Clifford Cup knockouts final Police SC vs Havelock SC – tactical review

The unusual suspects of the season took the grand centre stage of the prestigious Clifford Cup final at Race Course in the presence of a keen crowd that expected a mouth-watering finish to the Club Rugby season. However, the game was discoloured by nearly 30 infringements and close to 15 unforced handling errors that made this encounter well short of being an exciting and fitting final.

It is true and well understood that it is the end of the season, where these two teams are playing their 13th game, with a good number of players out due to injuries, and the rest playing with either minor injuries or some level of fatigue, both physical and mental. Although the intensity and commitment were shown by the players of both sides, the focus seemed to be wavering. This resulted in a low scoring first half with Police leading 5-0, not specifically due to daring defensive work, but largely due to errors.

It was apparent that little or no homework has been done by Havies to correct the few but critical shortcomings from their previous game against CH. Firstly, their 16 counts of infringements were meticulously carried through from their semi-final game to the final. Secondly, the early signs of unforthcoming support play in the form of ‘holding on’ infringements from their previous game have been nurtured to blossom from 3 to 5 at the final. It is noteworthy to observe that 3 of those occurred when Havelock was attacking well inside the opponent’s grid. Possessing players who are capable of making frequent breaks is one thing, but getting the support players to keep up to them is another. In case of disparity in speed or agility due to lost players, a more sustainable game plan should have been adopted, where a segment of players move together in short bursts, instead of running long and hard straight into the open arms of gleeful jacklers.

To make things horrendous, the striped Jerseys conceded two Tries due to blunders of their own; the first being trying to run the ball Isipathana style inside their 10 m instead of clearing it, but got tackled and choked out a ‘holding on’ penalty that earned Police’s second Try off a 10 m lineout subsequently. Secondly, a knock-on while catching a high ball off a restart kick close to Havies 10 m, gifted the perfect scrum (and also the Cup) to Police in order to score their third and final Try. Even though Havelock SC has been coming up with innovative counter-tactics tailor-made for strong rivals, they have been lacking forward thinking that has led them to be a step or two behind in every crucial game, despite having a ton of talent.

Havies excelled at the rucks, pushing back confident defenders and turning over possession on two occasions. Their solitary lineout turnover earned them their first Try in the succeeding phases of plays where they managed to hold onto possession, but not before the 70th minute.

Although Police initially never gave away penalty kicking opportunities to their competitors, they kicked away many odds of scoring Tries, while attempting for 3 points. It is understood that in a knockout encounter, one team has to strive to be ahead of the other in order to impose scoreboard pressure. However, unless you have a place kicker with at least 80% accuracy, attempting far-fetched angular place kicks is considered long shot, especially when Police controls the armoury of a set of superior Forwards than their counterparts, who could get the job easily done through a lineout inside the 22, just like how they scored their second Try. Police SC could have secured the game more comfortably and with a much higher margin had they used the muscle power of their pack more often.

Police’s tackling was fast and furious as they forced at least 3 knock-ons, while on other occasions the tacklers and jacklers worked in tandem to milk a grand total of 5 ‘holding-on’ offenses. Their discipline was impeccable during the majority of the game; however, 7 laws were broken in quick succession in the last 13 minutes of the game, which paved the way for Havies to open their scoring.

Put in a nutshell, consistently adhering to the laws of the game, while being continuously conscious of the vulnerable zones within own quarters, combined with the free-flowing flaws of the opposition, earned Police the coveted knockout title after 3 long decades. With this new found confidence, there is no doubt that they shall seek out to clinch the League Title next season.

Result: Police beat Havelock 19-12