The BWS boys went into this game full of confidence off the back of 4 excellent wins since half term. We knew Canford were strong in the pack and their back line hadn’t caused too many troubles earlier in the season. Our focus was to stop their driven maul and get the ball to our backs who we knew could inflict damage if given quick go forward ball.

Unfortunately the game did not pan out as planned. Despite 4 early turnovers to BWS and also first blood on the board with a penalty kick at goal, Canford grew in confidence as the game drew on and responded with a score. Credit must go to the Canford pack who ultimately destroyed ours in the scrum and prevented us from developing a platform to play off.

This ultimately killed us and our confidence and we were unable to attack, Canford however had the perfect platform and their backs were able to come to life against ours who had spent the majority of the game defending. Looking back at the video footage it is painful to watch as such a good young team is dismantled from the core by a dynamic opposition.

Despite defeat however there were some huge positives moving into the next season and beyond. Our lineout defensive strategy worked, nullifying theirs, our strike runners in the backs when on the ball were as good as they have been all season and most of all we learnt a huge lesson, that without the ball and without the forwards power it doesn’t matter how good our boys are outside.

Praise must go to an excellent Canford team, but also to our boys who have grown in every game this season, the highlight being beating Sherborne in the semi-final.

I look forward to working with them again next season and after Christmas in the shorter format of this game.

RDG