What a great morning we had Sunday the sun was out the sky was clear and we were all looking forward to a great morning of rugby. With a last minute change due to Derby doubling booking us most of the minis headed over to Casuals who very kindly slotted us in last minute, heres how everyone got on…

U6’s were on an adventure this weekend over at Notts Casuals. They all got stuck in with some very interesting new activities, enjoying the passing drills, bag work and one on ones. The session was finished off with two great games of bull dog with the U6s doing their club proud. Amazing tackles and spectacular running!
U7’s The sun was shining, although there was still a wind chill factor upsetting the less hardy players and parents. Running rugby all round with some good handling and flare from the faster players. Both squads had more senior and younger development players in action giving it an equal match-up. Thanks to Casuals for the fixture, the players do seem to prefer that format, rather than listening to the coaches voices for an hour during training sessions.
U8’s Trained at home this week where the opportunity was taken to try and encourage quicker passing and better use of space, this was to particularly help in preparation for next year! Some challenging games required a lot of thinking skills from the players and required them to be disciplined in their positioning. Players player was chosen by Imogen today for the core value of sportsmanship. Imogen awarded Theo with this trophy today for supporting his team mates well and being encouraging and helpful to both his team and the opposition. Player of the day was Kieron today for his hard work, strong attacking runs and as usual, a focused and determined performance. Well done Kieron!
U9’s - There was a great atmosphere down at the Canal-side as the sun was out and the pitch didn't resemble the Somme which is change to our usual conditions. We were warmly welcomes by Miles and his coaching staff and we arranged to have 1 match pitch and Skills Zone for the remainder of the team players. First game got started and it was very clear that the lads were up for it. From the first whistle the boys sprinted off the line and closed down their ball carriers, snapping into every tackle in the midfield. Game 2 saw much of the same but Casuals had definitely been shocked in game 1 and came out in game 2 with a bit more of a resistance. They scored some good tries, both through the middle and wide, where we just missed the first tackle really, especially side on tackles...but
again we scored a number of excellent and diverse tries with the spoils being shared across the team. Coaches Player went to Max Tooley who is a complete powerhouse. Players Player went to Liam Gant who never fails to impress. Tackle of the day went to Henry Gallagher who chased down a player who was clean through on the right wing (not many other players would have got close to this lad) and tackled him about 2m short of the line - awesome
Try of the day went to Jamie Moir - once he actually got to the game (!), he played in the 2nd match and showed a surprising turn of speed and great power to score a lovely try leaving Casuals players in his wake.....rumour has it there might have even been a side step at some point. Well done, Jamie. Decision of the Day went to Frankie Gallagher.
U10’s We put 2 teams out today with max playing for the home team to top them up to a full team.
Both teams played very well today. Our support & passing play needs a little work.
Rucking is improving.
Big thank you to casuals for accommodating us on short notice.
Well done to all players both sides had a rough tough game.
A mention to Charlie who has only just joined us & he got really involved today.
Awards
Oscar - clear out of the day
Ollie B - decision of day
U11’s A warm and organised welcome from Alan Knibbs at Notts Casuals (a man well known to many at the Stute who attend O2 Touch sessions) set the tone for a pleasant sixty minutes of action on the pitch between two well coached under 11 rugby teams. The Ilkeston coaches were very pleased to see a high level of self-organisation occurring before the warm-up had begun, with strong running by all players who got their hands on the ball, the Elks ability to go forward in possession created a number of try scoring opportunities, with decisive support around the ball leading to a number of early scores. In general the width in both attack and defence was much improved, the final period saw the players from both teams exploit tiring bodies and minds by scoring a number of high quality tries. Awards this week go to
Theo Yearwood – attacking weapon
Warren Gant – hard work hero
Special mentions went to Rory for his try following an excellent piece of support play, and to Luke who, having only joined the team a few short weeks ago, was given the responsibility of captaining the side, a role he undertook with aplomb all morning.
U12’s trained and Nerf Missile End Ball was the name of the game to warm up the lads this week, even the coaches joined in, a great way to start a session and enjoy the brief sunshine. An enthusiastic session where we worked hard on Defensive line and running onto the ball in attack
U13’s embarked upon their first tour this weekend, and the 15 players (and parents) had a fantastic couple of days in Hertfordshire. We were warmly welcomed by Chess Valley RFC this morning, but were worried that paint balling, ten pin bowling and late night kebabs might not be typical preparation for game of rugby. Our concerns were unfounded, as the lads really did raise their game, taking an early lead via a powerful run and touchdown by Louis Edwards. CVRFC responded well, and missed tackles eventually cost us the game, but not until we ran in 5 tries of our own, the pick of which was a well worked try in the right hand corner of the pitch, crafted by Max Rhodes and completed by the outstretched hands of Joe Bennett. Fantastic team bonding for players and parents alike, we're now looking forward to next year's tour!
Tries from Joe Bennet (2) Louis Edwards (2) and Luke Rampton.
U15’s also had training this week.
U16’s 3 players played up with the Colts who also joined with Paviours against Melbourne on Saturday, in a close game Melbourne pipped them to the win (24-32) towards the end of the game however our young men showed great ability and determination which is a great sign for next year.
A big thank you to Casuals who accommodated us last minute with such a lovely welcome and even better rugby!
With Festival month just around the corner all our coaches and team are working hard to ensure we have a great closing month to the season, how is it even April next month how time flies when your having fun!
Dates for the diary are presentation which is 9th June which is also our first summer sports tournament, the second summer sports tournament is on 21st July.
Until next week folks!