Finding Belper

In 15 years of coaching age grade rugby in Nottingham, Mansfield and Ilkeston, this was my first visit to Belper's tidy little ground. I think a few of us were stumped by the satnav, but once we were there it's a picturesque spot nestled behind the hospital with views across the valley. We'll be keen to go back.

Warm up routines are now well established and the boys are beginning to understand that some of the principles involved are relevant to what we want to see on the pitch. The Elks' tackling was excellent today and defence as a whole is coming together. We continue to need to work on coming up as a line. It was noticeable how many times either the whole defensive line veered straight in towards the ball carrier, leaving tantalising open spaces out wide, or the half of the line opposite the ball carrier came up, but the other side of the line didn't and when the ball came that way any tackles were made much further down the pitch.

Two answers to those situations and mantras to carry on through the minis and juniors.

1. 'Trust that your team mates (directly in front of the ball carrier) will make the tackle.' This will be extremely important in later age groups.

2. 'When you make your tackle make sure it is in the right place on the pitch for us.'

Some truly excellent tries scored today by both teams. A very enjoyable day and we had a discussion afterwards on how to organise players getting (roughly) equal time on the pitch better. I think we got it rightish today but the self-inflicted hair tugging by the coaches is not beneficial to long term health.

Many thanks to our hosts, another nice clubhouse to add to my collection and we welcomed a new recruit in Liam, who seemed very keen. With the festival next week and the tour after that there won't be many opportunities to get him involved this season.