Maryland Exiles; you came out strong against the Frederick Falcons and never let up. Overall a strong performance. Frederick threw in the towel at 25 minutes into the second half with the score 70-7. We scored another 17 unanswered points with their B team in the last 20 minutes (10 minutes added to end of game to give folks more playing time)

The coaches were looking for two things from the team in this match - Continuity and aggressiveness in the contact zone.

Continuity for this game meant gaining and keeping possession of the ball by avoiding turnovers. Ball carriers running up-field, drawing the defender but passing early enough so the supporting player has room to run. Ball carriers running out of room by the sidelines either cutting inside, passing inside or taking the tackle to set up a ruck rather than being driven out of bounds. Passing the ball out quickly when we have an overlap.

What is the best alternative: a ball carrier "trucking" a defender by running into contact or passing to a teammate who has space and is coming up with speed? Think about your play, which option did you choose?

Aggressiveness in the contact zone for this game meant being physical and punishing the opponent in the rucks, the tackles and other collision phases. Rugby is often situational; the nearest player to a tackled teammate must immediately go in to support and protect the ball even if they are the smallest player. But we need our back row and big forwards engaged in most of these encounters.

Think about your play, Backs what decisions did you make when near a loose ball? Forwards were you engaged in a lot of rucks or standing outside ready to attack or defend? (caveat: we do not want to commit too many players to a ruck but the question is overall in the game - were you mixing it up in the rucks or mostly out of them: aggressiveness vs passivity).

We had some very nice movements with multiple passes. We played as one team. At least once, we passed the ball across the field and then back again gaining ground all the time. We had several very nice scores after generous passes to supporting players. We stole at least one line out and a couple of their scrums. Weakside wings supported the fullback on defense and had some nice cuts inside to maintain the attack. Forwards were much more aggressive in the rucks and winning loose balls. Half backs were getting the ball out to backs who had space to run. Tackling was generally solid though they had one guy that broke a couple tackles - there was always another of our defenders who came up to finish the play. We had a very strong defensive stand when they had the ball near our goal line for 2 or 3 minutes and penalties from 5 meters out. We stuffed it and prevented the ball from being touched down.

Now to be necessarily picky. We had our way with a team that was not as talented as ours. A stronger team could have taken advantage of some of the following:

Kicker: excellent 10 for 10 conversions. However, you must ask the referee to approach the ball to readjust it. The ball was approached twice without asking permission. Additionally, the forward stutter step is an approach to the ball. The defenders have the right to run down the kick as soon as you step forward. The referee gave us a break when a player ran down one of your kicks and was waved off. Be aware of the risk, in a close game those conversions are very important.

Rogy and Noah: both had nice runs that ended in turnovers by allowing yourself to be forced out of bounds. When running out of room on the sideline look to cut or pass inside. If necessary allow your self to be tackled to the ground so that supporting teammates can ruck over you to keep possession of the ball.

Max Cohen - knocked on a kick off and knocked two other kicks. Kick offs set the tone for the next few plays. At practice you may want to have someone kick you some balls to practice.

Rodloy - Don't worry too much about the yellow card for the high tackle. The player was already going to the ground- just remember you cannot tackle above the shoulders. More importantly, too much standing around the rucks when they were still being contested. Get in there and clear them out. Do not be afraid to be aggressive.

Adam - great game. But a bit selfish on a couple runs. We had 4 on 2 in a play that you chose to crash instead of passing out for an easy score. A second time, not passing to a supporting back cost a score and turnover to Frederick 10 meters from the try line.

Felipe - practice your line out throw-ins at practice. We lost a lineout due to throw not straight.

Elyes - on a kick off you chose to run into contact instead of passing to supporting backs who had space to run.

Nathaniel - low percentage long high skip passes. The ball floated so the back was catching it well behind the gain line with Frederick defense coming up. Limit the skip to one player - not the whole back line. A stronger team would have punished us.

Aymeric - low percentage no-look pass ended up on the ground.

Ryan - Taking too long to dig the ball out and pass to the backs. Play with alacrity.

Guys that I singled out - this is not criticism; you all played a lot more rugby than the couple plays being pointed out; and you played well. I want you to continue developing into even better rugby players than you already are.

Exiles, the next few matches will be much more of a challenge. See you at practice!