A's Lose and B's Win...

In short many lessons could be taken from the A's games versus Maidenhead, in my opinion, at such an early part of a young sportsman's career the score is irrelevant. I only want to consider the positive factors of where do we improve from here. Something Mike Gatting must have told his players for years when playing series after series against the Aussies!! But how things change...

The game started off at a frantic pace to which the lads didn't get to grips with. Unfortunately chasing the game especially in rugby never looks pretty not at any level. The positive was the rucking in the first half, we conditioned ourselves well against a large pack and competed impressively but after a few too many bumps and bruises the task got tricky!! You could tell the last few weeks the boys have certainly improved on their rucking techniques. So well done!

Some good pressure against an extremely good side saw us down their end on many occasions but we just couldn't leave their 22 with just reward... Rugby has a funny way of punishing you sometimes and one wrong move on such a step up in size of pitch can be defining and very hard to take. The pitch size has opened up a whole new world of how the game has to be played when playing good opposition. All things that can be worked on over the next coming months in our first year of Junior rugby... Chins up but expect lots of FUN FUN FUN at training...

I managed to see the last moments of the B's match after being referee at the A's match and Nick and Dan I would like to congratulate the B's on a very impressive and solid team performance. Collectively all very good from the breakdown to ball handling and very good decision making under pressure; all things that we have worked on at training. It was great to see a win against a very good Maidenhead B team. Well done.

On a more personal note as head coach I can openly say I am so proud of our squad. The standard of Rugby our boys are showing is credit to the practice and hard effort they are putting in as individuals. The first part of the season has shown us turn around sides with some good results and have shown from a coaching perspective how impressive the turn around has been.

Any one has any queries or question then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks for reading

See you at training...

Michael

Head Coach Newbury U13s "CMON YOU BLUES"

Newbury B's 5-2 Maidenhead B's

With the sun out and a westerly breeze both teams set up to test each other with Maidenhead playing with the wind behind them.
The game started well for both sides, good interchanges with the backs and forwards, both winning their own breakdown ball and showing good discipline. As the first 10 minutes passed, Newbury started to find players well off the back of the break down and several good team runs allowed them to gain some field position around the half way.
Maidenhead weren’t looking to let Newbury have an easy time and mounted their own breaks moving the ball well to wide positions, backed up by retaining field position.
Working hard from their own 22 with the wind in their faces, Newbury crafted a good move through the backs with a strong run from Ed Lightfoot running in for Newbury’s first try. Maidenhead pushed on from the restart and levelled the score within 5 minutes having moved the ball wide after a period of pressure and good rucking in the Newbury 22.
Newbury were now though really working hard for each other with good work in the forwards by all players and they started to see the rewards with Dan Muir breaking through following some good passing in the backs to score and reward the team. Halftime 2-1 to Newbury.
The second half resumed well with the continuation of a well fought game with both teams trying to get the edge. The Newbury scrum was well balanced and the pack showed dominance several times allowing the backs to break. With good ball carries from Ed Horsfield and Joe Howell Newbury were now playing with better territory and two further tries from Dan Muir gave Newbury the edge they’d worked hard for.
Maidenhead were though still pressing with frequent visits to the Newbury 22 and were rewarded with a really well worked move from one touch line to the other, going over to add to their tally at 4-2 to Newbury.
The game continued with good commitment from both sides with the resilience and desire of Newbury edging it to result in AJ, our most recent player to join us (welcome AJ) going over for the final try. Both teams were a credit to their clubs playing a well spirited game with Newbury capitalising on a few more opportunities than Maidenhead and therefore ran out eventual winners 5-2.