“BLOODER MATCH #3

A HUGE challenge awaits us, facing the #1 ranked team in Underworld, coached by a former SWL champion in Coach Tomay.

Objectives

1. SPP on positional pieces. Priority is Mummy and Wight, secondary is Ghoul as they score more naturally.
2. Protect said positional pieces where possible. Do not let them die! This is just warm up.

Goals

1. 3db with the Mummys on goblins and rats. Aggressive blitzing with the Wights on snotlings.
2. Score with Ghouls- time to skill them up, and the dodge will come in handy in this game for protection.

Plan

1. Secure ball safely on offence, advance up the field to score on T8, maximising blocks along the way.
2. Sound defensive drive, minimising applied pressure to reduce risks to positional pieces. Position so we cannot be easily cut off and fouled.

Match Report

Undead receive and go to bash town, causing 3 removals in first 3 blocks, earning SPP for two casualties on a mummy and wight. Great success.

BUT… the bomber inducement, which we have not yet faced before, causes us to position a little spread out. As a result, we do not group together, and lean in to the base and bash.

We allow a mummy to be blocked on 2 dice, and a ghoul to be hit and removed. Reckless. Furthermore, the cunning coach Tommy sees an opportunity to dodge into loose cage and find 2db on the ball. It does not get that far due to failed dodge, but we are rattled. We then allow another 1db blitz after dodge into unsafe cage, which does not come off.

The Underworld withdraw their offence, leaving troll on the line. It is a ‘sucker trap’ which we fall into. It forces a failed block, causes a casualty, and then forces a rush blitz which results in KO Mummy. All of a sudden we are 9 defending 11… We could have handled this better and been more patient.

We are short on numbers, an ingress point is created which we must protect, then the Underworld use their speed and dodge to switch sides and leave us stranded. As our team develops we will have more ghoul speed to help in these situations.

Learnings

1. PROTECT

Same as last game… our opponents are finding many dice on our ball carrier. We must do better to protect, and consider all possibilities of sacking the ball via rushing, cage diving, and unfavourable sacking.

2. RUSHING

We are learning in every game… these non-critical rushes are a problem. So far we have had a ghoul die, a ghoul KO, a ghoul fail a touchdown, and a mummy KO… Patience is required. Rush, only if necessary, and only if willing to lose the piece to gain position.

3. PATIENCE

It is a game of timing and tempo, when to surge, when to hold. We required more patience in this regard, and then possibly more aggression if the former pays off.


Summary

We are outclassed, pure and simple. We do not manage to find any dice on the Gutter Runner, however Coach Tommy finds many on our ball carrier.

The screens used by our opponent are superb, and the speed and reposition is used to full effect.

We secure some SPP on a mummy, both wights, and two ghouls (one will now skill up), but once again zombies steal the MVP and can away from positional.

We will have some very decorated zombies, but I fear it is a waste of TV in this environment where bomber is active. ”