Gripen performed well in Lund

Lugi kindly invited the mens team down to play in a mini tournament Sunday 24th August against Wexiö & a combined team of Scottish tourists and Lugi B. It was somewhat short notice however, we took down 16 players in total a mix of experience, youth & beg

Our first match was against Wexiö and the 1st half was a total farce due to a terrible Ref from the Scottish Tourists who appeared to be still under the influence of alcohol from the night before!! This stopped Gripen gaining any foot hold in the game and unfortunately at half time we were 14 to 0 down, although both Växjö tries were very suspect with mistakes from the Ref.
 
The second half brought a new Ref and an apology from the Scottish Team and immediatly Gripen took a grip of the game. Strong forward play and good continuity from the half backs produced Gripens first try scored by Jonathan Toft his first for the club, Emil converted. Gripen continued to play well with good runs from Johan S & Max P. As the half went on Gripen became stronger & stronger and it was no surprise in Thomas F going over for the 2nd try which was a very good pick up in broken play and a sprint for the line. Sadly Thomas missed the conversion and not long afterwards the whistle blew and a narrow loss for Gripen 14 to 12.
 
Our 2nd match was against a combined team of Scots & Lugi players and Gripen made several changes due to minor injuries with Henrik S joining, Ariel from Malmö & 2 from Växjö. This game was a step up from the first match and the Combined team started well scoring 2 tries one of which was converted. Again Gripen started poorly mostly due to lack of experience and unfamiliarity with each other. However, as the 1st half progressed Gripen came into the match more and more and scored a good try through Henrik S, converted by Emil. Late in the first half the Combined team scored their 3rd try after some poor defending and against the run of play.
 
The 2nd half again so the fortune's of Gripen improve and a second try was scored by Thomas F after a flowing move with the ball being passed through the forwards and backs, the conversion was missed. Gripen battled hard in the 2nd half and were unlucky to conside a 4th try and eventually ran out losers by 22 to 10 which was a decent result overall.
 
Both games proved valuable experience for Gripen and thoughout both games there were some very goods signs of the club moving forward.

Thanks to the Squad of Paris, Niklas R, Marcus P, Jonathan T, Henrik S, Herman, Max P, Thomas F, Emil, Björn, Seb J, Fredrik, Niklas A, Johan S, Kerstin and Gareth.