Last month’s arrival of the new English Premiership season gave fans the opportunity to enjoy some incisive attacking rugby, strong defensive resilience and all of the usual tricks and skills that come with the sport.
However, the part of the game that every fan enjoys is the try-scoring, and September’s Try of the Month contest was a very close call, with several high-quality finishes to choose from. However, in the end, it was given to Newcastle Falcons’ Argentina back Mateo Carreras, with his outstanding solo effort against Bristol Bears the first sign of what can be expected from him on the field in 2022/2023.
This try analysis will look at all of the different stages of this try to show how it was scored, picking out the tactics that helped to create it and the contributions that different players made during its construction.
Before looking at the try itself, it should be noted that this was a match in which Newcastle showed quality all around the field, with them dominating large parts of the match and blowing Bristol away at times. What was really good to see in this game was their teamwork, with them showing clever communication and precise passing around the pitch, and this try showed what they can do when all of that comes together for them.
The move started with scrum-half Sam Stuart fishing the ball out after it had hit the ground, before he sent it towards replacement centre Pete Lucock, in the black circle. The critical detail here is that Stuart didn’t hesitate before making this pass, because doing so would have given the Bears an opportunity to tackle him or to close his options down.
However, it was Lucock who played the key role here, because, once he had the ball, he opted not to release it immediately. As a result, the centre took control of the situation, waiting for the right moment to move the ball onto Carreras, who is available on the wing, and trying to lure one of the three Bears players ahead of him, which were hooker Will Capon, centre Sam Bedlow and lock John Hawkins, into moving forward and committing to an attempt to win the ball.
This only took a fraction of a second, with Hawkins, in the blue circle, the player to make the first move, but the fact that Lucock had the confidence to bide his time here showed that Newcastle have players in their squad who can judge situations and make good decisions.
The delay on Lucock’s pass to Carreras, which was made as soon as Hawkins went forwards, meant that individual Bristol players had been drawn ever so slightly inside the pitch, leaving just enough space open for the Argentina international to run through, evading the tackle attempt made by Bears forward Chris Vui in the process. As a result, he was able to make a significant amount of ground, putting the Falcons in a promising position to convert this opportunity.
However, the try was not yet secured, because Bristol still had full-back Rich Lane in a position to stop Carreras and end the move. The Argentine player saw this and made two clever switches in direction, first moving inside and then back outside and running past Lane, with the Bears player unable to match the speed that Carreras showed and therefore being unable to stop him as he ran past to score the try.
It was a really good score by the Falcons, but, as this analysis has shown, what made it was the tiny details in the build-up to it, including Lucock’s well-timed pass and Carreras’ sharp movement when behind the majority of the Bristol players, and it is these that Falcons head coach Dave Walder would have been most delighted about.
