Qualification Group F

Final Table

1. UK 7-1 (Qualified for WC)
2. Slovakia 4-4 (Qualified for WC)
3. Portugal 4-4
4. France 4-4
5. Colombia 1-7

Results

Week 1 - 23.01.15
Colombia vs. Portugal 38-63
United Kingdom vs. France 38-28
Bye: Slovakia

Week 2 - 30.01.15
Portugal vs. Slovakia 31-52
Colombia vs. United Kingdom 7-59
Bye: France

Week 3 - 13.02.15
Slovakia vs. France 28-63
Portugal vs. United Kingdom 21-49
Bye: Colombia

Week 4 - 20.02.15
United Kingdom vs. Slovakia 38-35
France vs. Colombia 49-21
Bye: Portugal

Week 5 - 27.02.15
Slovakia vs. Colombia 35-21
France vs. Portugal 56-42
Bye: United Kingdom

Week 6 - 06.03.15
Portugal vs. Colombia 63-31
France vs. United Kingdom 42-52
Bye: Slovakia

Week 7 - 13.03.15
Slovakia vs. Portugal 56-49
United Kingdom vs. Colombia 44-21
Bye: France

Week 8 - 20.03.15
France vs. Slovakia 35-34
United Kingdom vs. Portugal 49-59
Bye: Colombia

Week 9 - 27.03.15
Slovakia vs. United Kingdom 42-49
Colombia vs. France 55-49
Bye: Portugal

Week 10 - 03.04.15
Colombia vs. Slovakia 28-73
Portugal vs. France 70-42
Bye: United Kingdom

Last edited on 2015-04-06 at 17:58

Week 1 Match Report - 23.01.15

UK vs France

A sellout crowd was in attendance at the Piedish today to witness the start of the UK's latest World Cup qualification campaign.

New UK NT Coach Phiba handed 9 players their debut in today's match.

Finlay Marshall OL
Marcus Millar DL
McKenzye Cunningham LB
Brian Taylor LB
Campbell Borland CB
Damien O'Sullivan SF
Brodie Parkes STCB
Struan Fitzgerald STCB
Brendan Stevenson KR

Facing a top quality French team in the opener was always going to be a tough tie and it was a nervous first game for Coach Phiba.

Although the UK never trailed it was a close match throughout, but the UK offense was too strong for the French secondary and scored on 6 of 10 drives.

UK QB McMillan had a QB rating of 99.07, completing on 25 of 58 attempts for a total of 450 yards and 5 TDs. However, the fans will expect to see a higher completion percentage in future games. The OL protected their QB well, conceding no sacks and only 4 pressures.

Leonard was a beast as usual, scoring 2 TDs with a total of 133 yards from 9 reception on 16 targets. WRs Gardiner (2 TDs, 78 yards, 6 from 13) and Barratt (1 TD, 165 yards, 7 from 16) also performed well. Barratt's TD was a 71 yard bomb which came at a crucial time in the 4th quarter, as the French had just pulled the score back to 24-21.

Madden (TE) had the quietest day out of the UK receiving core, he failed to score a TD and put up only 74 yards with 3 receptions from 9 targets. However his longest reception of the game, a 35 yard catch, came on a critical 3rd and 10 late in the 4th quarter. This allowed the UK to march down the field and score their final TD of the day which put the game out of reach for the French.

Kicker Ethan Leach also contributed to the scoring with a 41 yard FG from 1 attempt.

The UK defense had a decent match but better things will be expected from them going forward. However, they did shut out the French offense in both the 1st and 3rd quarter. Debutant DL Millar put in a solid performance with 4 pressures on the French QB, DL Thomson (2) and LB Holland (1) also contributed a combined 3 pressures. There were no sacks or interceptions by either defense today, but the UK coaching staff will be running drills this week and hoping for both in next week's match.

The UK defense gave up a total of 4 passing TDs in the match for 33, 67, 20 and 22 yards. New LB Taylor missed tackles on 2 of these TDs while new SF O' Sullivan and CB Coghlan both missed 1. Coghlan's performance will be further analysed by the coaching staff as he had the lowest start and end rating of any UK player today.

Overall, the campaign has started well as the sole objective from today's match was to secure the win.

Final score: UK 38 France 28

Last edited on 2015-01-23 at 17:18

Great start Phiba!

Thanks all

And again a big thanks to the UK scouting team for their work in lead up to the game

Nice start Phiba. Keep it up mate.