Weather: 12°. Some clouds but sunny
Pitch: Very Good
Start: 11:00 (2 x 30 minutes)
Spectators: 6
Luxembourg started:
1- Xavier, 2- Yannick, 3- Niclas, 4- Louis, 5- David, 6- Lucas, 7- Antoine R, 8- Pedro (C), 9-Micky, 10- Benji, 11- Stanley, 12- Callum, 13- Christopher, 14- Joe, 15- Matthew
Subs: Jason, Quentin, Pierre and Charly
Scorers: Pedro (2T), Stanley, Yannick, Matthew (1T, 1C), Joe and Benji (2C)
With three players in the U18 European Championship and the school holidays, only 6 players of last week’s starting team were present. Not surprisingly, it took some time for the team to settle down and get the positioning right. The first try came at the 7th minute: Celtic gave away a penalty 10m from their line. We kept the ball with the forwards and after 3 rucks well played, Micky opened to Antoine on the blind; he passed to Stanley who scored on the corner. The second try came at the 13th minute. After several short passes in the forwards, always on the move, the ball ended with Antoine and, in a nice switch move, passed to Pedro who entered in the middle to score. On the 22nd minute, another good move in the forwards ended in the third try. From a scrum, the ball was played in the blind side and with a good support from all the forwards they progressed for 20m. Yannick was the last one to have the ball and score.
Half time score: 15-0.
Second half wasn’t very different. Celtic was putting a brave fight but was unable to be dangerous. Even with a lot of absences, our defence was as strong as in the other games, explaining why we only conceded 13 points in 7 games. As it happened in other games we still make some mistakes in the running lines or in the last pass which stop us to score tries we should normally score.
We could only score again in the 41st minute. From a scrum on the right 5m from Celtic try line, Pedro took the ball and ran to the center where he was tackled. From the ruck, Micky opened quickly to Matthew who came in support and he entered in the center to score. Matthew converted. On the 44th minute, thanks to a succession of penalties – holding ball on the ground, off side and not 10m – Celtic came in our 22. We managed a turnover on the right side, the ball was passed to the left and Pedro carried it for 50m. When defence came, he passed to Joe inside and he ended the move scoring between posts. The perfect counter attack. Benji converted. Last try came at the 50th minute. We had a penalty 15m from their line in the right. We played with the forwards but managed to lose the ball. Celtic recycled it in the backs but when the ball arrived at the center field our defence was already there and Pedro intercepted it to score again between posts. Benji converted.
It was a pleasant game to watch, with nice weather, good refereeing, and very fair play Celtic team much improved since we played in October.
Four of the tries were a result of collective actions and the team defended well though there’s still work ahead. We missed too many scoring opportunities because the last pass isn’t good enough or the receiver is not well positioned.
The last word is for the referee Mr. Verboven who did an excellent job.
