Following a long lay-off over Christmas due to the snowy conditions, rugby finally took place with two exciting games played against strong opponents.
Our performance and attitude throughout both games was excellent: our heads did not drop and everybody got stuck in – well done!
Old Verulamian v Chesham
Our forwards dominated with great runs by Jamie, supported by Anna and Andrew.
Flashes of brilliance were also seen in the backs with fantastic tackling by Ilan on the wing. Great forward play resulted in a try for Jamie and Matthew winning the cross bar challenge with his conversion. Verulamian scored two quick tries and a quick breakaway one towards the end of the second half to come out on top with scores of 3-1.
It was a great game to watch after such a long break.
Luton v Chesham
Luton proved to be a harder opposition and difficult to contain. We gained plenty of territory in the first half but ran out of steam in the second. Two hard games on the trot were a little too much. We must not forget though that Luton actually train on a Wednesday as well as on Sunday!!
All in all it was a fantastic performance and showed me that Chesham Under-11s don’t give up. So again, well done.
Training this week followed by Drifters at home the next week - 7 February.
Games:
Old Verulamian V Chesham Lost 3 - 1
Luton v Chesham Lost 8 - 0
Team: Philip Coleman, Georgina Evans, Corry Evans, Anna Harris, Matthew Harris, Alfie Lawson, Jamie barnes, William Taylor, Andrew Youngs, Ilan Sirotkin, Noah Pressier, Max Lee, Jack Edhouse, Jordon.
Player of the day: Ilan Sirotkin
Under 12
After a long break over the Christmas period which was extended as a result of the adverse weather we travelled to Luton for what was supposed to be a triangular with the hosts and Old Verulamians.
On arrival though the arrangements seemed to have gone to pot as Old V’s failed to appear and Luton only initially had 8 players although this later swelled to 10!
After lending the hosts 3 players we managed to get a game going and quickly took the lead scoring several tries in the first few minutes. After the first quarter it was clear there needed to be some re-shuffling. Harry Pollard, Jordan Ross and Adam Cox went over to the Luton side and although initially it looked as if we might have been a bit hasty as Harry promptly ran in a couple of quick tries against us! This though only seemed to spur on the Chesham players who over the next 3 quarters put up a valiant performance and played some really good rugby.
Harry, Jordan and Adam were the shining lights of the Luton side but didn’t get it all their own way when Jamie Hounsfield and Samuel Fulford made repeated quality tackles. Paddy Cummins showed some flair with a cross pitch kick from a penalty that almost saw James Bell score his first try (later on he did when the ball was shipped out wide to him on the wing – well done James).
Some of the Chesham players were thrust into the limelight this week as a result of Harry, Jordan and Adam playing for the other side and there were some promising performances from Barney Gucklhorn, Jonathan Heath and Edward Butterworth. Alfie Pettifer also ran in two tries and Chesham could have scored more had they taken advantage of some overlap opportunities.
Olivia Harris, Daniel New, Michael Warwick and Tom Gogarty were again consistent performers and prominent in most phases of play.
There were some learning points; overall our rucking was poor and we could have scored at least 3 more tries by diving at the line rather than trying to carry the ball over. The positives however far outweighed the negatives and all in all we played some good entertaining rugby (on both sides).
What initially looked as though it was going to be a damp squib ended up being a really good run out for all our players. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it (as did the parents) and I think the kids were just pleased to be out at last having some fun.
Player of the day went to Jamie Hounsfield who fearlessly tackled players literally twice his size (albeit with his head on one occasion).
A special thanks to Harry, Adam and Jordan for making such a nuisance of themselves playing for the other side and giving us plenty of tackling practice!!
The final score was unimportant, the end result was a good time was had by all.
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