Annan visit Ambleside
I arrived early at Ambleside rugby club, along with seemingly a very early Annan Rugby Union team!...
A bunch of lads were out training hard and serious from 10.30am(!), kick off wasn't until 2.15, and these boys are training hard! With a Scotsman hollowing at this team, I was wondering if this was even the social team. Evidently they looked to be running league moves.
Strangely at 11.45am said team left, swifty - to which it became apparent this was Disington Rugby League team, who turned up confidently and used the pitch without even asking!
Cheeky - nevertheless, they enjoyed a free training session and trained hard, screwing up the pitch before the social teams arrived. In true Ambleside Rugby Club style, Andrew Brown collared them and had a craic, before telling them to come back and support the lads later on today.
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The Annan team turned up looking very well organised and upon warm-up seemed to be running quite a lot of switches and miss passes on their backs moves, something I assumed Ambleside would need to keep an eye out for.
The Ambleside team were out warming up and are very switched on and enjoying the fact it's a social game whilst being on the ball and focused.
The kick-off was at 2.15pm.
As both enthusiastic teams entered the field, the opening of the game began with Annan kicking, so Ambleside were set to receive.
The enthusiasm on both teams is high considering it is just a social - a great opportunity for both sides to field various players, new, old, coming back from injury, and even give players opportunities in new/different positions.
A number of supporters down which is also good to see for a social game, they continued to set the tone for the day ahead with lots of energy throughout the club.
A solid start with Ambleside running a lot of hard balls in, slowly making their way up the pitch, nevertheless with a turnover ball, Annan were soon back in possession.
The ball was kicked out, line out was weak from Annan and the players handling got a little bit messy. Ambleside gathered the ball up and stayed composed in possession for a short time. Early on, Annan were putting two players on most tackles to ensure Ambleside were brought down.
With plenty of battling at the rucks, the possession swung to and throw multiple times. Another penalty was awarded so Ambleside attempted to kicked the ball out, unfortunately it was short. Annan were in possession, returned the ball with another kick.
Ambleside gathered it up and are running it straight back at Annan hard.
There was a lot of competition at the rucks during the early part of the clash, with Ambleside struggling to make much headway with round-the-corner carries.
It was evident from early on, Ambleside needed to look up and utilise space out wide. They needed to ship it through hands to use the open space.
Ambleside were missing wonderful opportunities as Annan weren't defensively numbering up, resulting in overlaps out wide.
There was somewhat a delay in Ambleside getting the ball out and by which time they notice, Annan had shifted over and just got enough defensive numbers to hold them.
Ambleside then worked hard crashing the ball over and got a try (Rory Taylor Smith), there was both options on, they were close enough to the try line to crash the ball over and they chose that option, nevertheless there was plenty of space out wide and the backs were actually set up and calling for the ball.
This try was off the back of a line-out, and driving mole to about 8 yards out, somebody picked the ball yet Annan stopped him around 3 yards out. Finally, off the back of that they managed to drive over a try.
It was good to see not everyone had white-line fever, the backs held their depth and width to be a great wide option - Whilst this wasn't used, it was very positive.
Conversion scored from out wide too.
Red - converted - Great kick!
7-0
Annan were very strong competing at the rucks, with great support throughout and gaining possession from turnover balls.
Ambleside were weaker with regards to the rucks - not fast enough (in comparison to Annan) and there was not enough support players initially to get stuck in behind the ball carriers.
There was a number of penalties offered both directions.
Nobody was really making massive headway up the pitch, very much both teams evenly competing in the middle third.
Flurries of movement on both sides, ultimately in the middle third of the pitch the majority of the time.
Annan absolutely switched something on, after a couple of short line breaks, catching Ambleside on the back foot, as they ran the ball very hard up the field with a multitude of smooth passes utilising great lines resulting in a great try under the sticks.
Conversion, converted - as it should be for this perfect try placement.
7-7
Annan again had found a great fluidity in the game, really holding strong at the rucks.
At this stage I didn't feel Ambleside needed to battle at the rucks. They just needed to focus on doing the defensive sets. The movement and fluidity from Annan had been speedy and consistent, the handling even under pressure when they were attacking the try line was very effective.
Once again, the tries over and the conversion was converted - some great kicking today.
7-14
Annan continued the fluidity throughout the handling and passing and running hard. Ambleside were on it defensively and weren't getting as involved in the rucks - a sensible decision, which allowed them to complete tackles and fill the defensive line a lot better without getting pulled in when competing at rucks.
The off-load game from Annan is far superior to Ambleside's during this stage of the game, that is where they'd found the momentum, allowing them to move forward.
Ambleside had small passages of play where their off-loading game's great but ultimately they were missing the overlap on one side and needed to get that ball through hands. They were performing great defensively, very few high tackles and the tackles that they made were singularly and completed effectively.
Halftime and we are 7-14 to Annan.
I could see Ambleside could pull this back if they work hard in the second half.
A notable difference with Ambleside in the first, what, three minutes of kick-off for the second half.
They have a try, right under the sticks, working hard, great handling, heading up the pitch with the support in the rucks to protect the ball.
Great communication, great movement from left to right on the pitch and using the space a lot better.
Crash ball right under the sticks (Eddie Messenger) and the conversion, converted (Red).
14-14
A recent substitution ot a ball in hand just before half way and did some phenomenal dummies getting past Annan and a beautiful diving try under the sticks converted (Red converted) making it 21-14 to Ambleside.
The tempo of the Ambleside games has really risen.
The second half has shown some brilliant graft from Ambleside and Annan. Annan on two occasions reaching up to the try line and nearly getting tries.
On the first occasion Ambleside managed to hold the ball up and the off the back of a scrum pick.
The second attempt was a short run in Ambleside smashed Annan into touch, only meters away from the try line.
Both teams really dug deep now. Ambleside needed to regain possession to shift the ball out and protect the score that they had.
Annan managed to work the ball out wide and get a try through a lot of graft. Ambleside also dug deep defensively, but unfortunately there was no stopping Annan on this occasion, as Annan powered over the line in the corner.
Conversion was short and was missed - lucky for Ambleside!
21-19 to Ambleside
It was great the support that Annan had throughout their team in regards to support runners for the off-load and to being at the ruck swiftly. This is what was catching Ambleside off guard.
That being said, Ambleside were just about holding their own.
Closing the game at 21-19 to Ambleside.
A great win for Ambleside and a great social competitive game by all parties involved.
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