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Photo by Mark Ealey

3 July U55kgs Team Feature Article

Mark Ealey —

& Match Report vs StAC U55kgs lost 7-39

The U14/U58kgs grade was introduced in 2020, with the competition final being a St Bede's derby match, so we are the most recent champions in this "light-weight" grade. St Bede's has continued to support weight-limited grades in the CRFU metro competition, this year entering a total of five teams in the three grades of U55kgs, U65kgs and U75kgs. As a result, more than a third of our players are registered in weight-limited grades.

Played without the bigger, heavier boys attempting to crash the ball over the gain-line as one-off runners, these grades are known for high-speed, entertaining rugby.  

The boys in the U55kgs team are in Year 9. The following year they have the most options available to any cohort of players. Some, if their age still allows, will opt to play U14 Open, others will stay on the weight-limited track and play in the U65kgs grade - a mixture of Year 10 and 11 boys - and others may even opt to play in the U15 Open grade. So in many respects, for the lighter boys, the U55kgs grade is the ideal launching pad into St Bede's rugby. 

Weight-limited grades involve boys being weighed by CRFU staff at the first of two grading-games, with the mopping up of other boys done by a CRFU staff member visiting the school. The Union give no leeway (no dispensations) for players to be over the 55kgs threshold at the start of the season and have set a four kilogramme limit for players if they are weighed a second time at some stage later. 

Coach Reuben Whalley:

"The St Bede's U55kg team started the pre-season with approximately 28 players in the squad. We had a bit of a disorganised start to the season, being an underweight team we had to wait until the very last minute to get a confirmed team list after the CRFU official weigh in was conducted on the day of our first game. This meant that some boys who were initially in the team had to be moved on to another team as they were over the weight limit. The confirmed squad numbers now sits at 23 players.

The team is coached by myself and two 1st XV players, Jackson Wright and Will Sparrow. Both Jackson and Will bring a wealth of knowledge to the coaching team. Their relationship and demeanour with the young players is outstanding, they are excellent role models for our young men and the boys are extremely lucky to have Will and Jackson as not only coaches but as mentors as well.

Our team is managed by Andrea Titterton. Andrea has experience in managing teams as she has done so for many years in the past with her two sons' rugby teams. Her expertise and organisational skills are invaluable to us as coaches and we thank her for giving up all her time to help out.

This is my first year at coaching an underweight side. It took a bit of getting used to having a team mainly full of backs and having to constantly juggle players around at the start of the season in order to give every player a run in their preferred position.

Early on in the season, the team had a get together on a Sunday afternoon. We hired two indoor cricket pitches and played two games of cricket being, Parents v Players/Student Coaches. The two games were hotly contested and I think both match results are still under dispute. Then the team went out for pizza and a couple of drinks at Winnie Bagoes in the city. It was awesome to see all the boys sitting at a large table together having a good time socialising with each other. This was a great way for the parents to also meet each other in a setting away from the sidelines at rugby.

We have two players in our team that come from different secondary schools. Both these players have jelled extremely well in the team and get on with all the other boys. This is a good example of how this team has developed into a close unit. The two players from outside the school are an integral part of this team.

We started our competition round with a game against StAC. We had played this same team during a warm up match at the start of the season and in that first encounter this StAC side had beaten us by about 25 points. The second encounter between these two sides was played at StAC's home ground and was a bruising encounter and was a hard fought game right to the end. Bede's came out of this match with the win 26-14.

Some positive comments from the opposition coaches along the lines of “we can’t believe this is the same Bede's team that we played a few weeks ago” were testament to the way our boys had trained over the past few weeks, to get to the point they were now at.

The remainder of games for the first round saw players being tried out in different positions, and as any coach of an underweight side would understand, having to put halfbacks and first fives into the front row and trying to keep these players happy is a constant battle. But having to play out of position was outlined to the boys at the start of the season and they have all been positive about this requirement.

By the end of the first round, the team was starting to take real shape. We finished the round in 3rd place on the table, a position we were happy with considering the amount of changes we had made week-in week-out and the even amount of game time each and every player had received.

In the first week of the second round (being 26 June) St. Bede's took on CBHS at Boys' High, this Boys' High team had beaten us in the first round by 31-24. We knew this was going to be a hard match and we would have to be on our game to come out of the match with the result we were after. From the first whistle our boys played their hearts out with a complete display of rugby, dominating the forward encounter which resulted in plenty of good ball for the backs to work their magic with. Bede's came out with the win 22-19 after kicking a penalty goal in the dying minutes. This was the boys' best performance of the season and a bench mark for the remainder of the season.

The style of rugby that these boys play is exciting, fast and has an outstanding level of skill. All the games have been great to watch and the competition they are in is very even.

This team is full of players who enjoy coming to training, they have a real positive attitude and have really come together nicely as a close group. The challenge for the rest of the season is to keep improving on the benchmark we have set ourselves.

A real focus that has been set for the boys is to turn up to trainings and game day with the correct mindset and be a real “team player”. Another important focus for our team is no matter what happens, we win with humility and lose with dignity."

Reuben

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Manager Andrea Titterton:

"Managing the St Bede's U55kgs Rugby team is an absolute pleasure. They are a lovely team of 23 players who are working really well together considering most of them were strangers at the start of the year. Reuben is a great coach and highly respected by the boys. Alongside him we are lucky to have Jackson Wright and Will Sparrow from the 1st XV as assistant coaches whom the boys look up to. Roll on the rest of the season!"

Match Report 

Conditions for this match were cold with a -4 frost putting a nice coating of white frost all over the ground for the warmup although all this frost was gone by the kick off.

The big challenge for our team this week was always going to be getting the boys up for a second week in a row after an outstanding performance last week. We had also beaten St Andrew’s in the first round of the comp and as a coach I always knew these two factors were going to be a dangerous combination.
Prior to the game we discussed the need for urgency in support and at the breakdown, and about beating our opponents in this area.
We also discussed cutting down time and space on defence and getting into the oppositions face rather than allowing them to run at us.
From the first whistle St Bede's showed some promising signs, with ball in hand we mounted numerous attacks which eventually resulted in Jack Sparrow crossing the chalk for a well constructed team try, with this try converted by Joseph Whalley St Bede's took a 7 nil lead at quarter time.
The second quarter saw St Bede's making a few errors and gifting possession to St Andrew’s which resulted in them scoring 3 unanswered tries. A positive out of this second quarter was the amount of time we spent defending our own try line with everything we had. Twice they crossed the line in succession but were held up off the ground, this was a good display of dogged defence.
At half time we were behind by 17-7, by no way were we out of the game as we had been in this position before this season and had come out on top by the end of the match .
Unfortunately from the kick off in the second spell we almost became spectators in the game, allowing St Andrew’s to run at us, have almost free reign at the breakdown and with the mounting penalty count, the game started to take its toll.
St Andrew’s scored numerous second half tries, which resulted in their confidence soaring, without any possession the game got away on us, the final score 39-7. The team doesn’t have to look very far for inspiration for the next game. One of the smallest players in the team, consistently shows he has the biggest heart, a boy who turns up to training every week with a great attitude. This attitude along with his brave actions on the field shone out again today, well done Will Fahey for being awarded the tackler of the day award, it was well deserved.

Image by: Mark Ealey

Another team member who had an outstanding game, found himself in the thick of everything that was taking place was Mac Templeton. Mac is a very versatile player who slots into numerous positions in the forward pack and is a real work horse on the field. Well done Mac for your performance today which gained you the Player of the day trophy.

Image by: Mark Ealey

The U55kg team now finds themselves sitting 4th on the competition ladder.

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The try scored by U55kgs player Jack Sparrow was the first try scored by a St Bede's player in any team today. 

Image by: Mark Ealey