The mental resilience I wrote about yesterday was everywhere today as the team faced Canada, ranked 3 in the world, in the first of two GB matches scheduled for today. GB came out of the blocks with a clear determination to get the job done and by the end of Q1 were 5 points ahead at 15-10. Canada bravely fought back in Q2 and not only absorbed the GB pressure but also forced some errors to win the quarter, though GB did sufficient to remain ahead by 26-23. Head Coach returned his strongest line up at the start of Q3 which brought immediate dividends and a number of turnovers in GB’s favour. As a result they built a 12 point lead and went into the final quarter 40-32. GB was intent on not letting up and increased the pressure again to finally win the match 55-43. After a number of recent defeats at Canada’s hands, not forgetting the one in Rio where Canada won by one point in extra time, this was a sweet victory!
It is right to acknowledge that Canada is not the team it was and they certainly missed the talented Zac from their line-up. Nevertheless, Canada has maintained a fully funded programme and for this tournament brought more professional staff than it did athletes, and are in a far stronger position than probably any other team here. Neither should anything detract from our own performance where for long periods of play we were clinical in the application of our game plan. Our work rate, commitment and belief are stand-out factors in our overall performance which the athletes can be very proud of.
Our second match of the day was against Colombia ranked a more modest 14 in the world. There was no sign of fatigue from the early game as the GB athletes stormed out of the blocks and were 5 tries ahead after just 3 minutes with Aaron Phipps and Jim Roberts cutting through the opposition, and the whole team tying them up in the penalty areas. By the end of Q1 we were 14-6 ahead and for Colombia it was already difficult to see a way back. A relentless barrage from GB followed with Stuart Robinson and Gavin Walker taking over where Jim and Aaron had left off. The score quickly rose to risen 23-9 in our favour and the coach changed the lines again to bring on Myles Pearson, Ayaz Bhuta, Aaron Phipps and Muhammad Islam. They did not disappoint and quickly added a further 6 tries without conceding any – a tremendous achievement. It was more of the same in Q4 with the match finally ending at GB 57 Colombia 20.
And that ended a great day’s work! Only France now stands between us and a semi-final place, which if we play as we did today, will see us in our first semi-final of a World Championships since 2006! But that is too far ahead to think about. We have a big match to focus on now and France has shown in this tournament that they are a team which is on the up – we are a scalp they would love – game on at 7am UK time!
The rest of the day’s results:
Colombia 50 – Poland 43
France 39 – US 54
Denmark 49 – Australia 61
NZ 52 – Ireland 42
Sweden 46 – Japan 48
France 51 – Poland 39
David Pond
