Stingrays Match Reports: Jan 26, 2019

U18's: Coach Peter Crick

Unfortunately U18's won by forfeit against Orca but we were able to put together a game of 7 aside. By lending Orca 3 of our players. Thanks to those individuals that played on the Orca side enabling us to have a great game on Saturday. Looking forward to next weekends game where we will be able to play a full 15 aside squad. 

U16's: Coach Peter Crick:

A full 15 a side match took the field with the Orca's producing a huge forward pack & looking quite an intimidating unit as they took the pitch. The Stingrays side although being outsized was a lean, mean running machine & it became evident very quickly if we spread the ball wide to the outside backs we could run their forward pack out of steam, & that's exactly what happened. Stingrays came out victorious to the final score of 41 to 10. Although all the whole team played well there were a couple of outstanding plays during the game worth noting. Firstly, Aaron absolutely burned the back line in several situations & scored some scintillating tries capping off a super human effort with some slicing & dicing moves that left the Orca bamboozled & shacking their heads in amazement. Aaron will be forever known as "Atomic Aaron" from now on! Sam had an exceptional game demonstrating a lot of grit in the #8 position, he made a strong 30 meter run right through the teeth of the Orca defense, tremendous effort,  well done Sam. Finally Erik was very impressive at #9 showing good ball distribution, backup, tackling & over all commitment to the game. Keep improving & develop that half back pass from the base of the breakdown.

Well, done Stingrays, a strong commitment from the whole team. Keep up the good work and do something special next week and get a write up in the match report!

U14's: Coach Richard Lotz

A fantastic start of the season for the U-14 team. A lopsided win against Orca/SLO of 70-0. We have a mix of experienced and new players. Noah stepped up as a new player and made a fantastic solo run to flip the field for us. Waylon made many tackles and runs for gains. Best forward goes to Everett who made many long runs and countless tackles. Best back is to Eric for tremendous scrum half play. Man of the match is to Davis for numerous long runs, dozens of tackles, and 3 scores. All players made a significant contribution to a great day of youth rugby.

We will play a combination of this team next week-- so we need to be ready for them to play hard. See you all at practice.

U12's: Coach Zach Rissel

Legendary All Blacks Captain, Sean Fitzpatrick, use to sometimes describe his team's performance as "a game of two halves" when giving his post game interview. Well, Saturday was a day of two games : )

Game 1 Recap - The game and season started out with authority. Sebastian received the kick-off and flicked a nice pass to Isaiah who ran the length of the pitch for a try (just like we practiced!). The boys came out very strong the first 15 minutes. Lots of solid rucking and getting players to the breakdown. Tackling overall was strong and though we missed a few tackles, in general our defense were not letting the Orca get breakaway runs. The scrum was dominant the whole match and credit to pack (Ben, Manny, Aaron, Isaiah, Braeden, Aiden) for a strong performance throughout the day. We will definitely use the scrum as an attacking platform during the season. Isaiah ran in two more tries during the 1st half and maybe another two in the 2nd (I lost count!). Laird found some good combinations with Sebastian and Hudson at 1st five. Hudson showed some great organization marshaling the back-line and getting the ball out wide. Laird had a nice try where he found some space week-side and outran the opposition for the try. Manny had some barnstorming runs and pulled out his trademark fend. Davey had a long, run where he came up a foot short of a try and he also showed some good rucking throughout the day. Sebastian scored a nice try with some evasive running and was a threat with the ball in hand all day. Lucas, making his debut had several good runs on the wing and nearly bagged a try on debut. Jack had some nice open field tackles during the match and also a couple good runs. Braeden was all over the pitch with strong rucking, tackling and some nice runs. Aaron also scored a nice try in the 2nd half and also made some great open field tackles. Travis had some strong runs up the center of the field and made good meters. Bradley had a couple nice runs as well and was always amongst the action. Aiden was playing close to the rucks and made some tough yards. Overall, game 1 was a dominant performance from the Stingrays across the park. I believe the final tally was 7 tries to 3. Great job!

Game 2 Recap - The energy levels just were not there for the 2nd game and the Orca took advantage of that to outscore the boys 5 tries to 3 . The boys did work a nice try with some great passing with Sebastian finishing off a movement where Aaron and Aiden kept the ball alive. Ben made a monster driving effort to score his first try for the Stingrays!!! Well done Ben - who also tackled well throughout the day and was a force in the rucks for game 1 and 2. Credit to the Orca for turning in a much improved performance for the 2nd match. 

Player of the Day - Isaiah ran in a bunch of tries. Was strong in the tackling and creating turnovers. Also had some nice combos with Aaron in the line-out. Well done Isaiah! Overall, very pleased with the effort from all the players. Lots of positives and a great day of rugby to build on. Everyone made good contributions on Saturday. 

U8's & U10's: Coach Tim Metcalf