Well I looked out the window on Sunday morning to sunshine and bright skies, upon arriving at the Stute which it has often been said has its very own weather system fog seemed to be settled across the entire ground. However as our players and visiting teams started to flood in so did the sunshine and games got underway, here's how they all got on.

U7’s had the pleasure of playing a well organised and friendly bunch of Players from Belper on Sunday. Both teams had an amazing attitude and were evenly matched with players from both sides showing real signs of promise for the future. The passing of the ball and the passion to support each other was a delight to watch.
Both sets of parents had to be proud of the way the players played and enjoyed themselves, a great performance from both sides...
U8’s -Another great morning of rugby from the Under 8's today against a defensive Belper side with some quick players on the attack. Ilkeston started strongly with some great support play from Harrison followed up with him making some strong attacking runs resulting in numerous tries. Belper put some good passing phases together but with some disciplined defence work from Reiss and Kieron, and Evie and Archie doing excellently at holding the play up, Belper had to work hard to get through the defence. Some fast runs from Belpers Jackson, and excellent use of space from Laurie helped them keep the game pretty much try for try. Today's player of the day Theo worked tirelessly to get back into strong defensive positions, was quick to support after the tag and made some excellent attacking runs with some great agility to avoid the tag and the sideline! His communication with other players was also outstanding today having a strong impact on the game!
Players player of the day was chosen by Adam this week who had the core value of respect to base his decision on. An excellent choice of Imogen for this award this week, for always being respectful to the coaches, referee, teammates and the opposition. Well deserved Imogen and well selected Adam! Looking forward to more fun in the sun next week!
U9’s started off very well after an excellent warm up session. We had agreed before kick off that the focus from the teams and the referees would be on the pop pass from contact. Playing 4 quarters of 10 mins, we were clearly the better side as they tended to miss a lot of their tackles and couldn't cope with our line speed and round the edge running. However, great tries were scored by both teams. A quick remainder at half time regarding the T.R.E.D.S RFU code of conduct and we were off again. With rolling subs throughout the game everyone played their part today. We had an excellent post match discussion with the boys on what went well, what could have gone better etc and all the boys had comments to make which was very encouraging. "Head Bands of Honour" went to Reuben and Max today. This was for their positive running, unselfish passing, speed off the line (like England v Ireland!!) and great tackling throughout. Again, though, the coaches always need a good few minutes to debate this as everyone performs so well every week.
U10’s Belper only had 5 players at the start which went up to 7 with late arrivals so we created two teams of 11, played 10 a side in the full pitch.
As Belper did not look a strong team we gave them 4 of our stronger players in Ansell, Euan, Ozzie and Oscar (and to give our players a proper workout) we played 40 minutes with two breaks with Belper/Ilkeston team winning taking the win.
Good points some excellent hard straight running and aggressive defence by our players on both sides, learning points letting Oscar run around the whole team twice! Some newer players did well with more opportunity to get the ball as we had hoped, Ollie Hallam had a great day with his hard running and Freddie is progressing well.
The breakdown is still the main area to improve as most weeks.
Awards best rucking William (good game today) best pass Oscar to Ozzie - a nightmare combination for any team and best decision Ollie Hallam for wanting the ball and hitting the gaps hard and fast.
U11’s Kicking off in misty conditions, the Ilkeston players immediately knew they were in for a tough morning as Belper quickly began to demonstrate their numerous attacking threats. Through a combination of gifted young athletes with envious speed and evasion, strong and abrasive ball carriers, and intelligent ball handlers, the home side found themselves facing the toughest challenge they’ve encountered all season. With a tough first half and some honest observations within the playing group, the second half of the game saw a marked improvement. The desire to complete tackles, the urgency to clear rucks, and the intent to go forward with the ball went up several notches which placed some pressure onto the away team for the first time all morning. Both sides played some terrific rugby at times, showing intent to move the ball to players in space through early passing or well thought out offloads. The game remained very physical throughout with several crunching tackles made by players from both teams often stopping certain players in their tracks who are used to using their size or agility to break tackles with ease. Awards this week were given to the following players:
Oren Brambley – creative genius
Dennie Green – defensive warrior
Matt Briddon – attacking weapon
Spencer Doherty – had work hero
U12’s A sunny day down at The Stute (otherwise known as the East Midlands Riviera) saw most of the U12s training, where they played mini games that concentrated on kicking, running onto the ball, along with the core principle of going forwards. Everyone worked hard and showed off their skills. Whilst the 3 new boys mixed in with the old timers, 5 of the U12s also played up in the U13s match vs Paviors, despite a sometimes large difference these players equipped themselves well and this was a great experience for them, stretching and challenging their skill set.
The U13s played host to a strong and well-organised Paviors team, who were able to exploit the size of our 1st XV pitch to run up a number of tries to inflict a heavy defeat on the Ilkeston team. Our squad was boosted by a number of U12 players who performed admirably, and certainly did not look out of place with the older boys. We received an email later that day from one of the Paviors team managers:

"Just a quick message to say thank you for all your hospitality today - always feel very welcome up at Ilkeston. My son had a great game playing against his school mates, Lewis, Oliver and Archie.

"Greg (Ref for the two quarters) would like also like to pass on a message to say your players played with great character - particularly their forwards despite the score lines they didn’t stop playing with all their hearts."

Thanks must go to Paviors for this lovely feedback and we look forward to your next visit with us.

U14’s were training along with our U15’s this week. Whilst the U14’s reflected on their last game to draw action points to structure into their play, the U15’s worked on scramble defence and getting over the game line in attack and defence, they then joined to play a training game to run their new structure against a live opposition.
U16’s had no match this weekend however 7 players joined the Colts on Friday evening and proved their worth and value to the team.

Meanwhile I have not forgotten about our youngest players our U6's as ever were showing us the amount of energy and passion they have, I have to be honest they are little bombs of enthusiasm that I just never get tired of watching!

It is always a great sight to see the pitches so full of happy players and parents, and this week has seen lots of interaction throughout the teams with players playing up and supporting other teams through training exercises.

Our great U9's parents were on kitchen duty this week and would like to say a massive thank you to all those supporting their cake and soup sale, the proceeds of which are going towards equipment for their up coming tour and festival visits.

Thanks to our great coaching group and our proud parents another super week at the Stute.