Veseyans Colts arrived for an early KO at Walsall with the prospect of an open running game on the 4G pitch. Straight from the off Veseyans played with good composure and an excellent break through the heart of Walsalls defence by Cam Longmore put us within 5M of the try line. Good decision making and patience saw Alex Henn drive over to open the scoring and a 5 point lead after just 5 mins played. However, a silly penalty direct from the restart allowed Walsall to kick deep into our 22 and from the resulting lineout and maul our defence was caught napping and their scrum half snipped over for a converted try and 7-5 lead. This set back, as in previous weeks, dented the composure of Veseyans and for the next 10 minutes both teams nullified each other with a series of penalties at the breakdown.
Walsall ended this deadlock with some fine handling which stretched our defence and the winger crossed for a well worked try and pushed the score to 19-5. Veseyans confidence and composure diminished further and the penalty count was mounting which enabled Walsall to camp out in our 22. Some fine driving play from the home side resulted with the outside centre cutting an excellent aggressive line and a 26-5 score line with 5 minutes to half time.
Veseyans did find some forward momentum and had great field position in the Walsall half but once again poor decision making gifted Walsall a breakaway try and 33-5 lead at half time. This gave the coaching group time to refocus the team and they showed excellent defensive composure for the first 10 minutes and a relieving penalty allowed us to exit to the half way line. Once again, poor execution at critical times gifted the ball to the home team and they went deep into our 22. From a good attacking scrum they moved the ball wide and pushed the lead out to 38-5.
Veseyans now had to show some real character and belief which they did with some enterprising attacking play. They spotted the opportunity out wide and moved the ball quickly to advance into the Walsall half. The home team from the resulting pressure conceded several penalties which were took quickly and from a couple of meters out Patrick Beesly drove over for a well constructed team try, 38-10 with 10 mins to go. Veseyans continued to apply pressure and were now forcing the home team to concede penalties. However, an ill thought out chip over restart from one such penalty resulted in an unopposed run in for Walsall from 50M and 43-10. With only minutes left to play Walsall took a quick tap penalty and good hands for the final score 50-10.
Veseyans once again had good periods of play and in most facets of the game were very competitive. Unfortunately, decision making and adopting the correct playing structure at the right time continues to hold this team back which in turn is draining their confidence and putting them under unnecessary pressure week after week. The colts have a rest from league or cup rugby for a couple of weeks so an opportunity to sort out our problems because once again the commitment and attitude shown demonstrated this team could be really competitive with a bit more composure and structure.
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