Fixture

The Young Saints returned to Waunfawr park for the first time since their muddy encounter with Risca U13s during the 17/18 season.

That game finished in a resounding win for the home side against a depleted Saint Julians outfit, and the coaches were looking to this game as a yardstick for the team's development after an encouraging start to the current season.

For context, Risca RFC are a very strong team. They are well coached, have some excellent individual talent, and came runner up in the Dragons Cup competition last season, which effectively means they can claim to be the second strongest side in the Dragons region at this age.

This encounter finished with a similar scoreline to when the teams last face each other; but there were stark differences. Last year's game was played in a bog resulting in Risca spurning a number of try scoring opportunities, where as in this game they had to work much harder for their points. In addition to this, despite going behind early, the Young Saints battled and kept their positivity until the final whistle and could have added to their try tally had they looked after the ball in contact a little better. At least two of Risca's tries came from turnovers in contact which allowed the Risca backs to run in tries unnopposed. The drift defence, a key focus in training over the last four weeks, was deployed effectively meaning the Risca backs had to cut back inside and failed to get on the outside of our defence (it is just the inside defence that now needs a bit of focus; with one on one tackle technique a priority).

The coaching group are keen to test the team against the best teams so that they can learn from defeats and improve. Risca slowed up the Young Saints ball successfully and turned it over on a number of occasions. Clearing threats at the breakdown will be the focus in training for the coming weeks, with the aim of providing good quick ball for a re-aligned backline to attack from.

All in all, plenty to be positive about from this group of players, and as always there were some terrific individual performances. Josh Morris had probably his best performance of the season; carrying hard, offloading well and making strong tackles. In the backline, Riley Hayward broke the line well on a number of occasions and made good decisions on when to pass and run, which created chances on the outside. Perhaps the most impressive performance was from wing Caleb Collier, who tackled everything that came down his channel and cantered past at least two defenders everytime he got the ball. He capped of his performance with a well taken try; beating a defender one on one in less than five metres of space with a shimmy and fend to get clear.

A very useful exercise for the group, and we thank Risca for their hospitality and wish them all the best in the Dragons plate for the season, which we are sure they will win. The aim will be to perform better, keep the ball for longer and generate quicker ball in the return fixture at the Glebelands later in the season.

Full Time Score

Risca RFC U13s 43 - 14 St Julians RFC U13s

Try Scorers

Lee, Higgs-Collier