25 Nov 2007 - Nailsea U11's V's St Marys u11's
St Marys Old Boys U11`s - 0
Nailsea & Backwell U11`s - 15
This week the squad travelled north up the M5 to the home of St Marys Old Boys, strangely St Marys do not allow their younger sides to use the pitches so the game took place on a coned out narrower and shorter pitch than the lads were used to, and with no posts, there were to be no conversions. However putting this aside both teams played excellent and exciting rugby, N & B were quick off the mark and forced the play pushing St Marys back, this led to a opening try in the corner for Lewis Jones. The game then set itself into a pattern, St Marys winning a majority of the scrums ( work needs to be done on scrumaging, maybe a couple of 1st / 2nd team forwards could come to Sunday training, hint hint ), but even so, the quick defence and good tackling of N & B quite often stopped any of St Marys forward momentum, these then developed into rucks and mauls, the mauls being won most of the time by N & B, and the rucks being an even contest, (when hands went helping out or players weren't coming in from the side, once again work in progress ). The backs today did try and run the ball when they had it, but the narrow pitch meant quite often that they ran out of space, so by the time they had drawn the St Marys defence and moved the ball along, the only line they were hitting was touch. One such move did end up with Sam Johnstone getting the ball from an inside centre position ( I think he was lost ) he saw a gap, dropped a shoulder and went for it to score and end the half 2 tries to nil.
The second half saw a few changes to personnel, but this didn't change the pattern of the game although St Marys did win more possession and did move the ball better than in the first half they couldn't break the game line. N & B secured the win with Tommy Parsons using his uncanny knack of getting his hands on the ball in any ruck or maul and diving over to score and win the game 15 - 0.
Once again N & B`s ability to defend from the front, couple this with the fact that any of the team are capable of scoring given half a chance, add to this potential improvements from the forwards in the scrum and the backs to run the right lines makes it all pleasing to see for coaches and parents.
St Marys Old Boys U11`s - 10
Nailsea & Backwell U11`s - 10
The second game saw the usual mixture of old and new, as we try and bring the newer guys through into competitive rugby, this game proved to be much harder as St Marys had better depth in their huge squad. Determination would be the word I would use to sum up both teams performance in this match, and this determination led to Tommy Parsons getting his 10th Try of the season ( not bad for a forward ). St Marys then played with the same determination to get themselves back into the game and levelled the score just before half time. 5 - 5
The 2nd half saw St Marys take the led through a well worked drive, N & B didn't`t deserve to lose this game and the lads put in one last surge, and where rewarded with Pete Quinn scoring with the last play of the game.
Today's squad were
Forwards ( 6 available from 7 )
Tommy Parsons, Sam Johnstone, Fred Cheeseright, Josh Rees, Nathan Summerell, Jack Ballagher
Backs ( 13 available from 13 )
James Cleave, Robbie Riddicks, Nathan Jones, Pete Quinn, Lewis Jones, Jonny Sykes, Alex Day, Edward Omally, Patrick Askew, Jack Summerell, William Meakin, Jordon Warren, Richard Hadler.
Plus Points - Determination, Great defence, good passing and offloading in the tackle by the backs,
good communication in the line out, good mauling by the forwards
Bad points - we do not have enough forwards, scrum needs working on. Backs at times were stood to close to each other ( however this may of been down to the narrow pitch, but still needs working on )
Nailsea & Backwell U11`s - 15
This week the squad travelled north up the M5 to the home of St Marys Old Boys, strangely St Marys do not allow their younger sides to use the pitches so the game took place on a coned out narrower and shorter pitch than the lads were used to, and with no posts, there were to be no conversions. However putting this aside both teams played excellent and exciting rugby, N & B were quick off the mark and forced the play pushing St Marys back, this led to a opening try in the corner for Lewis Jones. The game then set itself into a pattern, St Marys winning a majority of the scrums ( work needs to be done on scrumaging, maybe a couple of 1st / 2nd team forwards could come to Sunday training, hint hint ), but even so, the quick defence and good tackling of N & B quite often stopped any of St Marys forward momentum, these then developed into rucks and mauls, the mauls being won most of the time by N & B, and the rucks being an even contest, (when hands went helping out or players weren't coming in from the side, once again work in progress ). The backs today did try and run the ball when they had it, but the narrow pitch meant quite often that they ran out of space, so by the time they had drawn the St Marys defence and moved the ball along, the only line they were hitting was touch. One such move did end up with Sam Johnstone getting the ball from an inside centre position ( I think he was lost ) he saw a gap, dropped a shoulder and went for it to score and end the half 2 tries to nil.
The second half saw a few changes to personnel, but this didn't change the pattern of the game although St Marys did win more possession and did move the ball better than in the first half they couldn't break the game line. N & B secured the win with Tommy Parsons using his uncanny knack of getting his hands on the ball in any ruck or maul and diving over to score and win the game 15 - 0.
Once again N & B`s ability to defend from the front, couple this with the fact that any of the team are capable of scoring given half a chance, add to this potential improvements from the forwards in the scrum and the backs to run the right lines makes it all pleasing to see for coaches and parents.
St Marys Old Boys U11`s - 10
Nailsea & Backwell U11`s - 10
The second game saw the usual mixture of old and new, as we try and bring the newer guys through into competitive rugby, this game proved to be much harder as St Marys had better depth in their huge squad. Determination would be the word I would use to sum up both teams performance in this match, and this determination led to Tommy Parsons getting his 10th Try of the season ( not bad for a forward ). St Marys then played with the same determination to get themselves back into the game and levelled the score just before half time. 5 - 5
The 2nd half saw St Marys take the led through a well worked drive, N & B didn't`t deserve to lose this game and the lads put in one last surge, and where rewarded with Pete Quinn scoring with the last play of the game.
Today's squad were
Forwards ( 6 available from 7 )
Tommy Parsons, Sam Johnstone, Fred Cheeseright, Josh Rees, Nathan Summerell, Jack Ballagher
Backs ( 13 available from 13 )
James Cleave, Robbie Riddicks, Nathan Jones, Pete Quinn, Lewis Jones, Jonny Sykes, Alex Day, Edward Omally, Patrick Askew, Jack Summerell, William Meakin, Jordon Warren, Richard Hadler.
Plus Points - Determination, Great defence, good passing and offloading in the tackle by the backs,
good communication in the line out, good mauling by the forwards
Bad points - we do not have enough forwards, scrum needs working on. Backs at times were stood to close to each other ( however this may of been down to the narrow pitch, but still needs working on )