Match analysis vs Monmouth

The fourth home game of the season saw the Blue Army welcome Monmouth to the fortress. The visitors started well and immediately pilled on the pressure upfront. Tommies were gutsy in defence and put their bodies on the line upfront. Some outstanding try line defence ensured Monmouth were kept at bay for as long as possible before they eventually broke through out wide. There is no shame in conceding tries of that nature but unfortunately, we somewhat handed Monmouth their following two scores. These things happen in rugby, and more importantly, I was extremely happy with the response.

Glazier was a constant thorn in the Monmouth breakdown and secured a penalty on their 10-metre line. Fenton nudged a superb kick deep inside the Monmouth 22 and the forwards had the chance to shine from the resulting maul. An excellent platform was formed, and some early momentum gained. With Monmouth under pressure and on the back foot, Harper peeled off the back and burst down the blindside. A scrambling Monmouth defence was unable to stop the Tommies number 8 and Harper just touched down in the corner. Fenton added an excellent touchline conversion and Tommies were back in the game heading into half time. 7-21 the score at the break.

Our intentions were good in the second half, but we never clicked in attack. The line speed was better in defence but unfortunately missed tackles continued to be a theme. Credit to Monmouth, they were ruthless and punished us, running in a further 3 scores and converting them all. There were plenty of positives to take from another gutsy display, but we have work to do to put together a complete 50-minute performance.

Man of the match was Glazier. The Tommies openside was everywhere, putting in countless tackles and securing a handful of turnovers at the breakdown. A fine performance against a powerful Monmouth side.

Areas to Improve

Attacking structure – We must think about when we should be using our different options. Which moves are best suited to slow ball, fast ball etc. This also applies to set piece situations. We will look at this in depth at Tuesday’s training session.

Tackling – If we want to compete against the top schools, our one up tackling needs to improve. Again, we will continue to work on this at training.

Pitch Demo: Jacques Burger tackling masterclass | Rugby Tonight - YouTube

Skills/Inspiration

A few outrageous offloads here but pay attention to Underhill’s tip line for England against Ireland.

The best EVER flair passes in Rugby Union! ???? - YouTube