Waiheke vs Datsuns Game 1 POST GAME WRAP

With 21 people and one ghost, the trip to Waiheke was as much about the team as it was about the rugby.  It was a great day out and I'd like to thank all the Waiheke parents and team for their wonderful hosting, and to thank all our own parents for looking out for the lads and keeping them (mostly) on the straight and narrow during our sea voyage!

As for the match:

After the Waiheke pre game tactic of making most of their opposition run over the biggest hill in the area to tire them out, our boys looked to be more energized than tuckered.  We started the game extremely well with a series of hard drives off the ruck to power up field and get the initial score in the match.  Feeling like this rugby lark was pretty straight forward, we soon learned that playing a team having their first match of the season meant they'd take some time to warm up.  About 30 seconds as it turned out.  A decent length kickoff was caught by someone we can only assume to be Jeff Wilsons second cousin, who then set off on a huge, arcing run, around the Datsun's defence, and over for a try to level it up.  Game on!

As it turned out, we had no need to worry ourselves, as the Datsuns machine kicked back into gear and kept putting the Waiheke lads on the ground, driving them off the ball, and running hard, straight and looking for support.  The final score of 9 - 2 (official) or 10 - 2 (unofficial "Calculator" tally) showed that the Datsuns will be a tough nut for our opposition to crack in the upcoming games.

For the forwards, John, Alexis, Sam and Joshua were always hunting around the breakdown, with Alexis driving up the guts a number of times, with his forward-y cohorts there to back him up.  We got pinged a couple of times for playing the ball off our feet and for not entering the ruck correctly and for that I'm sure Richie McCaw himself would be proud, although coach notes that we're going to work on that.  Our utility men of Adam and Jorden both aquitted themselves admirably whilst in their forwards stint. Adam made a breakout play that lead to an offload and consequent try, whilst Jorden put his body on the line and got his first war wound doing his best for the Datsuns and getting us the pill!

The backs were el fuego (spanish for 'on fire'), with all the boys putting in big and important tackles in defence, stopping the white jersey'd tide, and running hard when in possession of the ball and always looking for good options to offload to their support.  Ryeden and David were the engine room for the simple, direct Datsuns game plan.  Jaimee and Tyreese both set the standard for their season with stand out performances, both highlighted by hard, straight running, hard running support, hard tackling and generally being hard Datsuns rugby players!

Well done, Datsuns!  Let's try and keep the season rolling just the same next weekend!  Although with all the chocolate and biscuits and icecreams and lollies and sausages you boys put away after the game and on the ferry trip back home you'd better have been running 5km runs every night since!

Game summary:
Waiheke 2 - Datsuns 9 / 10
Tries to: Alexis (2), Ryedyn, Jaimee (2), Tyreese (4)
Player of the day: Tyreese
Tackler of the day: Jaimee
Sportsperson of the day: Jorden

go... go.. Datsuns.. GO!