Trek de agenda,
What a busy weekend for the Lowlanders! And lots and lots of positive from which to learn and improve.
We had Lowlanders in action both at home and abroad this weekend, that alone is a considerable accomplishment! Well done, very well done to Ronald, George and Wesley who represented us with ARC 3 this past Sunday. All 3 played the full 80 minutes and contributed to what has been by far the best score-line for ARC 3 this season. The team lost 29 – 5, a much better result compared to the previous outings!
14 Lowlanders players + injured Eric and a supporting cast of Jan, Marc and Kevin travelled to Scotland for the weekend to answer an invitation by the Caledonian Thebans to their annual Rugby Clinic. The weather was better than anticipated with only patches of minor drizzle and the Thebans once again put up a very nice program. It was also a chance to meet old and new friends as players from Paris, Lisbon, Brussels, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol and London showed up for the event. The registration on Friday night saw the proceedings off to a very promising start: beers were flowing and the Lowlanders + their beautiful clogs did make a difference on the "dance floor".
The clinic and instructions provided by the Coaches from the SRU were as always spot-on and incredibly good. Those guys know what they are talking about! I hope everyone took back some good pointers and I am looking forward to see those applied in our training sessions as well. I will need to talk to some of you individually as I was not able to complete the training on Saturday due to the knee injury and I am sure I missed some good advice from the 4 coaches present at the clinic.
As expected, after the clinic was completed and a little lunch break a mini 10's tournament was organized. Unfortunately at that point Lowlanders were down to just 10 men standing. Myself, Kevin, Georgios and Ashley joined Eric in the physically unable to perform list. That meant full work load and no subs for the remaining guys. As noted in my Facebook post yesterday everyone put in an incredible effort and gave their best, which is all I can ask for. Again a special nomination to Roy and Dennis who played their first matches ever and Coen van Kralingen our "player of the tournament" and recipient of the "Hallo-weenie" award 2011, something that should transform into a sort of Lowlanders traditions in years to come.
We played 2 matches, and yes we did suffer two losses, but with so many positives to take from the two matches we can really put the score-lines to the side. Luck was not on our side with the draw as we ended up in the group with Newcastle, winners in 2009 and Bristol , winners in 2010. Our first match was against Bristol, not an easy start. We were extremely nervous and kind of panicky in the early part of the match. Bristol as expected was a pretty strong and heavy side. Our scrum did a good job in the first half, but too many mistakes generated some tries opportunities for the Bisons and they quickly took advantage of those. We came back nicely in the 2nd half, scoring our own try, and setting the tone for the next match. A much better performance followed up against Newcastle. We calmed down a little bit, started to run straight instead of waiting to be tackled with ball in hands, provided some phases and continuity to our offensive play. We did have moments of black-outs here and there, and there are areas in which we do need to work and be better organized (i.e. when receiving kick offs). The match against Newcastle was really close. They score two tries in the first half and we scored one, but we won the 2nd half as they only scored one try and we scored 2 tries in the period. Our confidence was really building up and if we had another couple of minutes on the clock I am pretty sure we would have snatched up a very well deserved victory. In the end the difference came down to the tries we were not able to convert, so that is another area we should focus more in training and preparation for Manchester 2012.
It was incredibly difficult for me to watch all of it happening from the side-line, as I obviously wanted to be on the pitch with the guys helping out and fighting together. But what I found incredibly rewarding were the compliments we received from other players and supporters watching the games. People acknowledged and were impressed by the quality of play and some of the rugby skills displayed by the Lowlanders on Saturday. That is a huge recognition of the effort THAT EVERY ONE OF THEM has put in the trainings we have had so far, it also establishes a great platform for us to improve and keep working on the aspects we know we can get better at. Organization and discipline are keys for better performance on the pitch, and will lead us to much more success at the Bingham Cup, the Lowlanders ultimate goal for this season this coming June (for more information see: http://www.binghamcup.com/).
Great effort from everyone as well to show off their best during the evening "Shipwrecked" themed party. Once again the clogs took center stage, but not to be outdone by some of the outfits, I am sure that Kevin Scott will have plenty of material to choose from in his pictures, and there will be enough shame to go around for everyone.
One last thought obviously to Stefan, who provided us all with the required Halloween scare! Stefan is recovering nicely, we send him all our love and wish him the best.
Remo Calzoni
