Hessle RUFC Stags Match Reports

Stags Match Reports 2009/10

November 2009

13/11/2009 Hessle 34 - Hull Medics 24

After a week's break the Stags bounced back from their defeat at Hullensians to beat Hull Medics in a hard fought home fixture against a young and fit side.

While it looks like the Stags have lost Lee Evans and Matt Ayers to the 1st XV on a long term basis, they were bouyed by impressive debuts from 3 players from the U18s. Danny Latus, Matt and Lloyd Harrison performed exceptionally well with Latus and Lloyd adding much needed mobility around the pitch to a physically dominant Hessle pack.

Danny Latus's competitive spirit and aggressive tackling earned him the Man of the Match while Harrison scored one of Hessle's tries after picking the ball up at the back of a ruck on the Medics' five metre line.

Matt slotted in at fly-half with very little sign of the nerves that would be expected from a young player making his debut in senior club rugby.

The Stags can afford to look forward to continued success if they are able to achieve a similar balance of youth and experience in the weeks to come.

20/11/2009 Beverley Bandits 40 - Hessle 7

The Jekyll & Hyde nature of the Stags continued in classic style as Hessle lost a fixture they could have won.

Beverley Bandits offered experienced opposition with a very strong pack, but was a side that the Stags should have been able to get a result against.

Unfortunately, a combination of very poor tackling, missed opportunities, lack of communication and in-fighting served to see Hessle being given a lesson in playing as a team in what must be, by some margin, their worst performance of the season.

Following a scrappy and disjointed game that saw the ref blowing up for regular scrums for everything from knock on to offside, both packs commented that it had been many years since they had seen so many scrums in a single game.

The Beverley pack used their size and experience to dominate the scrums with Hessle having to work hard just to hold their own. The Hessle pack was regularly on the back foot with the ball often being trapped at the back of a retreating scrum.

The Hessle pack was more able to compete in open play with the rucks and mauls being more evenly balanced than the rest of forward play. Unfortunately, any ball that was won was regularly thrown away by either poor handling in the backs or forwards making unnecessary runs forward without support.

Hessle’s split personality in defence saw sterling defence and heroic last ditch tackling giving way to multiple missed tackles with both forwards and backs being guilty of a lapse in basic skills.

A clear example of this was one of the Beverley first half tries that saw Hessle lose their own line out by opting for a long throw in their own 22 and one of the Beverley centres stepping through a number of tacklers to score under the posts.

Unfortunately (and untypically for Hessle for much of the season) incidents like this would see certain members of the team berating others for their errors while remaining very quiet when the fault was their own.

Had the Stags been able to field a side with the same mental attitude as the one that had been successful in recent weeks, the chances are that the game would have been much closer with a much more rewarding scoreline for Hessle.

As it is, this game can only serve as an example to all of the Stags players of the dangers of playing as individuals and how not to communicate with eachother on the field.

27/11/2009 Hessle 44 - Hornsea 10

The Stags showed the best of their collective skills and personality in this merit table match.
While handling errors and a lack of fitness remain, Hessle were able to control the match and their temperaments to run out 44-10 winners against the visitors from Hornsea.
In fact, so good was the discipline from both sides, that players from both teams were able to engage in banter and competitive play with very few penalties being seen in an open and free-flowing game.
Hornsea had a number of players unavailable but Hessle were able to even the numbers by loaning players in important decisions.
Hornsea’s shortage of travelling forwards meant that the 5 man scrums were uncontested and Hessle loaned them Mike Curran to ensure that they had someone to help lift in the line-out and add some ... weight in open play.
The lack of contested scrums reduced Hessle’s dominance compared to the fixture earlier in the season, but made for a very free flowing game which Hessle soon began to take advantage of.
Hornsea were unable to contain Hessle’s strong running forwards Will Thrustle, Ali Ross, Colin Smith Bowen, Jamie Keeney and Lloyd Harrison for very long which allowed Hessle to take exhibit the pace in their back line.
James Henderson and Jack Fenwick at scrum half and fly half proved an effective partnership and were able to release the powerful pace of Matt Taylor, Dave Knott and Ben Parker in some very well worked moves.
Dave Knott continued to impress with his running from full back, but it was his increased effectiveness with the boot that saw Hessle gain valuable territory and showed his increasing capability in the 15 man game. He shows few signs of the difficulties some have with converting from League and may soon be staking his claim to move on within the club.
Hessle’s tries were scored by Dave Knott, Matt Taylor, Lewis Chearman, Ben Parker, Jamie Keeney and James Henderson (2).

October 2009

31/10/2009 Hullensians 34 - Hessle 26

Hessle started the day more worried about having enough players than concentrating on extending their winning run. The loss of a number of key players to the injury wracked first team, along with some last minute call offs/no shows meant that Hessle made the short trip to Springhead Lane with only 9 players.

Fortunately, the Hullensians LEGends were able to provide 3 players and a Hullensians 2nd XV substitute to make it 13-a-side.

Hessle started the game strongly with the forwards putting immediate pressure on the Hullensians try line for the first 5 minutes. Some excellent play was undone by a lack of communication and a determined Hullensians defence that made it obvious that the Stags had players out of position in vital areas of the pitch.

Despite an, at times, impressive display in unfamiliar positions at scrum half (Jamie Keeney), 10 (John Parker) and Centre (Will Thrustle); the fact that Hessle's side was mainly made up from forwards soon began to show as Hullensians used their experience in the backs to good effect with some incisive runs from their stand off and inside centre denting a determined Hessle defensive line. Hessle, however, were largely dominant in the rucks and were able to hold their own.

With a strengthening forward performance, Hullensians began to get the territorial edge in a very dull and low tempo affair that saw the Hessle pack very quiet and the backs struggling to contain the Hullensians line. Despite missing a couple of penalty kicks, Hullensians soon had Hessle under the cosh and some strong running saw them score their first try.

This proved to be the opening of the floodgates as Hullensians soon took advantage of the wrong-footed Hessle team to score a further 4 tries without reply in the first half. Obviously frustrated with their own performance, Hessle made their task no easier by missing vital tackles and bickering which must have meant that Hullensians looked forward to a further try fest in the second half.

Hessle again started the second half weakly with Hullensians quickly adding another try after Mike Curran lost the ball at the back of a wheeling scrum allowing the Hullensians back row to release their backs for a largely unchallenged 25 metre run to the try line.

A flare up saw John Parker and a Hullensians player sin binned. Chris Hillaby, a former Hessle minis player now at Hullensians, boosted the numbers and added some strength to the backs.

A tiring (or complacent) Hullensians side then allowed Hessle to score four tries through Lee Capell (two), Colin Smith-Bowen (one) and Dave Knott (one). As well as reducing the deficit, these scores showed the pace and physical strength that is available to the Stags and that has been used to devastating effect against Withernsea and Pocklington in recent weeks.

Despite a poor turn out by Hessle and less than thrilling rugby, this fixture showed a determination and skills-set within the Stags side that, not withstanding further 1st team injuries, deserves to be supported by a commitment to training and playing from the whole squad.

The obvious commitment from players that allows a local rival of a similar size to Hessle to field 3 teams is something that all players at Hessle need to aim to emulate - especially if this result is to be a one-off rather than the norm.