Putting in the Tackles

After a week of fog and frost, there was sunshine in Leiden for a morning of matches against DIOK A & B and HRC.

Tackling was the word of the day with the BSN teams winning four and losing one. The man of the match performers, Cammy and Duncan, put in the biggest and most important tackles. Both starred in the final and tightest match of the day against DIOK’s strongest nine.

The day began with the first game between BSN T-Rex and DIOK A. The first half saw a series of missed opportunities. The tackling was good and the pressure from both sides kept the play in the middle of the park, but the BSN team would have scored at least three tries if they had made the pass and had to settle for 1-1 at the midway point. At half time, the team listened to the coach and passed their way to three quick tries at the start of the second, before DIOK recovered and pinned BSN back. Despite the pressure, the T-Rex defence was good and they conceded only one more try to win the game 4-2.

BSN Tigers started against DIOK B and were faster in the break down and tackle, passing their way to a 5-0 half time lead. The damage was done on both wings. Louis scored from a break, with a cool step inside to beat the last man. The second half continued in the same way as the first. The only interruption, when Joaquin took a big hit, but he was soon back on his feet and back in the game. The game ended 9-1 to BSN.

At the same time, BSN T-Rex were up against HRC. Although the defence was good, there were a few unpunished hand-offs and it needed the solid low tackling of Cammy to hold up HRC. The oppositions superior rucking was the difference and the extra ball that they won at the break down gave HRC a 3-1 victory.

With barely time for an orange and a biscuit after the previous game, the Tigers were back in action against DIOK A. BSN’s rucking and offloads saw them lead 3-0 at half time and win 5-1 at full time. It was a strong performance by the Tigers with some great tackling by Duncan and perfect floaty balls out of the scrum by Joaquin setting up the play at fly half.

With HRC leaving early, the last game of the day was a face-off between a combined BSN Tiger-Rex team and a DIOK all-star IX. The game was all about pressure, with BSN struggling to turn over the DIOK ball. There were not many try scoring opportunities in a first half that ended 0-0. BSN started the second half strongly and William scored with a diving try into the corner. It was the only score of the match and BSN’s relentless tackling kept DIOK out.

Tigers
Coach(s): Manuel, Cedric
Captain: Joaquin
Man of the match: Duncan
Team: Aiden, Jamie, Josh, Jules, Luc, Mac, Milly, William

T-Rex
Coach: Daran
Captain: Ronan
Man of the match: Cammy
Team: Alexander C, Daniel, Henry, Jamal, Lachlan, Leyla, Moritz, Nicolas, Rory