Uitdaging op toernooi Hilversum

Huxley Report:

RAZW was up for a challenge. A challenge we got. 

Holt, Basingstoke, Derby and Blackburn – long established clubs from the UK all travelling to Holland for a tournament they believe they can and, should win.  Sides with years more experience and exposure to the game than perhaps some of us. RAZW was up for a challenge. A challenge we got.

Our focus for the day was to have fun and put into practice what we had been working hard on from the past several weeks at training. Defence, scanning, support, stepping, passing and communication. Against an older and more experienced opposition, we did our best in most situations and performed superbly under pressure, staying together as a team at all times. RAZW performed very well with several players standing up and playing nicely under pressure. Jim switched to scrum half, Maxou moved to number 8, and Bas, Joep, Daan and Pepijn all having very satisfying performances in the back line throughout the day. Jim set up and scored 3 tries by ‘scanning’, ‘goose stepping’, and ‘accelerating’ over advantage line. Maxou made several try preventing ‘cover tackles’ and attempted to ‘jackel’ which resulted well for RAZW. Bas, Joep, Dann and Pepijn worked hard together in the back line and demonstrated that firm communication and solid support-line running is very important in not only attack but defence too. Keeping in mind our objectives for the day, these players performed well and set the standard high for the rest of the team to follow. Well done to these players. 

A special thanks for the support and last minute call-up to several outside players for joining us on such short notice: Bram, Sacha, Yaren, Roy, Koen and Kai. Your support and performances were all very much appreciated, so much so that we would love to see you for training at either HRC or Segbroek sometime soon!

RESULTS: We narrowly lost our first match 12-10, lost our second match 14-5, drew our 3rd match 12-12, lost our fourth match 17-7 and went down 20-5 in our last match against the undefeated pool winners. These results are a loss on paper but overall, RAZW performed very well and it was a really successful day and learning opportunity for everyone that played. 

The eventual winners of the group were an unlikely group from Germany by the name of “Niedersåchsischer Rugby Verband” (say that fast 3 times). Well drilled, disciplined, aggressive, fast, communicated well but most importantly played hard together as a team. 

Well done to everyone involved! Next event is ours…..if we want it!

Syd Douglas – trainer/coach

http://rugbyclubhilversum.nl/jeugdtoernooi/poules-iyt-2015/poule-f-cubs-a/