Worthing -v- East Grinstead

Worthing U15's 29 v 8 East Grinsead U15's

Following a successful few years in the Sussex RFU Waterfall programme East Grinstead U15's earned the right to be in the Sussex U15 A league for season 2018 - 2019.

The fixture draw placed us away first up against Worthing who, at this age group, have set the standard in the county over the last few years for all other teams to chase. We knew that this would be a step up in quality for our boys but a step up that they thoroughly deserved to take and we travelled to Worthing excited at the opportunity to test ourselves against one of the strongest teams at this age group.

We asked the boys to focus on their intensity and commitment at the breakdown, be strong in the tackle and to continue to with 100% effort from minute 1 to the final whistle. The boys did just that and despite the end result proved without any doubt that they are competitive and can challenge all the top teams in the A league as the season progresses.

From the kick off Worthing immediately put us under pressure advancing into our 22, we valiantly defended phase after phase for the first 15 minutes putting pressure at the breakdown and forcing errors from their ball carriers. Eventually the pressure told and a couple of missed tackles allowed them to take the lead with a converted try.

This deflated our boys a bit and we must learn quickly not to dwell on the disappointment of going behind, our lack of concentration lead almost immediately to the second Worthing try coming from a breakaway, another period of pressure from Worthing followed and this led to a third try, 17-0 and our boys knew that they had to dig deep to get back into the match.

Our boys have shown on many occasions that they are up for a challenge and they dusted themselves down and started to come back into the game, we got a foot hold in the game maintaining some possession and we spent the last 10 minutes of the first half deep inside the Worthing territory and only fierce tackling from the Worthing boys kept us out. Our decision making needs some work as with a penalty inside the 22 we chose to tap and go rather than set up a structured set move, our powerful forwards would have forced their way over in previous seasons but up against strong opposition this tactic is less likely to work and Worthing pushed us back. Worthing conceded another penalty right on half time and from distance Colm Geraghty slotted the kick to put us on the score board 17-3 at Half Time.

At half time we encouraged the boys to keep at it, we had shown we could live with Worthing, we had won plenty of breakdowns and our scrum had been really solid all half. We were only two converted tries down and if we could get the next score we would see how momentum could effect the game. Unfortunately our boys must start to realise there is no room for lack of concentration and intensity at this level and having spent so much time on tackling in training last week it was really disappointing to concede directly from the kick off where the Worthing catcher simply ran through three missed tackles to dot down under our posts. Now we were 24-3 down with the whole of the second half still to come.

Credit to the boys from that point on we got better and better and spent the majority of the second half in the Worthing territory. The team remained committed and followed the coaches' request to play every minute of the match with the same level of intensity irrespective of the shoreline, they showed great character and asked the Worthing defence some serious questions. Worthing's defence was much stronger than we had experienced last season and our forwards must work on being connected together to drive over the line rather than trying pick and to go individually. That said we got our rewards following a great run by Harry Walden who floated a pass to Owen Peel whose good hands off-loaded nicely to Toby Pepler to score in the corner. Colm struck the conversion nicely only to see it rebound off the cross-bar. 24 - 8

We continued to press in the second half but Worthing are a top outfit and they showed how clinical they could be with the final try of the Match leaving the final score as 29 - 8.

There are many positives to take from the performance and the boys should take confidence that they can build from here. The coaches were very proud of the 100% commitment throughout and Worthing were very complimentary towards us. We have some clear areas to work on in training and our outlook for the season remains very positive.

EG Man of the Match: Toby Pepler - Came on at half time on the wing and showed great tackling and rucking technique, winning the ball back numerous times against bigger boys and also showed great speed and footwork to score the EG try in the corner.

Next up we have another tough fixture at Home against Hove Vipers.