A big thank you to all the coaches at Hemel Hempstead and making us all feel very welcome once again. It was a chilly but bright morning and perfect for playing rugby.

We had a good turnout of players but a few injuries did play havoc with our structure during the morning.

After a hard warm up session we got into a game against Hemel team 1. We played 10 vs 10 and at we saw some fantastic work around the breakdown with the ball being well retained 90% of the time BUT what let us down were our usual Achilles heel which was tackling and width.

On many occasions we missed our tackles or didn't commit hard enough, allowing Hemel to break through and score.

We also gathered together at the breakdown and lost our width. In this formation we couldn't capitalise on the many gaps Hemel left wide and use our fast players to score.

These are two areas of our game that need a massive improvement to progress and be a stringer unit.

Overall it was a combative performance and nobody allowed their heads to dip, resulting in a consolation try at the end of the 2nd half.

In the second game many players were carrying knocks which affected our courage to hit them hard. That said everybody went back on the pitch to finish the game and again there was some great play. again tackling let us down and a few errors on where the try line was didn't help our cause.

There were many highlights to take away from the morning. The coaches saw some players stepping up today, others have a bit to go and we also need to improve our team play to really excel.

On to players of the week.

The player of the week trophy went to Romario. Romario was all over the park making a complete nuisance of himself, ripping balls, clearing out, running and tackling. The Hemel coaches were also very impressed along with a few other players. Romario managed to work through a few heavy knocks and still put in a huge performance in the last game and only called it a day a few minutes from time.

Well done Romario

The plate this week went to a player that over the last few weeks has realised he has the strength to make a difference. Kush has got himself involved in the breakdown and carried the ball well over the last few weeks. If we can get him to retain the ball in the tackle and run at a higher pace, he will be a force to reckon with

Well done Kush

We are at home with Tabard visiting us next week. see you all there

U1s coaches