U10s Newark v. Kesteven

On a misty Sunday morning at Kelham road, Newark U10’s played two squads both playing a match against the two Kesteven sides, (four games in total). Newark Red and Blue squads were selected to play.

RED SQUAD (coached by Richard and Vince)

Freddie, Matthew W, Noah, Oscar, Joe R, Alexander, Luke, Max. Due to the half term holidays not all the squad could make it and two replacements stepped in at short notice; Blake and Finn. This was the first game that the boys had played together as a team this season.

The boys got off to a great start dominating the first game and played great rugby right from the start. The boys held the line, put constant defensive pressure on K’s, recycled the ball at the breakdown excellently and went for every tackle. In short all of their training came together and this was reflected in the score and their performance.

The second game did not start so well against the stronger of the two K teams. The boys had a shaky start and found themselves being pushed back, holes appeared in the line and a few spilt balls impacted our attacking flow. However the boys regrouped excellently at half time and found their early form against a strong K’s team which led to an outstanding second half performance. Player of the week awarded to Freddie for his relentless pressure and tackling prowess! Especially well done to Finn stepping up and playing his first game for Newark having only just started playing rugby this season!

BLUE SQUAD (coached by Nigel and Rushy)

Ted, Jo D, Dom, James, Reuben, Joshi, Harley, Matthew G, Henry and Alex. This was only the second game the Blue squad have played this season, but unlike the Reds they had a shaky start coming under relentless pressure from a strong well drilled K’s team. Our determination to “take them on” head to head, fighting hard to make 1 meter showed some real determination but however proved fruitless, under pressure we lost our defensive shape overcommitting at the breakdown, resulting in a number of gaps which K’s exploited. However most impressively the boys showed some real character regrouping at the break and started applying the game plan in the second half, creating the space and moving the ball. Although neither team scored in the second half it was a hard fought contest which better reflected the Blue teams’ capability.

The Blues took the learning from the 1st game and applied it right from the starting whistle, moving the ball and creating some excellent free flowing rugby. They dominated throughout the game linking some fantastic passages of play, either or both play makers Teddy and James being involved in most phases! Man of Steel awarded to Matthew G for showing great technique and determination in the Ruck to turn over the ball which after several further passages of play with some excellent recycling of the ball created a try for him to score!

All in all we had four excellent hard contested games, all the boys played really well. They looked for space, rucked and tackled hard and kept their heads. Most pleasing was that when both squads came under pressure, they listened to the coaches, regrouped and pulled together as a team, getting the game plan back on track when it was not going their way! Keep up the good work in training and those happy smiling faces!

Training as usual next week.

Written by: Richard Marshall & Alan Staines
Verified by: Alan Staines & Andy Rush