Happy New Year

After a long trip and an early start the Under 9s gathered at Culford School, once the late arrivals turned up we had 29 players and 3 teams. It was time to work off all the Christmas mince pies and confectionary. With a bit of luck next time out the coaches will once again outnumber the teams....

We had a good day out, thanks to Bury at their temporary home, and all told we had 6 wins, a draw and two defeats. Key things to work for next week are running with the ball in two hands, putting more pressure on the opposition at the breakdown, by staying right up to the offside line, and continuity in attack.

Musketeers

The Musketeers play today was highlighted by some excellent defensive work, across the 3 games the team put in 100 tackles. Isaac, Elliot, Charlie Louis and Felix led the line, getting stuck back after Christmas. The other high point was strong direct running Louis, in particular proving difficult to put down, Elliot, as nippy as ever, Charlie S forcing his way through the defence, and Morgan all getting onto the scoreboard. The boys showed real resilience in the face of some strong, occasionally overly robust, tackling by not reacting to it but getting back to their feet and carrying on.

The first game was a close fought affair that resulted in a narrow 5-6 defeat. They bounced back really in the following game to overturn a half time deficit with some brilliant defence, including two 7 tackle turnovers, and some great finishing, running out 7-6 winners. The last game proved too much as some strong Bury runners found some holes in the defence, the first half deficit of 4 tries could not be overturned, but the team did really well to pick themselves up and match Bury in the second half one try each and finish the game looking strong.

Won 1 Lost 2

James Barnard, James Merritt-Dunn, Morgan Cole, Charlie Stock, Felix Thompson Wild, Louis Welch, Charlie Stevens-McElligott, Isaac Reeve, Elliot Richley-Jones

Knights

The Knights were a little slow out of the blocks today but soon got into their stride. There was some strong defensive work in the first two games and a fine win in the last.

Game 1 saw Jake and Tom keeping the defence tight, and Jack, Jake and Logan supplying the cutting edge in attack, it was a narrow affair that ended with honours even at 3 apiece. The next outing saw the team hit their stride Tom and Jake again doing much of the defensive work, the team conceding just two tries, they also chipped in with scores along with ben, Kit and Jack. There was some fine handling on show from the whole team as they ran out 7-2 winners. The final game saw Jack robust in defence and Charlie K show a fine pair of heels as he scored 4 tries to help the Knights to an 8-6 victory on which to end a fine days play.

Won 2 Drew 1

Mattie Jeremy, Charlie Kinsey, Hansel Bloomfield, Edward Pryor, Logan Armour, Thomas Dyster, Kit Denison-Smith, Benjamin Scott-Priestley, Jake Mason, Jack Jeremy

Crusaders

The Crusaders proved a very effective outfit today, with some excellent defence resulting on only 8 tries conceded in the three games. Ned and Will were their usual robust selves, and they were ably backed up by Jed, Theo, Grace, Sam, and Marcus. In attack it was Ned and Theo being elusive and direct respectively, with most of the team chipping in and Fin and Freddy only denied joining them because of unfortunate late dalliances with the touchline.

The Crusaders had to sit out the first round of games and were raring to go when they got their chance. Jed, Ned and Will all fired out of the blocks, Marcus did some sterling work on the wing ensuring that Bury never got a chance to get back into the game, as the team ran out 6-1 to the good. Game 2 was a much tighter affair Sam, Grace, Jed, Marcus and Theo stepped up to carry the team through to a narrow 7-6 win in a game whose highlight was Feeddy narrowly missing out on a score direct from the restart after a bulldozing run from halfway. The final game against a tiring Stowmarket outfit the whole team showed their fitness as they rushed away with it 7-1 winners.

Won 3

Marcus Wentzell, Alexander Bull, Fred Pollitt, Fin Bushell, Sam Prentice, Grace Livesey, Theo Brunswick, Jed Bailey, William Crabb, Ned Caton