Coaches Corner - Preview of Teddington

Hope everyone is well, we are well and truly into the Christmas period of the season. Five games on the spin. Dark, cold, wet training sessions and loads for us to be thankful for.

I’ll start this update with some words from the Brunel fixture last Saturday. We approached the game knowing that nobody had come close to beating them so far this season, they regularly put 50 points on teams and understandably so. They are a university side looking to rise through the leagues so that they have a 2nd XV offering that can support a top tier 1st XV playing in the BUCS leagues (they are on track to win their current league and be at the top table next season). This is very similar to the likes of Exeter, Loughborough and Hartpury who have all gone through this process over recent seasons. The players that they recruit are looking to try and make it as professionals and have access to incredible support around coaching, analysis and strength and conditioning. We knew that our challenge was to put them into a contest, to try and match their speed and physicality. We also knew that logistics and preparation would be a challenge with their spread out facilities so we decided to treat it like a home game and did all of our prep at home and made the short journey to Uxbridge ready to dump our bags and get straight into the warm up.

The game ended up being one of the most high quality, intense games i have witnessed at level 6 and all this in pretty horrendous conditions. Brunel were relentless in their ball carrying and had the ability to make yards in every collision, our defence were fired up and managed to hold them at bay for long periods of the game. We were able to dominate at set piece and displayed some superb attacking rugby to score through Ben Fallowfield, Freddie Hooper and our new Kiwi legend Decland McCormack. The game was on a knife edge for most of the 80 minutes and when Brunel scored to take a 6 point lead it was a daunting task. From a coaches view had Brunel scored again to take the points difference beyond 7 we would have gone home with nothing which would have been devastating considering the level of heart and commitment shown from the team.

The boys dug deep and managed to lay siege to the Brunel tryline including one passage where we retained the ball through 23 phases. In a stressful final few moments a chaotic passage of play led to a Brunel yellow card and us kicking to the corner. We won the lineout and started to drive towards the line. Brunel were able to disrupt us and the ref blew his whistle for full time. We came so close to an outstanding result.

Rather than dejection we are now buoyed by the quality of rugby we are able to produce and the boys are excited for the games to come and reproduce a standard of rugby that few in the league can match. Massive credit to the hoard of travelling supporters who came and braved the weather to cheer us on. What an awesome club we have.

The 2’s also had an excellent weekend but in contrast they came away with the 5 point win. It has been a disruptive time of the season for the 2’s with a substantial break from playing. Due to the odd numbers in their league, a bye weekend coincided with the standard November break weekends and it’s been a considerable time since they last played together. To have Henley 3’s as our first game back was also a worry as they have already forfeited 4 league games this season. Credit to Henley though and they seem to have done some re-engagement and recruitment to be able to field a decent side. From our side the commitment from our 2nd XV players has been incredible with huge numbers at training and the lads working really hard to improve. The quality of our squads continues to get stronger and stronger, last week saw names regular to the 1st XV in Berryman, Tyson and Barney Howells all put in a good shift and contributed to a 36-5 win. This 2nd XV squad have a real opportunity to win their league and my sense is it will be the side that has the best consistency of player availability that will win it as we see Marlow and Maidenhead for example fluctuate in results depending on the squad they have available.

So this week we welcome Teddington back to Windsor End. It’s 3rd vs 4th in the league and with the top two playing each other this Saturday we’d love to take advantage of someone dropping some points and push towards the summit. Last season we did the double over Teddington but they were both really tight games with the winning margins less than 10. This should be a great contest between two good level 6 sides and we are looking forward to the challenge of making the level of performance against Brunel the minimum standard for how we want to play rugby. In terms of the squad, it’s tough to make changes after a great performance the week before but the absence of our talisman Braiden Broughan will mean an opportunity for others to stake their 1st XV claim. It also means we have to rejig to ensure we have the required front row cover in the squad. Freddie Hooper will continue in the 10 shirt in the absence of both Aled and Owain. Freddie’s performance last week was exceptional and i’m excited to see his development in the 10 shirt as he understands how to bring out the best in our array of attacking talent. Finally it will be Declan’s first home game for the club, let’s show him why Beaconsfield is a special place to play rugby and make sure he feels this is his home from home.

To wrap up this week's preview a huge shoutout to our three colts that were representing Bucks U18s down in Devon last weekend. Freddie Taylor, Jamie Henderson and Casper Markham were all in the starting squad and will be hoping to be selected for the Regional side. Their success shows the bright future the club has as we continue to produce players of the highest standard. It’s a testament to all our coaches throughout the years (as well as all the other positive influences required for a young player to thrive) for the hard work and effort that goes into supporting all of our young players.

Have a great end to your week. I look forward to seeing you on the touchlines on Saturday.

Russ