Under Pressure...

Well it has been a busy two weeks here at rugby central. Last week saw us at Twickenham and London Irish watching England and Wasps alongside a home game against Beaconsfield, a school match against Great Marlow and the Land Rover Cup at Henley this week.

Club rugby has seen extra training to run through drills and calls. School rugby has now come to an end, apart from house tournament tomorrow.

There have been highs and lows over the last two weeks, it feels like an emotional rollercoaster and that’s just me!

Bring on the visit to Twickenham, England v. Samoa to watch his hero score a brace of tries, Elliot Daly voted Old Mutual Wealth Player of the Series. Happy days!

Sunday morning sees Windsor hosting Beaconsfield for the morning, some great rugby is being played by both teams and it was an 11-3 win for the boys in the end. Happy Days!!

Sunday afternoon sees a quick trip down the M4 to watch London Irish v. Wasps. Front seats at this game and what a game it was! When you hear the saying a win is a win but an ugly win at that, totally sums up the game. Happy Days!!!

Monday sees him training at school with Tuesday hosting Great Marlow. The game was fantastic to watch, I am in awe of how a team can form such a bond and play so well as a team in such a short space of time. Every one of the boys played to their best and it proved it in the score. Another victory. 7-2 to the home side. Happy Days!!!!

This gets me thinking, if a team that has been together for 10 short weeks can play so well, play in position and get results why does a team that has been playing together for years not have the same gel? Surely, each player that has played together for so long knows what role they have in a game, they know where their teammate will be when passing the ball, they have depth in numbers and rehearsed drills that come into play?

Fast forward to Sunday 3^rd December and it is the Land Rover Cup, an under12s tournament, the first real competition for the boys. They have trained extra hard to be at their best. There is a special prize for the 18 best boys on the day. The chance to represent London Irish in France next May.

Now call me sceptic but I think this is where it all went wrong, the boys from the sounds of it all had early nights in anticipation of some major action. They arrived on the morning full of excitement and anticipation.

The first game was always going to be tough, they just had to play as a team and keep their heads. In the first half they began well and almost got a try but were pushed out and then they conceded a try. That was the start of an unravelling of the team. Another conceded try saw them lose the first game.

The second game pretty much went the same way.

The third, they were under no pressure and easily won by four tries.

The first playoff they again won and went on to win the second also.

When did rugby at 12 become so pressurized? I watched fifteen boys forget how to play in the first two matches then when the pressure was off they played better more fluid rugby.

Why do we as parents feel the need to pressure these overworked kids to the point that they forget they are playing a game? Something they enjoy doing. 

What kind of parent puts so much pressure on their child to perform well that in actual fact the push them over the edge and they dont perform at all. Well not when they are expected to anyway...

Big Shout Out to George, Louis, Toby and Rudy. Even though they play for different clubs they came along and cheered on the boy. He was so proud that they found they time to do that whilst playing their hearts out for their own teams!