Under 9's Camp Hill v Bournville

The anticipation and excitement of the first contact game took a grip of both players and coaches alike, so I’ll give you my thoughts from a very sketchy memory of what occurred.

We played three games (or was it four) and came second in all of them, though narrowly in a couple. Bournville had the advantage of a couple of matches under their belts and it was evident from the start that they had a better grasp of the rules and general game situation. Their two strong runners did a great deal of damage, but beyond that honours were fairly even. Our tackling improved through the session with Will and Kane showing their training field skills could translate nicely into a match situation with some great ankle level tackles. We were slow to close the opposition down early on, but again this got better and made the job of closing down the ball carrier much easier. All in all the defence was very good for a first effort, but always room for improvement.

In attack we tried hard, as ever, but this is where we didn’t quite have the right angle on the rules. Once tackled we tried to release the ball too quickly which led to many turn overs and knock ons. In this game the defence can’t touch the ball so there’s no need to pass until the tacklers have let go and retreated. Coaches of course take full responsibility for lacking a basic understanding of U9’s rugby (or any level of rugby for that matter) and will hopefully correct said problem before this weeks games against Walsall. Possible 10am start if everybody is up for it – Sam will confirm via email.

So, try scorers: Dan got one (I would remember that), Joe got a couple I think, and maybe Owen (if he didn’t he deserved one), beyond that I’m struggling.

Email me any I’ve missed and I’ll amend accordingly!!

Note to self – buy gum shield for son this week to avoid further tears and humiliation (mine)

See you all Sunday at Camps for hopefully our first W.

Ali