1st Game of the Season

Well, after the first few weeks of the kids being taught and practicing contact and hold, it was time to put in what they had practiced over and over. Midhurst came with a total of 13 players, which made two teams, Bognor having 14 players so again two teams were available. After the first hour of drills and warm up, came the 11th hour, where it was to begin.
The first team to play Midhurst consisted of Louis Wheelhouse, Adam Halligan, Summer Riley, George Joyce, Reuben Wye, Archie Wood and Eddie Pemberton. The second team consisted of Cassian Clarke, Harvey Cronk, Reuben Newell, Liam Carroll, Owen Page, Bobby Jones and Daniel Cowley.
The teams were sorted, it was time to get on with it, due to times it was only 5 minutes each way. Bognor won the toss and started, the ball was played to Louis who went off down the left only to be forced into touch by the Midhurst defence. Midhurst started to come and play, passing of the tackle however Bognor's defence was such that they forced Midhurst to knock on, with the advantage Bognor broke there defence and scored. For the next few minutes it was a strong defence by Bognor, but Midhurst were managed to off load the ball well to keep the game flowing and to keep the tackle numbers low by Bognor. They broke though and although a last gap tackle just the line by Bognor, the Midhurst player managed to put the ball over his head on the floor to score the equalizing try. The tempo rose and Bognor then began to find the space putting another two tries in before half time. A quick pep talk and the second half began. It was not long before a mistake by Midhurst, who knocked the ball on, caused Bognor to pick up and run and score in the corner. Midhurst replied with a quick try, however Bognor managed to put another try in, making the final score 5-2.

The second team came on, after watching there team mates play, and were in the mood to carry on. Some very strong breaks through the defence of Midhurst. Harvey and Reuben (2) as he is known settled in well bearing in mind they were only 3 weeks into there Rugby journey, there tackling was immense, especially one of Reuben's where he just flattened the Midhurst player right in front of me, best tackle of the day, which I commented on at the end. Bognor were strong, supporting one another after the tackle, Midhurst to there credit were very good at the offload from the tackle/hold to keep the game flowing and always looking out wide for the space. It was end to end rugby, however Bognor seemed to be the stronger team winning Game 2.

Due to time constraints, there was only time for Team 1 to play Midhurst Team 2 for 5 minutes, and Team 2 to play Midhurst Team 1 for 5 minutes, however the resounding result, meant that Bognor won all there games. Winning aside, both the kids at Bognor and Midhurst were a credit to themselves, parents and coaches alike, thoroughly enjoying themselves, followed by a nice hot dog afterwards together.

There are some development areas which were highlighted during the game, but that's to be expected after the first game. Coaches were very chuffed thou!!