After a rainy day in Ipswich what have we learned about the teams and what factors are impacting success at this tournament. Here are some trends that emerged through the games today
1 Schoolboys don’t do wet weather rugby
The first set of matches were played in atrocious conditions. Whilst it was admirable to see so many teams want to keep ball in hand and play the traditional possession rugby that has led to succes at St Joe’s every game in the first round (& indeed throughout the day) were littered with handling errors and teams coughing up possession cheaply. Only in the Millfield Vs RGS Newcastle game did I see both sides try to manage the conditions via a tactical kicking game, with Millfield’s superior kicking game and explosive power proving the difference. Kirkham also kicked well tactically at times, part of the reason why these two teams differentiated themselves from the pack on day 1. Many would see it as a huge positive that games didn’t resort to games of kick tennis and the attacking intent to play with ball in hand was impressive. However, kicking is a vital skill in our game and I am sure a lot of coaches will be wishing they had encouraged their players to spend a bit more time on attacking and tactical kicks after seeing their players continue to lose possession in the middle third. Luckily the weather improved and conditions became more akin to what the boys had been used to and the quality of rugby increased.
2 Meat pies win games
Perhaps one of the biggest ‘truisms’ of St Joe’s has been that you need to prioritise points on the board. That is why we tend to see more shots at goal (one form of kicking that does increase) during the festival. What was evident today though was that the ability to get over the try line was far more likely to be decisive than kicking penalties. Two notable case in points came in the Trinity vs Whitchurch and Cheltenham Vs Wellington. In both these games Wellington and Whitchurch controlled a great deal of possession but failed to do anything of note with it, generally being easily contained by their opposition’s defence. Both sides took leads through kicks and looked on course to win but were ultimately defeated due to their opponents strike capability. Indeed Wellington failed to cross the try line all day, the only team to not cross the whitewash, resulting in three defeats for the former winners. The ability to cross the line, especially if done more than once is key to winning games here. The most free scoring teams of Kirkham, Millfield and St Joseph’s should start day 2 as favourites due to their ability to score quickly but teams such as Trinity have also shown they have excellent attacking prowess. Keep an eye on Brighton too who really hit their straps after a slow start Vs Strathallan as well as Blundell’s who had started the day strongly and had already qualified for the cup before their defeat Vs Brighton.
3 Set piece matters
The set-piece is often overlooked in the school boy game due to restrictions put on scrummaging but again all three set-pieces (scrums, lineout and restarts) were vital for success today. This was particularly noticeable on a wet day with a slippy ball which exposed hookers less confident in their throwing whilst the likes of Quinn Singh of Trinity and Henry Bonnetti of Millfield shone. Restarts were also vital with Ollie Davies of Kirkham showing some sublime skills to allow his team to compete. Whilst scrums will perhaps not win games St Joseph’s have a powerful scrum unit that drained energy from their opponents whilst RGS High Wycombe’s strong maul game was critical to seeing them back into Cup action for day 2.
4 The jackal is still king defensively
In a format of the game where getting possession and keeping it is of vital importance to success we saw today that teams who have players who are strong over the ball defensively were able to thrive. Jackaling was much more the order of the day than counter rucking with teams understandably keen to keep players on their feet for the next phase in case possession was not won. It is worth noting that Brighton are the only side to have not conceded a single point on day 1. It is a cliche that you cannot lose if you don’t concede but it is a true one. The Brighton side looked phenomenal in their defensive organisation all day and will be a test for any team tomorrow.
What we do not know is how well teams and individuals will recover and how much work coaches have to do to balance playing minutes heading into day 2. I would suggest that, based solely on the performances roday, semi-finalists of Millfield, St Joseph’s, Kirkham and Brighton seem the most likely but teams such as Trinity, Blundell’s and RGS High Wycombe are more than capable of springing a surprise. As today has shown building momentum is key at this incredible event and the first games of tomorrow will give us a good indication of how the day will go.
