California Dreamin’

Some west coast warmth would have been welcome. The leaves may have been brown and the skies grey in Leiden, but the BSN Minis found success . Two games won. The first against DIOK by a good margin and the second against HRC in a closely contested game of rugby.

BSN scored eleven tries against DIOK, five in the first half, six in the second, and conceded only one. The first was from a maul, driving over into the corner, with Daniel claiming the score. For the second, Joaquin passed out to William on the wing to accelerate away to the line. Lachlan scored the third, bursting through tackles in the middle. Louis ran in a try from the wing and Lachlan added a fifth before half time.

DIOK scored their try from the restart; at close range into the corner. But, BSN came back to resume the pattern of play.

Moritz skipped through the middle to score. William added the seventh. Cammy danced through the tackles the make the try line. A quickly taken penalty by DIOK and one of their runners was away, only to be chased down by Joaquin and William. Duncan scored a try with a swerve and step inside to beat two defenders to the line. Lachlan ran from deep in his own half, a diagonal dash through a gap and then straight to the finish, before William scored the final try with a lone run.

The match against HRC was tight. BSN scrummaged well. From an early HRC scrum, BSN pushed their opponents back and won the ball. A clean pass from Cammy at fly half put William away for the opening try. In the early stages, BSN were slightly on top. Lachlan made good ground, but was pulled down not far from the try line and was then penalised for not releasing, which HRC kicked to touch. And although BSN were making inroads with their direct running, HRC were dominating the rucks and winning turnover ball.

BSN found themselves under pressure on their own line, but HRC were too keen and gave away a penalty for hands in the ruck. BSN kicked to relieve the pressure.

Again BSN’s direct running was paying dividends. William made distance on the wing until he was pulled down. The ball came back to BSN and Cammy drove deeper into HRC territory, but the ball went loose in the tackle. Moritz reclaimed the ball and BSN had a big overlap with Louis taking the second try.

BSN again found themselves defending deep late in the first half, but they had increased their aggression in the ruck and turned over HRC ball before William kicked to relieve the pressure. That was the last action of a half that BSN edged 2-0.

HRC scored early in the second half after sustained pressure on the BSN line.
But, BSN responded well. After bundling HRC’s best player into touch; the line out found BSN hands and was passed out to Daniel, who kicked an up and under. William, charging forward, collected the ball to run through the middle for a try.  Then, from an HRC line out, BSN applied pressure on the catcher and turned over the ball in the ruck. It came out for Henry to dive for the line on the blind side.

There was still time for HRC to apply more pressure and they pulled a try back in an even second half, but BSN prevailed as the match ended 4-2.

Coaches: Scott; Manuel; Pablo
Captain: Elizabeth
Player of the match: Everyone played their part
Team: Andrea; Cammy; Daniel; Duncan; Henry; Jamal; Joaquin; Joseph; Josh; Lachlan; Leyla; Louis; Moritz; William