Sunday 17 May - summer training

This was the first of the summer training sessions to be held. There were heavy showers at the start of training and only 7 players showed they were not faint hearted and still keen to train whatever the weather. They were a mix of our most seasoned players across to our newest member. A game of touch was played to warm up as the rain poured down, but when the rain got really heavy a halt was called and a nearby tree used for shelter. After half an hour however the sun came out and the still eagre players were able to shed several layers down to their shirts (and even the shirt came off for one player). Drills focussed on passing skills and practising called moves so that the players knew what their team mates were doing. We finished off with another game of touch rugby, including line outs and scrums. To make up the numbers one player's older sister joined in for her first rugby experience and enjoyed it so much she is considering joining the under 11s next season!

Well done to all those that braved the showers.

To note, the clubhouse now plans to be open every day over the summer, weekends and weekdays, therefore coffees, teas etc will be available for all training sessions.

Next week training again, 10am to 11.30 ish.

Sunday 26 April - Fun Day

And the sun shone (which is more than it did last year). Fun rugby games were played. The first game was a crab foot rugby game thing, which I took photos of, but doesn't really demonstrate how odd it looked with all the kids shuffling around on their bottoms. Then there was a game of rugby rounders (now I know that there was at least one disappointed dad that they weren't asked to join in). We then took advantage of the fact that we had the whole pitch and really tried to tire the players out by playing a capture the flag along the length of the whole pitch. I have absolutely no idea who won, or what the rules were, or what exactly they were really trying to achieve - perhaps I had to be 8 to understand this. The squad all then finished up playing a game on a full pitch, with full rugby rules (ish) except for contact, We had kicking, we had throw ins and we had conversions. And still they weren't tired out. So we gave in and had the awards ceremony, everyone got a medal and each coach awarded one of the trophies. Well done to everyone, every medal and trophy has been well earned.


To finish it off, there was a coaches/managers vs Dads game, refereed by the players. The referee I felt was a bit strict, but was firmly supported by his assistant referee, touch judge and many supporting co-mates. There were cries of forward pass, off side - but surely not, we were grown ups and wouldn't dream of doing such things even if it was largely by error. I am pleased to say that in the last play of the game, the coaches/managers were victorious - which is of course was how it should be (in my opinion!). There were photos taken of the game which will hopefully be available for public viewing soon.

Out of season training agreed so far will be on Sundays 17 May, 24 May, 14 June and 28 June. 10am for 1.5-2 hours.