Another lovely autumn day for some free flowing rugby. Our lads ran out and seemed to have control of the game aside from a couple of moments of poor defence and when we were running on fumes with only 13 fully bodied players on the pitch in the dying moments. It was particularly satisfying to hold on under these conditions and seal the victory as we were clearly the better team on the day.

Although we started poorly on defence it improved during the match and there were several key moments where we tackled low and had players over the ball to win the turnover. One fine example was an excellent kick chase from debutant Toby Dawson who connected well with Alex Graham, chopped the player down and Alex was over the ball in a flash to win the turnover.

After 10 minutes we found ourselves a try down after Watford's best player split us through the middle and then dashed away for a 70 metre try. This in conjunction with the last try of the first half where Watford scored out wide with a simple overlap off an attacking scrum were examples of where our defence did let us down.

Aside from the first 10 minutes and the last few minutes we dominated pretty much every aspect of the first half. Retaining the ball and having long periods of calm cohesion in attack by winning the contest for possession. Credit goes to the whole team here to sticking to patterns, hitting rucks and putting the effort in to be there as an option.

Harry Greenall, Louis van Langenhove, and Mert Zabci all scored well worked tries that were off the back of multiple phases. It was so pleasing to see the patience shown by the lads to build these phases and score three excellent team tries. This enabled us to go into the break ahead on the scoreboard and in control of the match despite only being marginally ahead.

We continued to play well in the second half and had many opportunities to score but Watford to their credit made us work hard to get over the gain line and tackled well. Ben White and Louis Murdoch hit hard all day long and were a constant threat both on attack and defence. Luca Joseph continues to impress in the midfield on attack and defence.

As the second half progressed we started to look like the walking wounded, Louis van Langenhove clattered his shoulder and battled on for a period of time before having to come off. This forced a restructure in the backline with Harry stepping into the scrumhalf position and things got even tougher when Louis Murdoch and Corne clashed heads together sending Louis for another trip to A&E for 7 stitches and Corne forced off the field due to the head knock. Things got a bit murky on backline positions at the end but I believe Alex Graham and Luca slid in to 10/12 and Mert ranged in the 13 channel with Alex OFarrell on the left wing. Luccas Ruzzon also succumbed to a nasty hand injury and very kindle kept Louis Murdoch company for the rest of the evening in the A&E ward. Fortunately, Luccas doesn’t have a break and Louis' mother still loves him :-).

Continuing our theme from the first half we were able to play with long periods of continuity eventually leading to a try from Mert (claimed) or Ben as awarded by the referee. This act in itself underlined our patience where we remained calm after Mert went for the try and played another phase with Ben crashing over.

As you'd expect, injuries started to take their tole and the Watford side to their credit came back very strongly for the last stanza of the match. This was made worse after Toby was carded for a high tackle, it was a tough call on an otherwise excellent debut but we had been guilty of several high shots during the match so Toby ended up bearing the brunt of the referee's ire (I think Harry owes Toby a beer for his shot at 31:58 on the video). Despite being a man down and Louis V charging around only able to use one arm at the end we held on and won in the end by 2 points.

Our biggest takeaway was (aside from some notable examples) our tackle height was too high in general. This hindered our ability to win turnover ball as by the time we got the runner to ground the opposition had support at the ruck and also, directly resulted in penalties and eventually a yellow card.

The most pleasing aspect was our continuity of possession and aside from the odd attempted miracle ball, we were patient and earned a bonus point with four very good multiple phase team tries. The rugby that we are playing is attractive and positive and aside from the casualty ward we are in reasonable shape at this stage of the season. The 1st XV head into a 2-week gap before our last two matches of the year on 3rd and 10th December. It's a chance to rest injuries and let flesh heal.

Although the entire team played very well and really gutsed it out at the end some notable mentions are:
-MoM Alex Graham played one of his best matches for the club, pulling off countless tackles and running hard and straight all day long.
-3 points go to Michael Groehe for continuing to hit rucks all day long, towering in the lineouts and generally being a physical presence all around the park.
-Mert Zabci also shows how much of a force he is around the park. Even claiming a second try late in the second half which the ref wasn't sure about so Ben made doubly sure of it.
-Au revoir to Dougal as he sets sail for a teaching position in France over the next 8 months, we wish him well and look forward to his return next year.

Match events:
https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/ucsrugby/teams/262892/match-centre/1-10554570/events

Match video:
https://app.veo.co/matches/20221112-2022-11-12-140836-e906575f/