Back
Sun 19 Nov 2017
Christ's Hospital Festival
Under 10s
10:00
Strong U10 Performance at Christ's Hospital School Festival
James Pack20 Nov 2017 - 11:40
Share via
Defense wins for Alton U10s
Set among the beautiful surroundings of Christs Hospital School on a glorious late autumn day Alton U10s put on an impressive defensive display against a number of strong Surrey and Hampshire based clubs.
They say 'defense wins matches' and this was absolutely the case at Christs Hospital when over the course of almost an hour's worth of competitive play Alton conceded a single try.
We have earned compliments from many coaches this season about the quality of our passing and off loading, but on Sunday it was the discipline of our defensive line and quality of tackling that earned the respect of the opposing coaches and parents alike.
Even better was the consistency from the first match to the last.
Up first was Petersfield our great friends and rivals who are used to either running through or around most of their opposition. Today was one of the only times this season that they failed to score a try. Alton's attack was less fluent than they can be but once they were able to apply pressure by consistent passing and movement into space were rewarded with a try in each half. Alton won 2:0.
The same can be said for the next 2 matches against Farnham B and Uckfield with Alton winning 2:0 and 3:0 respectively. Our final match against Farnham A was played with great spirit and aggression from both sides. Alton opened up the scoring mid way through the first half only to concede their only try of the day from the subsequent kick off (one of the the few missed tackles of the day). A tense stand off ensued throughout the second half and Alton secured a 2:1 victory with the final play of the game.
It was good but not perfect! Plenty of areas to work on. In attack the ball needs to be protected more as too many easy turnovers were conceded with the ball being taken out of hands (let alone ripped); more tries could have been scored if players kept themselves in space and did not bunch at the breakdown and a little more effort required at the breakdown to secure the ball.
Well done team!
They say 'defense wins matches' and this was absolutely the case at Christs Hospital when over the course of almost an hour's worth of competitive play Alton conceded a single try.
We have earned compliments from many coaches this season about the quality of our passing and off loading, but on Sunday it was the discipline of our defensive line and quality of tackling that earned the respect of the opposing coaches and parents alike.
Even better was the consistency from the first match to the last.
Up first was Petersfield our great friends and rivals who are used to either running through or around most of their opposition. Today was one of the only times this season that they failed to score a try. Alton's attack was less fluent than they can be but once they were able to apply pressure by consistent passing and movement into space were rewarded with a try in each half. Alton won 2:0.
The same can be said for the next 2 matches against Farnham B and Uckfield with Alton winning 2:0 and 3:0 respectively. Our final match against Farnham A was played with great spirit and aggression from both sides. Alton opened up the scoring mid way through the first half only to concede their only try of the day from the subsequent kick off (one of the the few missed tackles of the day). A tense stand off ensued throughout the second half and Alton secured a 2:1 victory with the final play of the game.
It was good but not perfect! Plenty of areas to work on. In attack the ball needs to be protected more as too many easy turnovers were conceded with the ball being taken out of hands (let alone ripped); more tries could have been scored if players kept themselves in space and did not bunch at the breakdown and a little more effort required at the breakdown to secure the ball.
Well done team!
Further reading