Space

It is distant, cold and has a poisonous, airless atmosphere.  It is devoid of any real proof of the existence of intelligent life.  It is desolate and seemingly never ending with the ever present danger of being viciously attacked by grotesque human–like creatures. 

Space is in many ways like Sunderland. 

The major difference of course is we should really want to be in space.  It’s what wins us games.

The bigger pitches promised a major shift from last seasons brutal, attritional battles on pitches with less room than the poor dog, Laika had in Sputnik 2. (Did that ever come down I wonder or is it still up there?  Laika didn’t even get to wear a space helmet whereas that monkey, Albert had a suit and everything, not that it helped much.)

In reality what it actually means is that we have to be more intelligent with the space we have.  Longer, quicker passes have to go to hand and not collected by enemy interceptors.  Tackles have to be made or we end up staring at the back of a pair of disappearing Optimum Eclipse SG’s hurtling into unprotected expanses towards our try-line.

The game started reasonably well and after a number of re-set scrums we settled into a comfortable pattern and developed some excellent interchanges from forwards to backs.  Soon enough we were over for the first try of the day – with our fleet footed winger running a wide arcing orbit touching down under the posts.

Five well worked tries, four by backs was a good start but we should have been pushing the 40 point envelope before half time.  One conversion (two all game) was not ideal and a definite training need.

In spite of this the game was won by the interval and another 10 points immediately after the break put the game to bed.  So, after a five minute spell with the first XV it was time to bring on the all-important subs.

It has become apparent that we are one of the more fortunate Sussex sides in our age group who have a large squad to choose from.  Games versus Uckfield and Crawley have both been against depleted teams whilst Lewes only brought one sub. Hellstorm have not yet fulfilled a fixture.  Whilst this is a great testament to the facilities and personnel we have at Brighton it does make squad selection and amount of game time difficult to balance.  We are now in a position whereby registered players are not guaranteed selection or even how much game time, if any for league fixtures.  The positives in this for the club are huge although it may not seem so apparent to individuals who are waiting either for selection or on the side line.   We will continue to ensure match time for all players in friendly fixtures but league squad places will continue to be based on Attendance, Application, Attitude and Ability.  Some starting players for this game had not figured in our plans the previous week and others who had, were on the bench all due to these four A’s

The change to the line-up created some issues with continuity (which it really should not have done) and saw Lewes sneak over with two very soft tries which on another day could easily have been disallowed.

Lewes where strong in the forwards and their pack caused us a few issues to begin with but the real value of the game was seeing how individuals performed particularly when we made the changes.  There were first League appearances for Leon and also Henry H and Connor both of whom scored on their full debuts. 

There was also a well deserved (and earned) club tie presented to Danny G.

So, there were a few second half clangers, some real stars on display but we have our feet firmly on the ground and we know what we need to work on for the challenges that lay ahead.  There are will be closer encounters on the horizon in both league and friendly fixtures and with a larger squad players will need to prove they have the right stuff.

One of our players who is currently injured miss-heard Buzz Lightyear in his favourite film.  As a toddler he would dress up like his hero, run around the house and shout ‘to the settee and beyond!’

I think Buzz was in reality slightly more ambitious and we too need to set our trajectory a lot higher over the coming weeks.

Brighton (29) 39 Lewes (0) 10

T Dixon, Radmand, Greene, C Martin, Coe, Strasman, Wykes, McDonald, Barrett, Edwards, Heard, W Martin, Berkshire, Gregory, Davidson, Peaster, Tierney, Haslam, Bishop, O Taylor, Kidman, Phillips

Try scorers:

Jack x 2
Ed
Angus
William
Henry H
Connor

Conversions Henry and Connor 

Comments

[lederm]

Thanks for you share it!!!!!!!