Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Friday, 30 May 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
reasonably easier opposition. The Petes drew their game against Kingswood early in the season, resulting in KCK becoming group leaders.
The fluency of the Petes requires some finetuning and they need to get across the park a lot quicker. Their three quarters are good provided the ball moves down the line and the forwards are able to secure quick ball. They have in past tended to lose the ball on contact and thereby provide turnover ball to the opposition.
RC on the other hand has had a number of tough games under their belt and if the second Bradby game is anything to go by, they appear to be in peak form. Their problem has been the three quarters who have been quite pedestrian and thereby being unable to penetrate.
In the sidelines of the main games are the ego battles of the coaching staff. Martis is now firmly entrenched in the Royal camp after many successful years with SPC, whilst his understudy when at SPC, Colin is now in charge of the Peterites. Both of them will obviously be looking for bragging rights at the end of the game, and Martis as shrewd as he is, will be quick to capitalise on the Petes’ style of play. Similarly, Colin is aware of the tactics employed by Martis when at SPC and this could prove to be invaluable.
Despite all of this there is only that much that the coaching staff can do, the players need to adhere to the game plan executes it well and must be able to think on their feet.
TCK vs. Science
The other game that would be worth watching will be Science vs. TCK at Mount Lavinia. The style of play by TCK is so different to the hustle and bustle game of Science, that TCK can easily get flustered by the Science aggression. Science thrives on aggression, hard tackles and plenty of words exchanged at close quarters. For TCK it would be a mental battle against the verbal of Science supported by the sheer physicality of Science. If they can keep their cool and play their own brand of rugby, they can win, but if they succumb to the pressure they will play into hands of Science.
At the end of the first round the points for and against by the four teams indicated make interesting reading.
Over the past few years we have witnessed an increased involvement by the coaching staff during games. At every given opportunity, they would walk into the field of play or even have the players come over to the touchline in order to bark out instructions. Whilst one can empathise with their desire to see their charges do well, at times it could be overbearing and even lead to confusion on the field for the youngsters.
Referee
We were also greeted with the news that Orville Fernando the boss of the referees association has decided to call it quits after the current school rugby season. The reasons stated are that there is too much of pressure and very little support from those that matter and everybody is keen on feathering their own nests.
What a sad state of affairs, if it is indeed true. The independence of the referees must be maintained for the development of the game, if not, we are headed for turbulent times ahead. The dependence on overseas referees will only increase and the development of local talent will come to a standstill.
(The writer can be reached via [email protected].)
