We welcomed Petersfield today who arrived en mass with 21 players for a training session. A total of 58 under 10s took to the field to warm up under the charge of Jamie Campbell-Baldwin before enjoying some small sided games to get the hands warmed up and boys focused.
The main training session consisted of a ruck, maul and scrum exercise to promote working in packs, communication and speed at the breakdown. All the coaches had their work cut out with the number of players but it seemed to go well.
There was just time for a 15 minute each way game on either side of the pitch to satisfy the players competitive needs and show they had grasped what they had learned. There were lots of tries (maybe too many from a defensive perspective) mainly created by players breaking the line. Petersfield showed great skill in the maul by ripping the ball off our players too easily; something we'll work on next week. We had some excellent rucking from both sides with the boys showing more confidence in their decision making process. Both games ended in a draw which pretty much told the story; two very evenly matched sides (remember these two sides met in last years Plate final at Counties tournament).
Henry Hughes and Henry Moran created some excellent team work down the right hand wing and 2 superb offloads from Henry H earned him Play of the Day. Samuel Willsteed nearly won it with a wonderful inside step and release in one of the small sided games.
Leo showed good aggression and technique to earn Defense of the Day.
Charlie McLaughlin earned Attack of the Day for his consistent threat going forward.
Thanks to Rufus Millar who ran the line well for me - we hope to see you back on the pitch soon!
Great stuff boys!
There were a few minor injuries today which mainly came from the breakdown - there will be a few stud marks in the morning. I hope everyone is ok and enjoyed themselves.
Next week we have a training session where we will be looking at Scrums, Defensive formations, Mauling technique and will finish off with some games.
Thanks to everyone attending today, you all represented the club very well (as always!).
See you next week
Monty