Harsh lessons that must be learnt by PJF

PJF , having been awarded the game at Whitgiftians with the fact that the match had progressed about 60minutes without Whitgiftians answering any of the PJF 24 points on the score board, should have gone into this game at the Pightle with a level of renewed confidence. Forced to make a number of changes from the previous week side had a slightly unsettled look. The visitors Haileyburians started strongly and drove over in the corner in the first 10 minutes. PJF found heir rhythm and struck back quickly with a well worked try of their own the extra points being added. PJF continued to press hard and force mistakes from Haileyburians and from a kick and chase the ball was gathered by a PJF player who laid it off to the wing who ran in under the posts. PJF then had to withstand a period of pressure but managed to close out the half with a 14-5 lead.

The second half started with PJF under pressure and conceding penalties but the defence was magnificent and Haileyburians could not find a way through for the first 20 minutes of the half. The Haileyburians fly half had controlled his sides possession well. kicking probing grubbers through behind the PJF lines causing PJF to constantly turn. The penalty count against PJF continued to climb, eventually the Haileyburians pressure told when the Haileyburians 10 dinked a little chip over the PJF line to be gathered by the Haileyburian wing who ran in un opposed. The kick was missed. From the restart a simple PJF mistake handed the momentum back to the opposition. Again a period of sustained pressure form Haileyburians saw PJF concede a penalty within kickable distance and Haileyburians closed the gap to one point. Still PJF could not stop themselves from conceding penalties which allowed Haileyburians to keep PJF pinned in their own half. With the penalties came yellow cards and PJF received two which meant the PJF played a quarter of the game with only 14 players. Haileyburians winning try came of another chip kick from the fly half for the winger to gather and go over in the corner. In spite of the kicker being off side the referee said that he hadn't seen it so all of PJFs magnificent defending only produced a single losing bonus point. The final score being 14-20.

When PJF played rugby it was fantastic but we have not learnt to listen and adapt to the referees interpretation. We have to learn and control the things we can change and ignore the things we can't. The penalty count saw PJF concede over 20 penalties in the game again, and playing a quarter of the game a man down does not help the cause. On Saturday we were continually penalised for being in front of the hindmost foot in the rucks. In these situations we need to step back half a meter to ensure we stay on side and not over commit to breakdowns where we have either lost the ball or stand no chance of winning it. By doing these relatively simple things the penalty count will fall considerably and reduce the pressure on the PJF line. When that happens I am confident that PJF will come out on the right side of these close results. We look forward to having as good turn out on Wednesday when we can continue to work to control the small margins that win and lose games to ensure that decisions that harshly go against us do not effect the final result of the game. Change the things that we can control, but currently don't, and accept that sometimes the referee will get it wrong for all sorts of reasons and PJF can still have a good season because the work rate and the effort are there as are the necessary skills.