Our first home game of the U16 season saw some great rugby on a sunny day.
We started briskly with 2 tries in the first 10 minutes. The first with good recycling and a quick wide ball. The next with a super catch of a high ball and quick support to run in with numbers to spare. Both tries were converted.
We were soon on the attack again with another long run down the right wing. We were caught just before the line, but sure enough support was on the shoulder and a slick off load saw an easy run in under the posts.
Oakham rallied after about 20 minutes and ran straight and hard. Their confidence grew as their direct play resulted in a strong try by their big set of forwards. To our surprise they came straight back using the same successful tactic and went over for a second try. 19-12 - we had a game.
A quick chat behind the sticks and the boys came up with a plan to counter their pack's tactics and they worked on plugging the holes around the fringes of the breakdown. It worked and frustrated the Oakham attacks for now. It also enabled our boys to win back possession as they put numbers into the breakdown and turned the ball over. This gave our backs the opportunity to reward the hard work of the forwards and run in a couple more tries before half time when we took a break at 36-12.
Oakham are a big side and were running out of steam, and players. 2 boys switched their shirts and helped Oakham out.
The forwards continued to work hard and were rewarded with a good try from the lineout, and with great determination we were across twice with the forwards now taking deserved glory.
We didn't let gaps appear or give Oakham any opportunity to get back in the game. The tries kept coming getting success from accurate kicking. When we ran in two tries from re-starts we could see that Oakham had run out of steam and the ref brought the game to a close.
Oakham are a good team and showed loads of spirit and have some strong, direct players. Corsairs were ruthless and played some lovely rugby in the tight, passing out of contact and spreading the ball to expose gaps and create opportunity.
Using the marquee after the game was a good experience as supporters for the Nottingham game started to build up for their afternoon kick off.

Thanks once again for such positive support.