Stratford RFC highlights session a big hit among players
WATCHING the footage of Stratford’s first five games of the season has been so useful that the players have requested another session soon, says director of rugby Richard Pepperell.
The Black and Whites have been capturing their Regional Two West Midlands games on camera for the 2022-23 campaign, a new first for the club, and Pepperell had condensed the clips into a 15-minute compilation for the squad to watch at Pearcecroft last Thursday.
Watching the highlights has enabled Stratford to see where they have been performing well and where they can improve ahead of their return to action against visitors Whitchurch this Saturday (3pm kick-off).
Talking about the session, Pepperell said: “It was really good and the players learnt a lot from it. The take-home message was that when we’re disciplined in possession and stick to the script, we make good yards and are able to perform.
“When we’re not disciplined we seem to change our minds halfway through play and that makes us look dysfunctional.”
He added: “Sometimes when you spend so much time looking at tactics, strategy and how you want the team to play, you can’t see what’s working and what’s not.
“It’s only when you step back from it all that you gain a better understanding and we’ll now be looking to implement what we learned from the video footage into our play.
“Overall, it was a really good session and the players have asked for more of them in the future.”
Pepperell hopes the lessons learned from the highlights session will mean all of Stratford’s players are “singing off the same hymn sheet” when Whitchurch make the visit to Pearcecroft.
The Shropshire outfit have not won since the opening day and have lost four games on the spin but Pepperell is under no illusion that Stratford are in for an easy game.
“There are not many easy games in this league and we will not be taking Whitchurch lightly,” he told the Herald.
“They’ve never given us a freebie before, so we will not expect one on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, captain Dan Kirby looks set to return to action at the end of this month.
The second row has been out since breaking his thumb in the opening day defeat to Ledbury on 3rd September. Kirby had the plaster removed last week and is going to be using the next few weeks as a chance to build his fitness back up.
“Eight weeks away from action is probably as good as I could have hoped for,” he told the Herald. “I’ll be using the next few weeks to get back to full fitness but it’s a shame I can’t play against Whitchurch, as there’s a good rivalry between the two clubs. We have had some really good battles with them for several years – it’s a ding-dong game.”