Crawley u10's battle hard against tough opposition

Crawley travelled to the West Sussex tournament at Horsham in good spirits after last weeks performance at Uckfield. As usual at the county tournament, there are teams that Crawley have not faced this season and it would be a true test of how well the team has developed this year. Crawley seemed to distracted by the excitement of being at the tournament and this was obvious by the lack of concentration whilst warming up. Seeing some of the other teams train seemed to be more important than completing their own preparation..!
This was quickly exposed by the first opponents, Haywards Heath, who were able to isolate Crawley's ball carriers and turn the ball over at will. This resulted in 2 quick tries and Crawley were not learning by making the same mistakes by taking the ball into the well drilled tacklers from Haywards Heath. There was some dubious rucking techniques displayed by Haywards Heath but the lack of a contest from Crawley made this academic. Eventually Crawley got into the game after a good tackle from Cameron and Jay was able to get some forward momentum. Connor created a good chance to score but Brandon was quickly tackled by the Haywards Heath cover. There was a break away try from a missed tackle just before half time to make it 0-3. The second half was much improved, Crawley were more competitive and were able to force Haywards Heath back into their own half. Just when it looked like a turnover was imminent, a missed tackle in the Crawley midfield allowed another breakaway to finish the game at 0-4. Players of the match were Jay and Cameron for their tackling.
Crawley looked stunned but some encouraging words from the coaching team got the team together ready for the game against Bognor who crawley had beaten earlier in the season. It was a much better performance, with Crawley forcing Bognor to defend doggedly. Ewan made a good half break but poor communication from the support resulted in a bad pass that was scooped up and ran back by Bognor from half way, 0-1. Brandon was having a good game on his wing coming in to support his forwards and half backs and Crawley were dominating the breakdown. Some silly mistakes with the ball allowed Bognor to pin Crawley back and from a slip in a scrum, Bognor scored in the corner 0-2. Megan was doing her best to organise the Crawley attacks but after a lapse in concentration Bognor were able to score just before the final whistle, 0-3. Crawley looked very disappointed with their performance knowing that with a little more care and teamwork they would have scored at crucial times and possibly won. Players of the match, Brandon for his tackling and rucking and Connor for his all round play.
It was tough work getting the team back together but a bacon sandwich and a rest and some calm words to ask the players to work together seemed to do the trick. Crawley needed to win now to reach the plate final and faced Pulborough, a team they hadn't played for 2 years..!
Crawley started really well, Lewis was charging around the pitch helping team-mates tackle and being a nuisance to Pulborough's defence. Both Archie and Fraser almost broke away but lack of support let them down as they looked to offload. Pulborough had one big strong runner and following a missed tackle, Pulborough won a penalty for offside. A valiant effort by Brandon to prevent the try was just not enough and Pulborough led 0-1 at half time. From the restart, Connor started to stretch the play with his running and Cameron also made some good runs with ball. Eventually a good pass from Fraser gave Connor room to dive over to make it 1-1. Crawley were now playing with the wind in their sails for the first time and Ewan made a great tackle driving the opposition player back 10 metres, only for a rather cynical penalty by Pulborough preventing Crawley picking up the loose ball..! Unfortunately Crawley then lost their concentration and lost the ball at the next ruck and quick passing from Pulborough allowed the winger to escape to score 1-2. Crawley battled hard but were struggling without any subs to utilise and the match finished with the players out on their feet.! Players of the match Connor and Megan for good passing.
The last match was against Worthing, who given their resources, probably expected an easy game, however Crawley were desperate to finish with a win to reach the vase final. The game started much like the previous one, Crawley trying to gain momentum through strong running and pressurising in defence. Worthing had a strong runner who was looking to break tackles then offload to his speedy team-mates and this resulted in 2 quick tries. Crawley didn't give up and almost scored when Brandon was tackled just short of the line by the Worthing cover. Jay was putting in another massive effort in the scrum and line out and was clearly tired from the pressure but still kept making his tackles. The Crawley team looked very jaded in the final few minutes having picked up a few bumps and bruises and Worthing were able to score one more try to make it 0-3. The players of the match were Jay and Lewis for never giving in.
During every match Crawley had been good enough to score and only lapses in concentration and poor decision making with the ball allowed the opposition to recover. Crawley tackled well enough throughout most games but missed tackles accounted for half of the tries conceded and this needs to be worked on in the next few weeks. The biggest thing the squad needs to learn though, is that they must look after each other on the field and accept that it's a team effort in order to reduce the turnovers to the other team, gone are the days when 1 player can run through everyone..!
Lastly it was great to see so much support from the parents, friends and other relatives of the squad which made the day as enjoyable as possible, thanks to you all.