Once again we found ourselves on a Sunday fielding a side missing a few key players due to injuries, but I think going in we believed we could hold up better than we ultimately did. The game was played as 3 20 minute thirds but was a one sided affair, only some committed defensive work in the first third kept the score down but the opposition side still shipped 4 tries to our 1.
Our boys had a brief spell at the beginning of the second third where they attacked and defended reasonably well, but their few brief forays were halted by Reeds strong defence and constant breakouts from their own half resulting in a further 4 converted tries unanswered by Redingensians.
The final third was a much closer affair, though the scoring of 3 further tries didn't quite reflect this to our 1, leaving the final score as 73-12 to Reeds
That we managed to kept the score below 80 against such a strong side, was a positive in itself and the boys played reasonably well in patches, but if you are playing a much stronger team there is a limit to what can reasonably be expected. Another positive is that all the boys got a game which was useful for the new lads albeit in a baptism of fire.
The Redingensians players will know where they have to improve and it's only playing stronger sides that can expose that, it gives us measurable goals to aim for in the future. For now though we need to refocus and regroup for next weekends tournament at Reading.
Final Score 73-12 to Reeds
Scorers
David 1T
Adam 1T
Alex 1C