Post Match Review - 26th April 2009

Firstly I'll apologise to those parents of the kids in both age groups who were on the end of some very high tackles today. When I said that we take your children's welfare seriously we meant it but unfortunately standards are out of our control at away venues.

The 10s had a brilliant (if a little tense) game after giving up three players in each half and I believe the result was a fair one after we accomodated a very small team. I missed Dean's second half hissy fit but I'm told it was a beauty (it's great when it's not me!). The team were leaky again and kept cancelling out all the excellent attacking phases with missed tackles and incorrect positioning. Matty (5), Elliott (3) and William (3) proved we can score tries galore, we now need to demonstarte that we can stop teams scoring them against us because - DEFENCE WINS GAMES. On reflection we are turning into a "nice" side and we need to reintroduce the aggression and grunts and groans of rugby league. If we can put them off running at us full stop with controlled, aggressive tackling the scoreline will look after itself. If you see what may look like your children taking part in an illegal dog fight at training this week please be assured that no money is changing hands and there is a very good reason for it. We will be learning about the most important part of tackling - COMPLETION.

The 8s had another great run out but were undone by missed tackles, a lot like the 10s *see notes above. A special mention must go to Spencer who, after reattaching his head following another high tackle, went on the rampage and has starightened his runs from crab to arrow straight over the course of three games, brilliant! Some excellent passing moves, individual skills and game awareness saw the ex Barrow coach's team undone with five tries scored, Lewis (2), Jake who was also decapitated (2) and Archie (1). A special mention too for the unsung heroes who put in the runs and the tackles weekly but have yet to score. For those parents of a child who has yet to score a try please reassure them that everyone generally gets on the score sheet over a season and the chances can be greatly increased as we start to pas the ball about by making themselves available by supporting the runner and shouting to show they're there. I will also try my best to even out the scorers by nominating different people as we appraoch the line.

We are two league games away from the half way point of the season already. If someone had told me that we'd have 28 kids competing with established teams on a weekly basis and with wins under their belts already and were looking to the formation of a 12s team within the next month all backed up by a seven strong volunteer coaching group when we started out in October I'd have been amazed. Thank you.

  We have had Page views since the 23rd of May 2010