Royal Hospital School carried on their excellent start to the season with a strong win against Cooper’s Coburn.

After a narrow win against Bishop Stortford College, the South Eastern side were in determined mood to keep their momentum going ahead of a tough clash with RGS Colchester next weekend.

Outside centre and captain, Ben Moore, took us through the game:

RHS began with to a blinding start, sticking to the game plan and playing a good pattern of play.

 

All of the rugby being played by RHS in the opponents 22. 3 minutes from the start of play saw Richard Adderley cross the line as he emerged from the breakdown and putting his body on the line to score.

 

From the restart, RHS exploited the width of the field using quick handling skills. Coopers allowed Rupert Powell (wing) to run the ball up to their own 10m line. Dan Smith then used his blistering pace and strength to break out of a tackle in the midfield and later sidestepped the full back to put the ball down under the posts. The kick was converted. 

 

Coopers then started to get into the game a bit, chucking the ball around nicely, yet from a set play Ben Moore blitzed up in defence to intercept a high flying ball in the midfield and had the pace to outrun all players chasing him down, once again the extras were taken, stretching the score further.

 

From a dominating position after 20 minutes played, RHS then self-destructed. Discipline became a major issue. The RHS backs then didn’t touch the ball for the remainder of the half.  Coopers were let in for 2 easy tries before the half was up from poor positioning of the forwards at the breakdown, however both kicks were missed.

 

After the team talk RHS focused and started to get back on the front foot again. The structure and pattern of play was regained and RHS players were now making and hitting gaps in the Coopers back line.

 

RHS then got into a good rhythm and Ben Moore and Dan Smith were then effective in keeping the ball moving with offloads after breaking the opposition line.

 

Ben Moore then found himself in space, stepping 2 players then 2 v 1 with the full back. A well-timed pass put hooker Will Dodds over the line who found himself in support.

 

Dan Smith then had another great solo try breaking through the defensive line.

 

Towards the end, Ben Moore broke the line again and switched with wing Rupert Powell who found himself in acres of space and scores under the posts.

 

The 38-17 win was exactly what the RHS side were looking for; a reasonably straightforward match, allowing them to run through their moves nicely, ahead of next week’s big clash.

There were though a couple of lessons, in particular that they must remain disciplined and concentrating even when in a comfortable position. After blowing the opposition off the park in the first 20 minutes they allowed those things to slip and let them back into the game.

Fortunately for RHS their class was such that they were able to pull away again, but they will not be able to do that against every side.

It should not take away though from what was an excellent result, with six tries coming in, and a backline that looked very sleek indeed. Perhaps though one of the most encouraging aspects should be the excellent support play of some of the forwards following the excellent line breaks of the backs.

It is something that many teams find hard to defend, when you get big ball carrying forwards supporting those breaks, and it will be a useful knack when they come up against some of the meaner defence’s.

Next week ought to be an exciting game, this is clearly a talented RHS side, how they fare next week might just show us how talented.