U8s vs Tyldesley & Leigh

David's Team - After weeks of anticipation we finally got our first competitive game of the season underway. The decent weather and playing in front of the clubhouse set the scene and the boys, the coaches and the parents alike. We were all ready to roll and you could feel the excitement.
The team that Alex and I coached this week consisted of Austin, Finn, James, Luke, Sam, Thomas, and Tom B. Our first game was against the Tyldesley playing in blue and white. Tyldesley were a well organised and disciplined side, one we struggled to break down as they kept their shape well. We took a little time to get into the swing of things, but the standards were good and the rugby was flowing. One things I was immediately impressed with was our tagging, which I think was up there with the best we have seen. After the first game, the boys were very aware of where things were not working and how they could fix them, supporting the runner and keeping their line were the things they immediately mentioned.
For the second and third games we played the two Leigh (Cobra's) sides, for the first game they were a player short so Thomas volunteered to be an honorary Cobra for a game. During the second game our boys were really starting to settle and they were doing their best to fix the things they identified from the first game. Although the line did still break down as the tag count progressed it was much less than in the first game, meaning we were getting towards the 6 tackles more often. What was also impressive was how the boys positioned themselves so that when the other team was in possession they tried to drive them to the wings, which often resulted in a turnover as the player went out of play. Finally the supporting play was much better meaning the ball carrier was had support each time.
For the final game there was the Warrington vs Woranges (Warrington in Orange) game. Both teams taking the things they had learned playing Leigh and Tyldesley and applying them to their mates. In this game we saw both sides head to head
Highlights for me came from the supporting play, once the boys started to support the flow and speed of the game really improved. This speed ultimately ended in Sam getting tagged almost at the opposition try line, he immediately looked for the pass and popped one up for Austin as he ran through - perfect.

Our player of the day was Tom B, he showed all the qualities we asked for, teamwork, focus, desire - a well-deserved winner.

Dom’s Team - My team today was; Freddie, Jamie, Owen, Teddy, Thom, Will and also Fionn making his debut. From kick off in the first game it was obvious very quickly to the boys that the new bigger size of pitch was going to make things very different this year, but it quickly became apparent that with 2 extra players per team that the extra space didn’t actually feel quite as big. It also became quickly apparent that this season won’t be the same end to end score-fests that U7 rugby often was and we quickly saw the defensive work we’ve done in pre-season shining through with a consistently excellent defensive work rate. Attacking wise Freddie crossed for our first try of the season and other tries came from Teddy, Owen, Fionn and Thom. After this first game speaking with the Leigh coach we both discussed how blown away we were with the standard. Our 2nd game was against Tyldesley who were very raw in terms of understanding a number of the rules, making for a stop start and scrappy game. Again though, our defensive efforts were excellent with Teddy in particular leading the line up and taking tags for fun. The offensive highlight of this game was an almost length of the field try from Will who outpaced everyone to touch down in the corner. The 3rd game was against the other Leigh side, with Will making up their numbers by playing the first half for them. Tries came from Thom, Teddy, Jamie and Will again, although the highlight of this game was a mazy, windy run from Freddy beating every player on the Leigh side to score. Teddy lent his help to Leigh for the 2nd half and we again showed our qualities with some excellent passing and amazing defence all the way through to the end. All the boys put in a really sterling effort and showed everything we’ve worked on through pre-season. Jamie had an excellent day making a number of strong runs, but Player of the Day had to go to the debutant Fionn who looked like he’d been with us for the last 3 years and not 3 weeks. Fionn demonstrated great passing and running, but his teamwork in setting the defensive line continually was what impressed most. With knock on’s being one of the new rules; it was amazing to see that we probably only dropped 3 passes all day. We still have a lot to work on, particularly; getting onside, running straight and passing to the player in the best position, but overall a brilliant start to the season to pick up how we left off last year.