U10's Away v. Mansfield and Bakewell

A short trip north, where we were met with hospitality from the hosts, Mansfield, a very large number of supportive parents and smiling boys who were keen to get back to enjoying their rugby.

Sunshine on another fresh and bitterly cold but dry morning away at Mansfield saw the Blue and the Red squads play a three way fixture against one large Mansfield squad, a Bakewell team and finished with an exhilarating game against each other!

BLUE SQUAD; Henry B, Joe D, James, Matthew G, Harley, Calum, Rudi, Reuben, Joshi and Dom

The Blues played 3 matches against Mansfield, Bakewell and the final game versus Newark Reds. As coaches we want to see players having fun, developing and enjoying rugby. The Blues did this in the matches today and hopefully learnt a lot about how pitch sizes can influence how a game is played.

Playing an away fixture exposes players to many different experiences which you will not get down Kelham road, The boys leant today that Mansfield mini's have smaller pitches which can concentrate the game, one missed tackle can be costly on small pitches as we found out three times early on in the first match. Believing you can do something is sometimes the biggest battle. When the team began to tackle they developed and won the ball back and scored tries.

Something to work on is looking and scanning the field before you get the ball to see where the opposition is. This then gives you a choice of which way to run. Do you want to make contact and run into their team or do you want to move the ball into space where the opposition have no players?

Taking the second option saw the blues running, passing and scoring some great tries especially in their second and third matches.

Special mentions go to Calum and Rudi who both joined the Blue squad for the fixture, It was great to see them both taking on players and competing for the ball. Equally impressed with the lads making them both part of the team which was great for both their confidence.......the lads really showed themselves to be a squad and not separate teams.

Matthew and Reuben matched the challenge of completing a high number of tackles. Harley was ever present and did everything very well and was awarded the Man of Steel for his efforts.

RED SQUAD; Lewis, Freddie, Oscar, Elliot, Ethan, Noah, Alexander, Joe R, Matthew W and Jonah

The Reds squad played 3 games on a very small pitch against, Bakewell, Mansfield and their great pals, the blue squad.

The boys really enjoyed free flowing rugby by doing the basics well and by being very competitive at the breakdown in any ruck and maul.

In games one and two, missed tackles were very rare and whilst some of the opposition may have enjoyed a size advantage, the determination of our boys was something that coaches and parents were very proud of.

In attack, there were occasions, where we saw the boys draw in a defending player before moving the ball out to a supporting player who was in space, which was very impressive. On others, the boys made the mistake of running back into contact or taking the wrong option and running down the narrow side. This poor decision making was exaggerated because of the size of the pitch. This meant that the boys did not cross the line as many times as they should have.

In the final game, the Newark boys had the enjoyment of playing against each other, witnessed some of the biggest hits, some terrific try saving tackles and some great banter between the players and parents!

A very rewarding day again for both squads, simple things will make these boys terrific!

Training as usual down Kelham road next week.

Written by: Nigel Buck and Andy Rush
Verified by: Alan Staines