DURHAM CITY WINNERS U9’s

What a Brilliant day out for Durham City U9’s.

3 Squads, 15 games, 66 tries, 330 points scored, 2 pool winners, County Cup semi finalists, and County Cup winners.

A massive thank you to parents for their continued support, especially those who kept the scores and those parents who kept the players warmed up and occupied between matches, in particular ; Kevin Broom, Patrick Steel, Chris Brown and Peter Wright, Simon Beanland, David Carmichael, Dawn Wright.

Player list / squads :

REDS​
James Humphries , Oliver McKenna, Zak Gilbert, Ben Robinson, Charlie Davies, Oliver Vince, Will Carmichael, Ben Patterson, Cameron Brown.
WHITES
Matthew Nicol, Harry Hughes , Andrew Kirkup , Joseph Bennett, Oscar Fisher, Dylan Simpson, Michael James, Nicholas Steel
BLUES
Jake Dickinson, Ben Glanville, William McKenna, William Beanland, Alexander Lythgoe, Haydn Jackson, Jack Murray, Conor Murray, Ben Wright

Just lately when playing matches we have not quite been getting the playing time that we want, however with 20 teams playing in the Cup at Consett divided into 4 pools this meant plenty of rugby to look forward to for the Durham City boys:

Pool A - Sunderland, Hartlepool, Stockton, DCRFC Reds, Redcar
Pool B - West Hartlepool, Bishop Auckland, Barnard Castle, Westoe, Houghtn-le-Spring
Pool C - Consett, Guisborough, DCRFC Whites, Yarm, Middlesborough Tykes
Pool D - Gateshead,Billingham, Middlesborough Lions, DCRFC Blues, Darlington Mowden Park

The REDS had a tough pool to deal with. Sunderland the eventual finalists, Hartlepool and Stockton all have big physical squads, able to put their heads down and plough through many defences. Sunderland in particular has a powerful squad this year and they are relentless in putting teams under pressure. All three Durham City teams can testify to that as they all played Sunderland at some point during the day. The REDS played some good rugby, big call outs for Will Carmichael always looking to move the ball, playing a good #9 position. Cameron Brown again put in a stunning tackler’s performance. The REDS are getting into positions to make the tackle; they just need to follow through to conclusion. The Durham REDs played really well, and more important than the match scores was the clear improvement in their skill levels with the ball, running and tackling as well as an increased awareness of one another. You should all be very proud of yourselves.

Reds:
Pool
DCRFC Reds 10 v 20 Stockton
DCRFC Reds 10 v 25 Redcar (James, Oliver McK)
DCRFC Reds 0 v 20 Hartlepool
DCRFC Reds 0 v 45 Sunderland

The WHITES played some superb rugby and had a clean sweep of wins in their pool matches. The WHITES played the first game with a full complement of players then had to battle out the remaining four games (3 pool, 1 semi) with a bare squad of seven. Taking this into account who knows how far they may have gone if they had had the luxury of rotation. Given this, it was unfortunate that they came across a highly charged Sunderland Team in the semi final and if things had gone for them could easily have come out on top in this tight and aggressive game. One of the areas we need to focus on going forward is keeping the tackles below shoulder height especially once fatigue sets in, during the Sunderland semi-final both teams allowed more than the odd high tackle to slip into the game. The players should be extremely proud of themselves for the way they dug in and kept going to the very end. The standard of play improved game on game, and the team spirit throughout was highly commendable. Some fantastic individual and team performances during the course of the day. “is it a bird, is it a plane”, no, its Michael James flying through the air like Superman, clamping himself to the oncoming attackers in an amazing show of courage and strength, a Man of the Day performance by him. Joseph Bennett again impressed with his deceivingly effective running and Nicholas Steel for his drive and spirit, he liken a couple of the boys ended the game in a little pain from injury, but they all kept their heads up and played on until the end and played the last minute with the same passion that they played the first. Every single player did brilliantly, showing huge amounts of energy and enthusiasm. If things had gone in their favour were worthy of a Final slot.

Whites:
Pool
DCRFC Whites 30 v 25 Yarm (Dylan, Matthew x2, Michael, Nicholas, Harry)
DCRFC Whites 25 v 20 Guisborough (Oscar, Michael, Dylan, Joseph, Nicholas)
DCRFC Whites 40 v 15 Consett (Joseph x 5, Nicholas, Harry x2)
DCRFC Whites 25 v 20 Middlesborough Tyke (Oscar x2, Nicholas x2 , Joseph)
Semi-final
DCRFC Whites 0 v 15 Sunderland (Pool A winners)

The BLUES had a great day, turning on the style and upping their game when playing against the more formidable opposition, however, the team have to work hard to keep the focus and concentration against some of the less powerful opponents. The BLUES scored 28 tries in the pool section with a reply of only 1 from the opposition, always good to have one eye on any potential of a count back! The semi final was a very different affair, Barnard Castle was a team the boys had never played before, but looking at their very strong results from their Pool it was obvious they were full of confidence and this proved to be well founded. Although Durham BLUES ran in 7 tries to Barnard 2, that result didn’t really show the difficult nature of the game. In hindsight this turned out to be the ideal warm up for the clash to come in the final. Barnard Castle hunted and tackled in packs; in their all black kits they resembled a big black cloud engulfing the Durham boys each time we tried to break though. It must be said that Barnard made some exceptional tackles, and had an impressive display of different ankle taps, full flat out dives, you name it, to prevent a try from the Durham players. You could see as the game wore on this effort took a toll on them as tackles started to get dangerously high and charging over the ball at placement, taking out the scrumhalf became more common place. So a fantastic win, well deserved and Durham BLUES' best performance to date. If they could keep up the concentration and energy levels, wining the final was a real possibility. The Final was against Sunderland, who had beaten our other two squads earlier in the day and we hoped that the REDs and WHITEs had managed to sap some of their energy a little to give the BLUES a small edge. It was a very tough, aggressive and tense affair with no side giving any quarter, the game ebbed and flowed with neither team looking to take the game by storm. Durham crept ahead with a try from Jack Murray mid way through the first half giving Durham something to hang onto. It was at this point that Durham defended as good if not better than at any time in the previous five games, but unfortunately started to make a few basic handling errors when in possession of the ball. This led to the BLUES being pinned back in their own half for a large parts of the remaining game. At one point our loose handing and slack passing caused the ball to bobble over our own try line and if it wasn’t for the quick pick up by Will Beanland, Sunderland may well have got a hand to it for a try. The long day and tough tackling was taking its toll, slight injuries and knocks were now becoming more common place, a particular high tackle on Alexander Lythgoe as he sprinted through the defensive line had his legs going in one direction whilst his head went the other, demonstrated that tiredness was setting for the opposition as well. Half time came just in time to reset the nerves and focus again ready for the final most important half of the day. You could see each boy’s commitment to giving every ounce of energy and concentration in this final half, and they were not prepared to leave the pitch with any regrets. The second half was mostly now played within Durham’s 15 meter line; with the opposition doing everything they could to break down a focused and determined defensive Durham Blue line. Durham blue players soaked up the pressure like professionals. They read the game exceptionally well recognising that Sunderland’s main tactic in attack was to’ pop’ the ball, leaving the Sunderland support players having little option but to put their head down and try to charge back into the area that the previous tackle had been made. All the boys picked up their game; Ben Wright and Jake Dickinson were awesome, making explosive tackles with relentless and metronomic rhythm. The gain ball line seemed to remain in the same place, play after play after play. When Sunderland did try and move it wide the other boys were there to add another big hit along with a drive (or pick up and walk them – Ben Glanville) into touch. When we did get turn over ball, even though we went back to basics for the second half, we were still a little too hesitant with the ball in hand and made basic errors giving the ball back to the opposition. Half way through the second half, Alexander Lythgoe had a break for the full length of the pitch to put a much needed second try on the board; this released a little, but not much of the tension, as two tries in these games can be made within very quick succession of each other. It took a late 3rd from Haydn Jackson, who again ran the full length of the pitch to finally let the boys start to believe they had enough in hand to complete the task. To Durham’s credit, they kept 100% focused and determined not to let Sunderland get any reward for their efforts. Durham held strong until the end, the relief was visible on hearing the referees whistle to end the game as the boys quite understandably jumped for joy. A great job by all the boys, with every single one playing an important and significant part, well done, Durham County 7’s champions.
Blues:
Pool
DCRFC Blues 30 v 0 Middlesborough Lions (Conor, Will McK x2, Ben, Jack x2)
DCRFC Blues 35 v 5 Darlington MP (Jack, Will B x2, Will McK, Conor x2, Alexander)
DCRFC Blues 30 v 0 Billingham (Jake D x2, Ben W, Alexander,Jack x2)
DCRFC Blues 45 v 0 Gateshead (Jake D x2, Will B, Alexander x2, Jack, Conor x2, Will McK)
Semi-final
DCRFC Blues 35 v 10 Barnard castle (Alexander, Jack x3, Ben G, Jake x2)
Final
DCRFC Blues 15 v 0 Sunderland (Jack, Alexander, Haydn)

A selection of players from this full squad have now been County Champions in U7, U8 and now U9. An excellent record to be proud of.

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DCRFC U9's play to the RFU Values of:
Teamwork – – Respect – Enjoyment – Discipline – Sportsmanship