Crawley looking to blow away the cobwebs

Crawley U10's travelled to East Grinstead to get back on track following the recent weather that had cancelled the last 2 weeks. The hosts are of a similar standard so it would it be interesting to see how the team faired after the a 3 week gap and without Harry, Conner and Alex. The East Grinstead coaches put the players through their paces with some tackling, passing and mauling skills and it was apparent that Crawley had not quite switched on with their concentration wavering at the slightest distraction!!!
The match itself was a mixture of silly individual errors countered by some great team play. East Grinstead caught Crawley asleep in the first few minutes as their good passing and a 2 missed tackles allowed a try in the corner. From the restart, Crawley had not learnt the key points of the pre match training and lost the ball in contact to allow a simple try on the breakaway to make it 2-0 to EG's after 5 minutes. Crawley then woke up and started to apply better pressure by keeping control of the ball, Jay and lewis were working hard at the ruck to give space for Crawley's runners to exploit. Finally after some good work from Fraser and Archie, a brilliant offload by Jay allowed Ewan to escape past the cover to score, that made it 2-1. unfortunately from the restart, Crawley were caught bunched up in the middle of the pitch following a maul and when the ball was passed to the wing another missed tackle allowed a 3rd try for EG, 3-1 at half time.

After some strong words from the coaches at half time for the team to remember the basics, Crawley came out in the second half with a much better attitude. Jay, Fraser and Louis began to put EG under pressure in the scrum and line-out. Archie was quickly running through to cut down the space and Megan was organising Brandon, Cameron and Ewan to make better tackles to stop EG moving the ball. After losing the ball in contact throughout the first half, Crawley finally realised that getting the ball onto the ground and winning the ruck was getting the ball back quicker. Fraser and Megan were able to create space for the runners and it wasn't long until Brandon escaped to score to make it 3-2. The larger EG players were now starting to tire thanks to Jay and Louis working hard in the scrum. Cameron was finally able to get a gallop up and made several good runs but the final pass just wasn't coming to score again. EG were able to break away for a try after a lapse in concentration and another missed tackle to make it 4-2 but Crawley still had the majority of the pressure. Archie and Jay were having their best game for Crawley and their hard work and a quick pass from Megan allowed Ewan to race away and score his second to make it 4-3. There wasn't long left and after more good work from Jay and Louis, Fraser passed to Ewan who charged through but was tackled just short, unfortunately Brandon was open but the pass didn't come and the chance had gone. Ewan picked up an injury and thus Crawley were left a man down for the remainder of the game. Archie and Fraser continued in their dogged harassing of the opposition but a slipped tackle allowed EG to seal the win 5-3.
It was a good second half performance, especially from Jay, Louis and Archie, who all had their best match in a Crawley shirt, well done! The key points are that tackling needs to improve and be more consistent, the ball needs to be passed quicker to players in space and the rucks need winning quicker and cleaner to let our runners like Cameron and Brandon do the damage. There's only 3 weeks until the county tournament and lots to do..!
Team: Fraser, Louis, Jay, Archie, Megan, Ewan, Cameron, Brandon