U13's Cup woes continue

Following recent results,(and more importantly performances), there was a heightened sense of optimism as the Under 13's headed westwards into rural Lancashire to face Tarleton.
After negotiating winding roads, inaccurate road signs and sat navs that only tell you to go left, the smell of bacon butties welcomed us to the Tarleton fold. With the sun shining and little or no breeze the signs were good - Bury would deliver another memorable performance and win their first cup match of the season.
Unfortunately this optimism was well and truly extinguished with the news that four of our ranks would be missing and, try as we might we could only get one new face,(cheers Jack – your efforts are much appreciated and hope to see you back at the club soon). It was with diminished ranks that Bury entered the fray and with two of our regular scrummers absent ,and a third covering at scrum half, it was doubtful that we would dominate the scrum. No fear though, our free running backs would continue where they left off at Aspull and run Tarleton ragged, creating and capitalising on space created through quick ball to hands and dynamic running. This last shred of optimism was cruelly taken from us when it became evident that the pitch would have been more at home either up the road at Morecambe Bay or as a supplier for some National chain of Mud Bath outlets.
True it was the same for both sides, but with a severely depleted scrum,(made worse early on in the game when Ben had to retire through ankle injury, we were certainly up against it.
I will not dwell too much on the game except to say despite all I have said before, we did not do ourselves justice. Rugby is a simple game,’keep the ball, create space, capitalise on that space and score a try’, but unfortunately it was at the basic level that we did not perform. Tackling, rucking, mauling and passing were all well below what is expected of us as a team and for which we must all collectively take responsibility. We will look at these basic principles at training on Tuesday.
On a positive note nobody could doubt the effort put in by the lads, particularly when defending repeated penalties from the five yard line in the second half, but this is scant consolation for an overall poor performance
Fair play to Tarleton who adapted better to the conditions and ran out winners 30 – 0.
MOM – Backs, Tom Gomez for a superb tackling display; Forwards, Hasib for his commitment to the cause and never giving up.
Training this Tuesday – we need everyone there, we have a lot to work on.