Festival 3 match report (Erikslund 25th May)

Erikslund Festival

The third festival of the season today (at home!), a third clean sweep, but that doesn't tell the whole story. Today wasn't an easy day.

The first game was against Sharks, a newer and less experienced team, an ideal opportunity for everyone to have a good run out. Nice to see plenty of the backline moves we've been practising in training!

The next game was a totally different proposition. RCLF (formerly the French school) have consistently been one of the better Swedish teams in recent years. They are not an especially big team, but they are technically very good, especially when it comes to passing and tackling.

Well our team stepped up to the challenge like gladiators! Excellent line speed, great quickness to breakdowns and lionheart tackling won the day in the second half after a tight first period. Their coach said his team just did not know what hit them and viewed our performance as the most ferocious he'd seen at this age group. You might remember that we had a warm up training session a couple of months ago with RCLF...the coach couldn't believe our progression.

We had a long break then warmed up to play our third game to again meet Sigtuna, a big, physical team that is much improved from last year. We feared the worst in the warm up as the team looked tired and lacked focused. The coaches let the players talk among themselves just before kick off about what they wanted to achieve in the game. I don't know what they agreed but it did the trick! Raw power blended with slick passing play. A couple of offload tries showed that our weekly games of touch in training were paying off. The opposition coaches said that our work at the breakdown was simply outstanding.

All of the coaches think the most encouraging aspect of the season so far is how each and every player has progressed and stepped up. Each player thinks about what they want to achieve before a game and challenges themselves to improve. To a man, every team member has progressed in the past few months. What more can you ask for?

It was also nice to hear one of the coaches of an older age group compliment our playing style!

Thanks to all the parents who contributed behind the scenes with baking, serving food and match officating. all what makes the club go round!

We have a festival next week in the south of Stockholm hosted by Exiles then get the kids together for a well deserved few hours of fun and relaxation for a BBQ at Roger's house thereafter...please come if you can!

/The coaches