Twelve Try Tidal Wave!

This was a late and very welcome addition to the fixture list. We’ve not had the pleasure of playing North Bristol in recent years and looking at their results against some similar opposition a good encounter for both parties was on the cards. However as it turned out, our friends from up the M5 were decidedly luke warm to Clevedon’s piping hot!

From the initial kick off Clevedon hit the snooze button and allowed North Bristol to collect their own kick and jink through 3 or 4 tackles almost finishing up over the whitewash, with only some desperate last ditch defence keeping the home side at bay. However that near disastrous start seemed to rattle the beast within and for the rest of the first half Clevedon, dare I say it, were almost unplayable! As a coach you teach, ask and even beg on occasions for your team to play as one...unselfish and together. You know, (or should I say pray) that at some point it will all come together. Well for 20 minutes or so today, it did.

The set was superb whether it was our put in or not, meaning we starved North Bristol of pretty much all possession. This also translated to the breakdown area which was excellent and therefore nullified any turnover opportunities and gave us wave after wave of attacking prospects. The fact is, once the ball carrier was tackled he off loaded or passed to the next man in support, and when he was brought down he did the same, and so on. If you play this way eventually the opposition run out of tacklers, no matter who they are. Everybody, and I do genuinely mean EVERYBODY, got plenty of ball and everybody contributed......unselfish and together. You just know it’s a freak day when Mac starts passing!!!!

The second half saw much of the same; however as time passed and the Clevedon try machine rolled on players began to focus on personal achievements and selfishness began to remind us all he’s still very much around!!!! This led to a bit of a stalemate and some long awaited possession for North Bristol. They tried valiantly to cross the Clevedon line and came very close on a number of occasions. Unfortunately despite all their efforts and some great Clevedon defence the try they deserved never actually materialised. Come the final whistle Clevedon had managed to cross the line a dozen times courtesy of some of their best attacking play to date. We have had many close encounters in recent months and have threatened to do this to someone at some point. However it’s important for the boys to understand why it happened. North Bristol were not on their game this week, and we in comparison decided to produce our most fluid unselfish display so far, another day it could have been much tighter.

Ricardo ran off with man of the match for playing out of position and genuinely being at the heart of everything. Hero of the day went to Big Banks who has threatened to show us all what a good player he can be for ages, but today decided it was time for the great unveiling! Big hand to the rampaging ox, J-Lo, Finster and Scotty for some real “step up” performances. Of course the usual suspects were all very much to the fore as well. Many thanks must go to the hospitality and warmth of the North Bristol parents, players and especially the coaches. In particular to David, possibly the fairest most honest referee.......outside of Clevedon! I would also like to highlight the “good grace” with which the North Bristol players conducted themselves in the face of adversity. From what I could see there were no negative sulky faces, questioning the referee and pointing and blaming each other – as we have been guilty of in the past! Instead they stuck to the task and battled to the bitter end. And so whilst our boys obviously enjoyed themselves and perhaps deserved a “tryfest” after all their commitment in recent weeks, the lesson to be learnt from our opponents is that this great game is more about the spirit in which the game is played rather than the result. Anyone who came away from North Bristol thinking they learnt nothing should take the time to consider this.

And now we take a break from the relentless fixture list and into some training before the season finale tournament at Cheddar in a couple of weeks time.