Matchrapport Gripen Herr - Malmö

Det blev tyvärr förlust i seriepremiären men det var ändå en bra och underhållande match. Se även bilder från matchen.

Saturday 24^th April the Senior Herr Lag played their first series match against our old friends Malmö. It promised to be a good game and keenly contested and it didn't disappoint. The Gripen squad was large with 26 players reporting for duty however, a team was selected to win the game using as many players as possible.

The 1^st half was a tight affair with the first scoring chance falling to Gripen a long range penalty which just fell short. As the half went on Malmö began to gain more possession and territory and their pressure was finally rewarded with a simple penalty. Gripen had to make a early substitution as Robin Barte had damaged his leg which was later diagnosed as a fracture. We wish him a speedy recovery. This was a disruption to Gripen as Robin had already proved his ball carrying skills. The half continued to be tight with Malmö holding the upper hand and they eventually scored a controversial try after one of their players had put his foot into touch and the lines man waiving. The HT score was 10 – 0 to Malmö a somewhat unfortunate scoreline.

The second half proved to be more open with many more tries being scored with both teams running the ball well. There were some good runs from Ian O’Reilly, Jesper Johansson and Erik Arvidsson in the centre and the forwards were working hard in the lineouts and scrum’s with good work from Emil Andersson, John Johnsen and Nicklas Andersson. Also Herman had an excellent game and showed that his experience from UK has paid of with good determination and leadership from his no 8 position. However, Malmö always seemed to have the upper hand and scored several tries from close range with their speed of attack. Gripen countered on numerous occasions and were reward with fine tries by Paris Asgari, Ian O’Reilly & Katene Nicholas.

As the half wore on Gripen made many substitutions with Boris Biletic coming on at Hooker and younger players like Tim Fors winning his first start at prop. All the Subs acquitted themselves well and it was very encouraging to see Gripen starting to gain some strength in depth. The game continued at a good pace and Malmö ran out eventual winners with a comfortable scoreline of 15 to 32.

Overall it was a decent performance but Gripen will need to improve in certain areas which will be addressed at training. The foundation’s are in place to produce a very good team at Gripen and there were many positives to take out of the game.

Now Gripen will focus on their next match Home to Pingvin B Sunday 2^nd May Kick Off 1400.

Bilder från matchen hittar ni HÄR (eller surfa vidare till Bildarkivet här på hemsidan)

/ Gareth Leppitt