U9 Elks versus Belper U9s

This week saw the visit of Belper RUFC which was an extra fixture to our itinerary. Belper were more than welcome and brought a squad of around 11 to the Stute. With the spring like weather, we 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. All the boys looked to do this and I would say it was a successful focus point for the game. 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. We were very physical in the contact area which gave us a huge advantage from the start. 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. We did all the usual things well throughout - powerful straight running, support play, offloading in the tackle, strong tackling. We still have all the usual things to improve on; quicker passing, using the width of the pitch, initiating the tackle with the shoulder and not arms.
Again, we were supported brilliantly by the parents who were also on food duty and used the opportunity to raise money for the U9/U11 tour later this year. Particular mention to Mrs G for the Pea & Ham soup which was very nice (and seasoned perfectly !!)
"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. Credit to all the kids again today. Bring on Burton next week.