A Letter To Season Members From Free Jacks Assistant Coach, Will Webster

4/27/24

Dear Season Members,

One of the nice things about sport is that win or lose, it’s a very short time before you dust yourself down and recalibrate for the following week. There’s never much time to bask in the sun or to feel sorry for yourself. Whilst bodies, egos and some confidence were somewhat tender over the rest of the weekend, by Monday morning it was a case of taking the learnings and becoming a better team to take on Los Angeles this weekend.

Whilst we produced some good rugby and uncharacteristically didn’t convert several clean opportunities, the collective feeling was that we’d been a couple of percent off emotionally and against good teams, this puts you at a severe disadvantage. We had a tough day in the scrum for the second week running against a big Seattle pack which kept them with a foothold in the game and meant we were unable to stamp our authority on controlling momentum. Our substitutes were excellent when they came on and very nearly swung the game back into our scoreboard favor but a late Seattle penalty just dented our hopes in taking points from the game. In particular, Kaleb Geiger and Jackson Thiebes were very industrious and physical off the bench. Seeing a big tighthead prop finishing tries from 30 meters out will always be one of the great sights on a rugby field (in my eyes anyhow!)

A huge mention must be made to Kyle Ciquera and Paula Balekana who both notched up their 50th MLR appearance which is a testament to their consistency, durability and professionalism. It was fantastic that they could achieve this in front of the Fort Quincy supporters, friends and family and we enjoyed connecting with them both after the game. 

Following a mixed couple of weeks (a great away win in Houston and the Seattle loss), we head across to the west coast to take on Los Angeles on Sunday. There’ll be players with points to prove for various reasons making the trip and as coaches, there’s an exciting blend of energy, cohesion and hunger. We’ve had a good week’s training and will be ready for LA’s unpredictable nature. They have some dangerous players and X-Factor in their side but a gritty hard-nosed New England performance is the expectation! 

As always, thank you for the support and we looking forward to being back at Fort Quincy next week against conference rivals, Chicago!

Let’s RIDE

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