Sussex 15 - 18  Bucks 
h/t 5 - 8 

Finishing skills not good enough

Wednesday 14th April 2010 - Crawley Rugby Club

No one watching this match doubted that Sussex could and should have won.

Both sides fielded a mixture of old hands and newer faces, but the hard fact remains that Sussex players need to be tougher finishers and put the opposition away during the latter stages .

On a hard surface and facing the wind, Sussex settled slowly and conceded a penalty within five minutes. The set pieces were satisfactory, but defensive aggression lacking for most of the first half. Bucks then scored an unconverted try.

Sussex began to look sharper and gain confidence, resulting in a well taken try by Jack Davies, which gave a fair reflection of play at half time, 5-8.

Coach Lawrence used the entire bench during the second half, when the home side then really raised their standard of play, and demonstrated some excellent attacks for a 20m period. The reward eventually came with a “team effort“ touched down by Will Bettles. The match was there for the finishing, but some sloppy discipline and poor decisions during the last 5 mins resulted in a further try and conversion for the visitors bringing the scores to 15-15. A final aberration by Sussex allowed Bucks to kick a winning penalty in the dying seconds.

This squad is capable of better play, for longer periods and are determined to prove this next season.
 
Martin Eley, Team Manager

Sussex RFU U16 Team Sheet