SteveMerrick
Allen Oxlade (6)
I am disappointed to see the trend in colts of having as many as four fresh reserves on standby for the 1st grade team.
A team that has 4 fresh reserves will have 8 good players only getting about half a game. This is not a good thing for the players of that team, but if this tactic proves successful as it most likely will, then other teams will also feel that they will need to use fresh reserves also.
For example, how can Gordon justify having 2 fresh reserves for 1sts when their 2nds get beaten by 90 points. Surely it would have been better if those 2 players backed up after playing seconds.
And who wants to train hard all season, only to get half a game each week.
I agree it is simply frther evidence that club and school rugby continues to model themselves on the professional structures, talk is now of the match day 22 rather than the starting XV. At colts level you would like to think of all players benefiting from playing a full game in whatever grade is available, as you point out it is not as if Gordon 2nd Grade Colts is setting the world on fire - so is the club essentially saying we really only are interested in 1st Grade colts? Sad day for a club to take that view particularly in an U/20's competition.
When School 1st XV's start the practise of fresh reserves who havent played in a 2nd XV game prior we can safely assume we have the lost plot...