First XV
23 February 2008
Tarleton 8 Littleborough 5
Tarleton managed to complete a scrappy win over a tough Littleborough side on Saturday. Following on from their 22-0 defeat at the hands of Fylde last week the Tarleton seniors were looking to return to their winning ways. Unfortunately this was made difficult by a very disjointed opening 40 minutes; passes went awry, knock on’s were plentiful and the Tarleton lineout continued to misfire. To compound matters persistent unpunished offending at the break down was making quick ball to our talented back line almost impossible. Thankfully the trusty boot of Tim Holloway and some fearsome tackling from our back row forwards kept Littleborough Firmly pinned in their 22.
The deadlock was broken against the run of play through another missed lineout by Tarleton in their opposition’s 22. A Littleborough lock stole the ball and set off on a 60 yard dash for the Try line. Al Reed missed the first covering tackle of his career and an unconverted try was scored in the corner.
Tarleton attacked the restart with renewed vigour and were quickly rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts for a Littleborough infringement at the breakdown. Unfortunately Tim’s kick clipped the upright, bouncing back into play and fortuitously back into his arms as he followed up his kick. Some tenacious and brutal forward play while camped on Littleborough’s goal line eventually told with Matty Parker crashing over in the corner. Tim’s conversion was fractionally wide and it was game on with the scores tied at 5-5.
The game was eventually decided by another penalty against Littleborough in front of the posts which Tim calmly slotted between the posts. With time ticking away Littleborough went for a final kick at goal, despite not coming close all game and duly scuffed the ball along the ground. The whistle was blown and Tarleton completed their 6th win in 7 matches.
9 January 2008
Tarleton 24 Bury 17
This was another example of Tarleton firsts not being ‘at the races’ for the first 25 minutes of the match. Having played Bury away earlier in the season we knew that their forward play was the strength of their game – this was discussed prior to the match and the idea was to use the width of the pitch to our advantage as we knew that our backs had the legs on the opposition. So what do we do for the first 25 minutes – Keep it in the forwards!
The ball never got further than the inside centre at any time during this passage of play and Bury scored two tries in this time both made by their forwards, one being a drive over try and the other by sucking in all of our players to a ruck and then giving the ball to one of their backs who broke a tackle and scored under the posts.
25 minutes into the game someone ‘switched the light on’ and Tarleton started to play the rugby we know that they can. The first time that they got the ball across the back line our winger went in at the corner for an unconverted try which brought the score to 12 – 5.
Following this Tarleton started to move the ball around and there were several good phases of play which saw Tarleton with a 5 metre scrum in Burys 22. Chris Gordon picked the ball up at No.8 ran across the Bury defence and flipped the ball around his back in the tackle for Rob Seagrave who was running a great angle and resulted in an easy try which was converted to level the scores.
Tarletons’ self-belief then became evident and Bury had to dig deep and defend for long periods but eventually the pressure told and a charge down and chase by Peter Green resulted in another converted try (this made up for his earlier sin-binning for a blatant late tackle).
The score was now 19 -12 and Bury started to claw their way back to playing good possession rugby, they let themselves down badly with their discipline and besides arguing with each other they pointed out to the ref where he was going wrong and gave us 30 metres of territory for nothing.
From a line out in Bury’s 22 a planned move saw Zim peel off and almost make the try line but as he was tackled the ball was picked up and put down for Tarletons’ final unconverted try. The score was 24 – 12 and to their credit Bury came back in the last 2 minutes to score what was for them a consolation try to make the final score 24 – 17.
Another good win on paper but Tarleton are going to have to address their opening spell of play as this is probably the 3rd or 4th. occasion this season that they have gone behind early and had to work hard to get back into the game – today they managed it but in future matches they may not.
5 January 2008
Garstang 8 Tarleton 13
Tarleton opened their New Year campaign with a visit to Garstang RUFC. Unfortunately, 4 late cry-offs and two no shows limited Tarleton to a squad of just 15 players and with no reserves available we knew that we would be up against it.
Tarleton started reasonably well and camped in Garstangs' 22 for the first 10 minutes, they should have turned the possession into points but were just a bit too 'frantic' with their play. The first half was littered by basic errors and needless penalties which all helped to give Garstang a growing confidence in their own play.From one of these penalties Garstang kicked long and from a 5 metre line out drove the ball over the line and scored the first points of the day. Tarleton woke up for a short time and took the game back to Garstang and from a penalty Tim Holloway gave us 3 points that brought us back into contention. Further scrappy play ensued and from yet another penalty Garstang took the score to 8 - 3 just before half time.
The second half started a bit better for Tarleton and although they were forced to defend for long periods they stared to show some of the ability that we know they have and with some quick rucking, fast ball to the backs and quick hands to pass the ball along the line Tarleton leveled the scores with an unconverted try. The score was 8 points apiece and to be truthful either side could still have won the game, on a couple of attacks Garstang had two or three men overlaps available but neglected to use them. Tarleton on the other hand with virtually the last play of the game used their overlap to good effect resulting in a try in the corner that left the final score at 13 points to 8. (Man of the Match - Dave Gordon)
The 4 points are pleasing and keeps us in 7th place in the league 2 points behind Blackburn and two points ahead of Bury. but we need a better turn out and we also need to get more of the basics right especially when we are dominating possession.
Next Saturday we are away to Littleborough who we narrowly lost to in the cup earlier in the season; they are 9 points ahead of us in the league and if we can turn up with a full squad we should be able to give them a hard game and hopefully take the 4 points on offer.
24 November 2007
Tarleton 17 Upper Eden 3
You know the saying about a game of two halves – well this game definitely falls within this category!
Tarleton’s first half performance was dire – the weather conditions were bad with high, gusting winds and driving rain which didn’t help but Tarleton never seemed to get going. Dropped passes, fumbled balls, stupid penalties were the order of the day and with the possession that they had they should have put some decent points on the board. However, one of the pointless penalties given away (handling in the ruck in front of the referee) gave Upper Eden a 3 points to nil lead at half time.
I don’t know what was said at half time but Tarletons’ second half performance was contained some of the best rugby your ace cub reporter has seen them play. Several phases of play involving the forwards in routines practiced at training saw the best try they have scored this season.
To be truthful the First Team were now playing with the wind advantage and for once used this to really good effect. The inter play between forwards and backs and the increased work ethic of the forwards resulted in turnover ball time after time. If there was a weakness in their second half performance it was in the lineout but we can blame the difficult conditions for this.
Overall a very satisfactory result and one in which the players should take great credit for their second half performance and for them to try and work out what went wrong with their attitude and play in the first half.
10 November 2007
Pendle 17 Tarleton 3
Tarleton 1st's travelled down the M65 to face an unbeated, table topping Pendle team that are playing with the confidence that 8 straight wins gives you. However, it wasn't going to be all there own way during this match. Their victory was a hard won affair and their knowledge of how their own pitch plays gave them another advantage over us. They kicked downhill with the wind in the first half and, if truth be told, spent 90% of the half in Tarleton's 22. When I say downhill, I mean down a very steep hill that falls away to the bottom left hand corner and their stand off's game plan was pretty obvious and difficult to deal with in the windy conditions that prevailed - get the ball, kick it over the oncoming defence and let the wind take it out as near to Tarletons' try line; pressurise the lineout jumper and try and spoil Tarletons' ball or (as the first try came about) charge down the kick away from danger.
The charge down was converted and Pendle took a 7-0 lead in the first 5 minutes. Tarleton then spent the rest of the half defending and lost two more , late, unconverted tries just before half time. I thought that the slope and wind should have resulted in more points for Pendle but Tarleton defended very well today.
The second half should have been a role reversal and Tarleton started well enough adopting similar tactics and they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts for Pendle 'Diving over and killing the ball' which Tim Holloway duly converted for the 3 points on offer. It was Pendles' turn to defend and they had to work just as hard as Tarleton had in the first half right up to the final whistle where Tarleton just missed out on scoring from a 5 metre penalty.
All in all not a bad performance against the table toppers and I think on home turf we will give them a better run for their money where conditions and local knowledge will not play as big a part in the final result.
3 November 2007
Tarleton 45 Garstang 12
The first half of this match saw Tarleton play the best 'team' rugby of the season so far. Getting the basics right, winning good ball, using it quickly and getting it along the line saw Tarleton run in 5 converted trys during the first 40 minutes. Garstang plugged away but didn't really have an answer to the pace of Tarleton's back line. However, Garstang's forwards played 'keep ball' for a while and frustrated Tarletons game plan and resulted in a good try for Garstang just before half time. With a half time score of 35 - 7 Tarleton looked on for a score in excess of 50 points and a much needed boost to their points difference that could be crucial at the end of the seasons for league position.
Garstang had other ideas and proceeded to keep the ball with their forwards and whether it was tiredness or as last week, a slight lack of tactical awareness, we let them get away with it. Not enough forwards were getting to the breakdowns and Garstang were messing up our line outs and had competed well in the scrum all day. Based on the first half we should have won quick ball and got it to the backs on every occasion.
Still, this is a welcome 4 points and over the last week or two numbers at both training and match days have been increasing steadily. This can only continue to see the Tarleton First XV improve over the rest of the season and they need to play for the full 80 minutes in the style that they played the first 40 minutes today and they will be a hard team to beat.
27 October 2007
Bury 24 Tarleton 24
This was a match that should have been won, was almost lost and eventually was drawn with the last play of the match!
Tarleton turned up with a squad of 19 players and on the evidence of the first 10 minutes were going to run rings around the Bury backs. However, Bury had other ideas and with their pack having the edge on ours they played keep ball with the forwards. We didn't help matters by going along with their plan. There were times that we didn't use the option of getting the ball along the line and play basic straightforward rugby which we are more than capable of doing. Instead we kept taking the ball into contact and their forwards kept turning over the ball and so we lost good attacking possession on numerous occasions.
Once the Bury forwards got their act together they picked and drove on every opportunity and this led to 2 'pushover' tries that we were unable to prevent. With 9 minutes left on the clock Bury were 24 points to 10 up and it looked as though we had thrown the game away by not being tactically aware. However, the spirit in the squad kept them going and the backs were given some quality ball which they used to good effect and broke through the Bury defence to score under the posts. The score was now 24 - 17 and the ref was asked how long to go - 1 and a half minutes Tarleton were told. Bury kicked long and the ball was caught passed along the line and the backs once again broke through and scored under the posts, the conversion levelled the scores and the full time whistle blew.
Terrific team spirit saw us get the points for a draw when defeat was staring us in the face. As the squad improves and switches on to times when tactics need to change they will win these sort of matches and continue to progress up the league table.
Training Thursday night as usual in preparation for the visit of Garstang 2nds. to Carr Lane next Saturday.
20 October 2007
Tarleton 42 Fleetwood 12
This was a match Tarleton needed to win to get them back on track for a higher finish in the League. The omens were good when a squad of 20 was warming up at the start with two or three players out through injury this is the sort of turnout we could have done with from the start of the season.
From the outset Tarleton controlled this game in all areas of the pitch - the forwards won 100% of their own ball and a large percentage of the set pieces on Fleetwoods' put in at the scrum or throw in from the lineout. This meant that Tarleton throughout the game probably had over 70% of the possession and for once they used it sensibly and scored some very good team tries following several phases of play each. I can only remember 1 try that was a breakaway, the rest were the result of good interconnecting play between the forwards and the backs with every player making ground. However, at half time when Tarleton were 22 points to 5 ahead I felt that the possession they had should have resulted in a couple of more tries. On two or three occasions the ball should have gone out wide but got stuck in the middle due to the wrong decision being made by the ball carrier.
A good crowd saw Tarleton continue to dominate in the second half and tries came from forwards, backs and from some excellent individual play. This is a result for Tarleton to savour and to build on and gets them back into winning ways.
Training, as ever, is on Thursday night come along and improve your fitness and your understanding of 'plays, calls' etc. which can only benefit the team's performance.
This was a good victory played in the right spirit and for the full 80 minutes - keep it up!
13 October 2007
Littleborough 16 Tarleton 12
This was a match that Tarleton should have won. In patches they played some extremely good possession rugby that should have seen them putting points on the board. Unfortunately today they got a lot of the 'basics' wrong. Dropped passes abounded and lineouts were poor. We also messed up a penalty move on the oppositions' 5 mtr line by passing it forward! Littleborough kept plugging away and Tarleton, defensively, were well organised and Littleborough found it difficult to break through. Indeed it was a dubious 'high tackle' penalty decision that allowed Littleborough to regroup on our 5 mtr line and run in the try that gave them the lead and ultimately the match.
On the whole though this was a much better team performance than the previous week and the shape and balance is looking better. However, these are the sort of games that we need to win if we are going to stay in this league (we have to play them twice yet as this was a cup game) so we need to ensure that when we have as much possession as we did today we must turn it into points.
The game was marred a little towards the end when tempers began to flare and stupidly we got involved on too many occasions in 'handbags' rather than rugby. The oppositions No. 8 was either sin binned or sent off (I'm not sure which) for a late, high tackle but the final whistle went a couple of minutes later so we gained no advantage from it.
6 October 2007
Kirkby Lonsdale 44 Tarleton 10
The long journey up the M6 was obviously too long for some of the squad as they failed to show. Sportingly Kirkby Lonsdale gave us 2 players to make up a 15 and the game started 15 minutes late.
Despite the eventual scoreline the opposition had to work very hard to break down a stubborn Tarleton defence but again as last week the Kirkby Lonsdale backs eventually got through or went around our back line (second row and 2 flankers). We need to find a few backs to bolster up the squad and be able to have substitutes to bring on.
At the last count our squad consists of 14 players who have always played in the pack and are now having to play in the centres or wing positions until we can change this the sides balance will not be found.
On the plus side the temporary backs did score a very respectable try that involved fast hands and good running lines and resulted in Gordie Junior going over for a well worked try. Tarleton played until the final whistle with no let up in effort and commitment and Stu Smith scored a further consolation try from a penalty to give the players something to shout about.
29 September 2007
Tarleton 22 Fylde 34
Fylde made their intentions clear from the kick off when as soon as they gained possession of the ball they quickly got it out to their backs who contained three players who could run rings around our defensive line. Their side stepping and twisting, jinking runs left our backs chasing shadows and Fylde effectively won the match in the first 25 minutes.
As the first half drew to a close it looked as though the final result was going to be a severe thrashing and it didn't get any better when Fylde scored early in the second half to put the game out of sight at 34 points to 5.
However, the last 20 minutes saw Tarleton wake up and start to play some expansive rugby as the Fylde players tired. More possession came the Tarleton backs way and they used it to good effect and started to create some good chances. They had three attacks that saw Fylde desperately keeping the Tarleton backs from going over that all ended up with the ball being 'held up' over the line. Eventually the constant 5 metre scrums led to the ball going out wide and a try came. This was followed by 2 more in reasonably quick succession, again the result of good forward play, fast delivery, passing along the line and great support play. Fylde were now getting a taste of their own medicine as despite good defensive work they couldn't stop a rejuvenated Tarleton from amassing points.
Unfortunately, Tarleton's revival came too late - in the 20 minutes left they scored 17 points and Fylde deservedly took the points. I'm sure they new that they had been in a match though as towards the end they had players going down with cramp all over the pitch from the effort they had put in to stop Tarleton overturning their first half efforts.
This result knocks Tarleton off the top of the league and puts them in joint 3rd. - next weeks match needs as big a turn out of players as possible (away to Kirkby Lonsdale) to get them back into winning ways.
8 September 2007
Blackburn 27 Tarleton 7
Only 16 players were available to field a side against Blackburn of which 13 were forwards!
Players playing out of position and Blackburns' extremely large pack was always going to be the deciding factor in this fixture.
The Blackburn pack soon realised that they were dominating the Tarleton 8 and because of this they were able to suck in more players to breakdowns etc. which meant that when they could get the ball out wide they were able to run in four tries without reply. However, to their credit Tarleton kept pressing when they could and defended extremely well. On balance, with the amount of possession that Blackburn had this fixture should have been out of sight before half time. As it was Tarleton rallied from a 20 point deficit and when they eventually got the ball along the line a breakaway try resulted to bring the score to a more respectable level.
There were some good aspects of this game that Tarleton should take away with them, defensive work, support play and the kicking game all stood out but again the lack of the ability to bring on fresh legs made a difference to the final result.
If we can attract a few more senior players that will allow us to re-jig the positions etc. we will give Blackburn a sterner challenge when they visit us.
1 September 2007
Tarleton 26 Lostock 7
In the first match of the season Tarleton Firsts made hard work of this victory with the match only being secured in the final quarter. None the less a squad of 19 on the day with another 5 still involved with cricket is a good start. It was obvious that certain players need to work on their match fitness and as they play alongside each other over the weeks and if they train with each other weekly a better understanding will develop.
The forwards played well in patches but were slow to the breakdown and some good possession was kicked away by the backs when they had overlaps outside. They will come up against stronger, more organised sides than this and will have to up their work levels to compete.
All in all, a good performance but with the possession they had they should have had the game out of sight by half-time and built up a greater points total overall.
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