Another fantastic team performance saw Ashfield Under 11’s battle on to beat a big Ilkeston side. The first half was pretty even with the score at 21-19 at half time but then Ashfield took the game by the scruff of the neck and played some lovely running rugby and opened the lead beyond Ilkeston.

Under 11’s included Kyle Allen, Lewis Beastall, Ethan Giles, Harry B, Callum Close, Cellan Shacklock, Lucy Payne, Rebekah Hickman, Kyle Stout, Laura Elliott and William Redfern.

A big thank you to Ilkeston for lending us a player in each half, Ellis and Charlie played some great rugby.

A nervy start from Ashfield saw some end to end rugby with a lot of missed tackles. It took a good 10 minutes to settle down but then the rugby started to flow. Again a whole team performance and some really good pressure meant Ashfield could start to exert themselves and take the game to Ilkeston. Tries came from Lewis Beastall, Cellan Shacklock (2), Callum Close, Charlie (Ilkeston player with a fine run through his own teammates) and Lucy Payne with a hard fought , bruising run over the line.

Forget the tries though, it was the conversions that I am really proud of. We hadn’t identified a kicker before and a quick practice beforehand was inconclusive so the players decided to take it in turns. William Redfern (2), Cellan Shacklock, Callum Close and Lewis Beastall all slotted the conversions straight through the middle of the posts and added another valuable 10 points to the score.

Credit must go to the Ilkeston side who gave Ashfield a really hard game which was commented on by the Ashfield players in our debrief.

Well done to you all.