Match report - U11s v Moderns (A)

Sunday 27th January 2019 saw Ilkeston's u11s travel to Wilford Village to play our friends over at Moderns. We always enjoy a super experience with these guys who are well coached by Mark and Nicolas who this morning was sporting a rather fetching beret pre-game!

In cold conditions exacerbated by a piercing wind blowing in off the River Trent, those on the sidelines witnessed some super rugby from both sides. The Ilkeston team were fastest out of the blocks earning tries through some super work going forward, support around the ball and wider out, and continuity skills to retain possession in the tackle or to move the ball to players in space.

Moderns were soon to bounce back as they tightened up their defence and put the Ilkeston attack under real pressure. Once they were able to get sustained possession and field position their talented young players were able to showcase their own attacking prowess.

Over sixty minutes of high quality rugby the players from both teams worked very hard and showed fantastic creativity, awareness, resilience, decision making and self-organisation with and without the ball.

For Ilkeston u11s this game showed how far the team have progressed in the last 12-18 months. The home game v Moderns last season highlighted certain key areas in which we were well and truly second best; as a coach it was unspeakably pleasing to see those areas become strengths rather than weaknesses.

Award winners this week were:

Attacking weapon - Matti Hinds for having his best game to date in an Ilkeston shirt. He was able to get into the game early with some strong runs using his developing physical attributes to help the team go forward with the ball.

Defensive warrior - Ethan Scully for putting in an absolute shift as always, but in particular for his late try saving tackle by chasing back a full 30m to drag an attacking player down just before the try line.

Creative genius - Dennie Green for combining with Matt Briddon at a free pass to run a move he had planned that created a huge hole for him to run through and score. One way to think about creativity in sport is how to solve problems, or how to beat the game - coming up with cool ideas mid-match to unlock a defence is a super example of this.

Hard work hero - Rory Birtwhistle for also having his most impressive game for the team. Rory worked tirelessly all morning making strong runs with the ball, supporting players in attack and making tackles on defence. Top work.

Thanks again to Moderns for hosting us and for the warm welcome we always receive. We hope that the young lad who was injured near the end hasn't been hurt too seriously.

Next Sunday see Ilkeston u11s travel to South Derbyshire to face Melbourne who we haven't played since u9s.