2011 European Championship Diary (Part Two)

After a relaxing few hours it was time to focus on Rugby again. I left for a tactical meeting and then began to prepare to face the reigning European Champions!

Me made an explosive start, opting to use our two 1.0 players, Bulbul Hussain and Myles Pearson to shut down 3.5, Lars Mertens. This worked well but we began to struggle on offence and so switched to a more conventional line-up, which saw us open up a slender lead through the second and third quarters. We switched again to 3.5, 2.5, 2.0, 0, taking advantage of Kylie Grimes half point concession as a female player. The change worked and all seemed well as GB took a three-goal lead into the final two minutes.

However, Belgium rallied at the death, forcing two nervy turnovers from us. A wayward pass meant they even took possession in the last play of the game with an opportunity to force overtime. Happily, GB held strong to take a thrilling 48-47 victory and march into the European final.

The other semi-final wasn’t nearly as close, with Sweden out-classing a tired looking French side. The Swedes registered a 55-34 win to book their place alongside GB in the Championship game.

Sun 9th Oct; It was a long final day to round off a long tournament. Everyone was feeling it after six hard days, but our job wasn’t done yet. We prepared in the same way with our daily tactical meeting and spent the rest of our time counting down the minutes until tip-off.

Every team has their final today. Ireland started it all; taking victory over The Netherlands in their 11th/12th play-off, right through to Belgium securing a bronze medal with a last gasp 52-51 win over the French.

We started with, Sehmi, Anthony, Ash and Pearson (2.5, 2.5, 2, 1), while the Swedes opted for Sandberg, Hjert, Jansson and Wahlberg (3.5, 2.5, 1.5, 0.5). Both sides traded goals and the game stayed pretty even in the first with Sweden having a slight edge. Substitutions matched up GB’s, Phipps with Sweden’s, Uhlmann (both 3.5) in a fascinating battle but it was elsewhere on court that Sweden began to pressure us. Jansson (1.5) did a lot of damage picking on offence and the Swedes’ key proved extremely tough to break down.

We lost ground either side of the half, struggling to stop the Swedes stretching their lead. Frustratingly, a lot of our turnovers were unforced, with Sweden making us really work for theirs. By the start of the fourth, we were six down and despite our best efforts, we couldn’t narrow the gap. The game finished 42-49 in Sweden’s favour. While we were hugely disappointed, we have to give the Swedes credit. They had executed their game plan well and kept their errors to a minimum.

Immediately after the game came the medal ceremony. I desperately wanted a Gold from these Championships but was proud to receive my Silver medal and happy to see how much experience our squad had gained from this tournament. We now have a brief time to reflect and consolidate before going forward into the biggest year of our lives, 2012!

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