Last Saturday Colts 3 travelled to a sunny Nieuwegein and gave a solid, winning performance against CL SBN Pink CO1 (Pink Panthers).
Pink were only able to field 14 players so HRC, with a full squad, helped out by loaning them players to make up a full 15.
Any early season concerns about the HRC gelling together as a unit were quickly put to bed as the Colts opened strongly, moving most of the play into their opponents’ territory for the majority of the first half. Ball possession was good as was both communication and discipline in the rucks and scrummages. HRC did a good job keeping shape and any attacking threats from the opposite side were quickly shut down with solid defensive play.
Ultimately the continued pressure paid off and Colts opened the scoring with a fast try down the wing 20 minutes in. With confidence building HRC landed two more tries before half time without any serious response from the other side.
HRC dominance continued into the second half. Two aspects of the game were noticeably strong – the HRC lineout game and the Colts ability to move the ball out quickly and wide. The resultant remaining tries all came as a result of good, controlled possession and the ball being moved out speedily, making great use of the width of play. Proper teamwork!
The pressure started to show on The Pink Panthers with a string of careless handling mistakes and a lack of discipline. This frustration unfortunately led to a yellow card against them for a strike to the face of a HRC player but that was the only incident in an otherwise well conducted game. Pink did not just lie down though and managed to mount a more concerted effort in the latter part of the game coming away with two well-deserved tries for their efforts.
Colts 3 are in looking good shape right now and this bodes well for the rest of the season.
