The u16A team endured yet another learning curve against Rondebosch this weekend after failing to produce a performance similar to the one of last week against Boland Landbou. The confidence and passion of last week’s performance was unfortunately lacking this weekend and although they are currently learning the hard way, the u16As will continue to graft and build towards a successful team.
Preparing mentally for the game against Rondebosch was relatively easy as the boys did most of the preparation themselves. The boys were very eager to play against their biggest rivals and relished the opportunity to play on the Rondeboscch 1stXV field. Friday was awesome once again with Dean Rimmer leading another successful conversation where it was decided that the key focus for the game would be “getting it done”.
One of the concerns regarding the game against Rondebosch was that the team were psyching themselves out due to Rondebosch’s reputation. The boys attempted to treat Saturday’s fixture as just another game but they unfortunately failed to do so, and this was reflected in their performance as they gave Rondebosch far too much respect on the field. However, that problem was taken down in the memory bank and will be remedied and prevented in the future.
Although Saturday’s performance was disappointing, it should definitely not be seen as a failure, because even though we were unsuccessful in winning the game we have once again learnt from our performance and will continue learning throughout the season. The results are not being produced just yet, but will be soon and hopefully the boys will take all of the lessons learned and experienced gained into 1stXV next year. What the boys need to understand is that the season is nowhere near over yet, and that there is a lot of rugby still to be played.
The basics that were lacking slightly against Rondebosch will be rectified at practice and we will most certainly be working on our body language again this week. In order to produce the desired results, the u16As need to start believing instead of just hoping
It is back to the drawing board on Monday for us and we await to see whether the boys are sick of the taste of defeat which will hopefully inspire them to produce their best performance of the season yet.
-Jono Field
Captain u16A