that when he injects himself he can be very effective, and the front row who had a great game. Rollsy was everywhere, Irish dominated 'Mr.Short-of-a-picnic' and Porky owned the pick and drives. It unfortunately looks like we will lose Porky to a bicep injury perhaps for the season; he'll be sorely missed up front.

We can win this comp, but it has to start with training. The improvement was noticeable on the weekend, so let's get to training especially on a Thursday to work on our line-out, backs combos and have a long team run. Look out Kings!!!
Points - Rubes 3, Rolls 2, Jack 1
Coach: Dan "Freakn-shoulda-taken-the-3" Wilko  

2^ND GRADE

Newport def Briars 28 - 3

A day that promised so much, ended in disappointment. We started reasonably well. We applied pressure through both our attack and defence and at the beginning of the first half looked to be dominating Newport even though we were down 5-3. It then started to turn bad for the 2s. Crucial errors in attack and defence led to us being unable to get out of our 22 and although we showed great determination in defence, sustained pressure paid off for Newport. We went into the half time break down 10-3 but remained positive, we knew if we could start making it simple for ourselves and stop putting pressure on ourselves we were in with a chance.  However the 2^nd half didn’t unfold as we had planned. Wrong options in attack just put more pressure on us. Silly penalties, not finding the line, kicking out on the full and dropped ball just made it too hard. We started to show cracks in our defence and Newport took advantage of it. Our scrambling defence was good but on some occasions couldn’t withstand the pressure. There were some positives to come out of the game. Our scrum looked better and when we did have the ball our forwards looked a lot more aggressive. Shay Quilty who received Briar of the Match was an example of this and played his best game of the season so far. Other standout performers were James Mac who continues to impress at prop, Andrew Bate and Ian Pond. Bo Hawea also played well at scrum half, as did young fullback Richard Mulquiney. The 2s must learn to have some composure and resilience. When things get tough and aren’t going their way, cool heads, calmness and control must prevail. All is not lost and we know that Newport isn’t a team that is 20 points better than us. There is a long way to go in this season and the best of 2s is yet to come. We are looking forward to this weekend against Kings Old Boys. It will be good to get back home after 2 road trips and start correcting the wrongs that have plagued our game the last few weeks.

Coach: Dean Peris   

1^st GRADE

Briars defeated Newport 30 - 18

Season 2010 started with a bang for Briars 1st Grade and going into the game against Newport, we were undefeated after 3 rounds. This was going to be our hardest test to date as we were taking on another undefeated team at their home ground.  Briars knew this would be a challenge and started off with strong defence and great hands to get the scoring under way with a great try from our flying winger and X factor. A great kick receival enabled us to set up another try for Briars and with Briars leading 10-0 in the first 18 minutes of play, Newport did not know what had hit them. To their credit, they composed themselves enough to get on the board with 5 points and both teams traded penalties until a great kick return allowed Briars to score under the posts and convert. Newport could only add another penalty goal before going into half time with Briars leading 20-11. Newport took a lot of pressure early in the second half and gave James Ronsisvalle an easy opportunity to extend Briars’ lead to 23-11. We continued to dominate the breakdown and with Newport showing signs of frustration, our defence was relentless. We turned defence into attack to score another converted try and take our lead to 30-11. The only disappointing part of the day was letting Newport score a converted try late in the game to bring the final score to 30-18. A warm welcome was thrown out to Jamie Waller and David Moore, two players making their Briars and 1st Grade debuts. From the time they arrived it was clear it would not take them long to fit in with the game plan and structure of the team.  Another win makes us 4 from 4 for 2010, but the next game does not get any easier with a home game against Kings Old Boys. This Saturday is Ladies Day at Rothwell, so bring your ladies down for some free champagne and food while you support the Briars to continue their winning streak.

Coach: Mark Gudmunson