MINI MATTERS 25 th October 2015

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1 MINI MATTERS 25 th October 2015 Hello Datchworth Mini Section Coaches, Managers, Players, Parents and Supporters, Last Sunday we welcomed Old Grammarians to Datchworth against the backdrop of a beautiful autumn day. The fixture proved to be very even and well natured in most age groups. This coming weekend we have a training weekend in all Mini Age Groups, before a couple of away fixtures. The story of last weekend is told below! U6 & U7 Datchworth V Old Grammarians U6 - Another fine turn out, half term considering, for the ever growing and developing U6's. We started the session with a game of beans (a favourite), then played stuck in the mud (with the coaches finding the mud more than the kids!), then onto Chinese dragons and Cat & Mouse. We finished off with a mass game of seaweed bulldog. Another fun, engaging session with the U6's growing in ability and confidence each week; well done to our Player of the Week - Stanley Howard. U7 - A really well matched fixture against Old Grammarians with both clubs fielding 2 teams. We started the session with a mixed club warm up games focusing on evasive, tagging, passing and supporting skills such as 'Me & My Shadow', 'Tag Thief' and 'Rats & Rabbits'. We then split into mixed ability teams with all games proving to be competitive and evenly matched - finishing a 2 game win each. This week proved to be another good opportunity for some of our newer players to get some game time and practice and we are seeing some great progress each week - well done to our Player of the Week - Finley Steadman U8 Datchworth V Old Grammarians With some of the U8 boys away due to half term we could only field one team as could OG s. The U8s played two games of eight a side with rolling subs and won both games comfortably. Some good tackles and great straight running; a special mention to Rees, Ross and Oliver who have all really developed over the past few weeks. The U8s didn t award player of the week as one trophy is missing and the other broken!!!! U10 Datchworth V Old Grammarians Despite a few half term holidaymakers the U10s enjoyed another good turn out with 20 boys pulling on match shirts! We started with a set of warm up drills before breaking down into two mixed groups for some well matched games against a slightly smaller OGs squad. This week s Datchworth Green team were; George Reilly, Nelson DeWolfe, Matthew McGinty, William Paine, Harry King, Daniel Rates, Harrison, Elliot Clifford and Lucas Viudez. The Green team results were:

2 4-4 Datchworth Greens / OGs Team 1 (Draw) 4-4 Datchworth Greens / OGs Team 1 (Datch Lost) The Datchworth Blue team this week was made up, Morgan MacGillivray, Thomas Howard, Fabian Whitfield, Damian Murphy, Ronan Hawes, James Beford, Kyle Haskett, Thomas Moore, Kobie Richmond, Samuel Wright and Eben Fraley. The Blue team tackled well and were disciplined in defence. The Blue team results were: 8-2 Datchworth Blues / OGS Team 2 (Datch Win) 6-0 Datchworth Blues / OGS Team 2 (Datch Win) We finished the session this week with a Development and A side game; the A side played very well with a few new faces in the team this week. Solid defence from Thomas Howard and some fantastic forward running from Ronan and Elliot laid the platform for a very solid 7-2 win. This week the A side were, Morgan MacGillivray, Ronan Hawes, Kyle Haskett, Kobie Richmond, Thomas Howard, William Paine, Daniel Rates, Nelson DeWolfe, Matthew McGinty and Elliot Clifford. The Development side enjoyed a very tight contest where a number of the new players again put in some very solid performances. Fabian and Thomas Moore both had big games as did Harrison on his debut in the Datch Green! The Development side went down 3-4, this week the Development side were, Damian Murphy, Fabian Whitfield, James Bedford, Samuel Wright, Eben Fraley, Thomas Moore, Harry King, George Reilly, Lucas Viudez and Harrison. Results: 7-2 Datchworth A V Old Grammarian A (Datch Win) 3-4 Datchworth Development V Old Grammarian Development (Datch Lost) This week Old Grammarians had 13 players so a number of the Datchworth boys volunteered to play for OGs to make for some good 7 a-side games... well done to all of you and thank you very much! The players recognised this week for exceptional effort, commitment and performance were, Ronan Hawes, Thomas Howard and Thomas Moore well done to you all. U11s - Datchworth V Old Grammarians The U11s had a tough morning. Some narrow defending and poor defensive shape compounded at times by not taking contact on our terms led to a defeat this week. Plenty to work on for next weekend s training Session. Result: Datchworth 2 (Sidney (2)- OGs 9

3 U12s Datchworth V Old Grammarians Yet another glorious morning s weather for our home game against OG s this morning. Half term meant we were running low on numbers with just 12 players, and an injury to one of them dropped us down to 11 so we borrowed a couple of OG s lads to make up our numbers and allow maximum game time for their boys in the process. First game up and Datch were slow out of the blocks letting in 2 tries through loose ball. The second half was much better though, with our lads starting to wake up and put in a much improved performance. Some great defensive play in particular from Josh Staddon, and a great tackle around the legs by one of our smallest lads Cameron Smith on their HUGE forward Cory kept OG s off the scoreboard in the second half. Once again we saw some great hooking by Benjamin Wright winning some ball against the head. Matthew Rates had a powerful drive towards the line, and some great communication saw him pop the ball up to William Field who stepped around a defender to score a try that brought us back into it, but ultimately we ran out of time and lost the game 5-10 a narrow defeat. The improvement we saw in the second half of the first game continued into the second match, with some great passages of play from our boys. We enjoyed 2 great tries in the first half, the first of which came from a lovely show and go from William Goff, followed by a couple of side steps around another few defenders and a strong drive in the last tackle to put it down on the line. The second came after a number of good phases including some strong running from Sam Whitby followed by a deft pass from Jonathan Germanos to our player on loan Cory who touched it down in the corner. Great defence including excellent tackling from Daniel Dickinson and great teamwork between Thomas Beechey and Matthew Rates to bring down their big players meant we only let one in during the second half, and we took the win this time 10-5 another well matched encounter. Great show today boys! Still some work to do in the breakdown which we will need to practice on next week, but all in all a lovely display of Rugby, again commented on by the opposition coaches who congratulated us on an entertaining morning of rugby, so well done everyone! Next Weekend Sunday 1 st November Next weekend we are looking forward to a home Training Weekend for all; we are looking for a 10:15 start so please aim to meet circa 10:00 in each age group: provisional training locations are: U6 Datchworth & Old Grammarians (below the First Team Pitch / above the cricket square)

4 U7 Datchworth V Old Grammarians (2 x Pitches adjacent to second team pitch) U8 Datchworth V Old Grammarians (2 x marked pitches below First Team Pitch) U9 Datchworth V Old Grammarians (1 x marked pitch below First Team Pitch) U10 Datchworth V Old Grammarians (Far side of Flood Lit Pitch) U11 Datchworth V Old Grammarians (Middle section of Flood Lit Pitch) U12 Datchworth V Old Grammarians (Near side of Flood Lit Pitch) Next weekend is the planned age group swap session for the first 45 minis of the training session, (10:15 to 11:00). The purpose of this session is to pass on experience, knowledge and best practice down an age group relatively early in the new season. So with this in mind next weekend one experienced Coach from each age group will drop down with one or two drills that worked well to share with the age groups below; i.e. U12s to deliver 45 mins to U11s U11s to deliver 45 mins to U10s U10s to deliver 45 mins to U9s U9s to deliver 45 mins to U8s U8s to deliver 45 mins to U7s U6s retain their own coaching teams to make sure the youngest children are comfortable with the session and activities. Danny Shurety is going to work with the U12s U7s Coach to support / observe age group as they wish to build learning for future! The second half of the session, (11:00 to 12:00), will see coaching teams back with their own age groups to get the most of the training prep time before the up-coming away fixtures. Each age group will retain at least 1 experienced Coach to capture the learning and to ensure discipline within their age-group. Car Parking A big thank you to Joanna Shurety, Steve and all of the U7 Volunteers for taking on and delivering an excellent car park marshal service this weekend! After the issues of the previous weeks we had a much better morning this weekend although we still had two cars parked on the Village Green which was a bit of a shame as there was a further complaint from the Parish Council. The Club has invested in some more equipment to help control the car-parking and when this is available we will re-set the Car Parking plan. You will have seen from previous newsletter that the Turkey Farm Public Car park remains under utilised most weeks; it might work better if we nominate an age group to use this Car Park to try and free up more space around the Club? Sunday 1 st November is the turn of the U15s (Youth Squad) to Manage Car Parking. Mid-Week Mini Training at Datchworth Last Wednesday saw a solid turn out across the 4 Contact Playing Age groups for mid week training despite the colder weather and a bit of rain. A split session for the U9s/10s and U11s/ U12s worked very well and we were fortunate to have an excellent turn out of Coaches. Mini Training will continue again during half term at 7:30 under the flood lights for any players U9 to U12.Big thanks

5 to Matt Beechey for again leading last week s session along with Graham, Jason, Warren, Icarus and Jake. Forthcoming Fixture & Events 2015/16 Week Date Datchworth RFC Mini Section Provisional 15/16 Season Parking Duty 9 01-Nov Training at Datchworth Coach Swap Session U Nov Away Fixture V Stevenage RFC all Mini Section Away U Nov U10 Saracens Allianz Cup Event N/A 15-Nov Away Fixture V Enfield Ignations all Mini Section Away U18 22-Nov Training at Datchworth U12 29-Nov Home Fixture Vs Luton RFC All Minis at home U Dec Home Fixture Vs St Albans RFC U7s / U8s / U9s / U10s (U11s & U12s TBC) U10 Closing Notes The Old Grammarians fixture proved very popular again with two well matched clubs enjoying some competitive rugby in most age groups. Next weekend will be a useful and timely training session before we hit the road for two away fixtures at Stevenage and Enfield. Lastly; another huge thank you to the Corley family and Steve Gregory for providing the catering Hot Dogs cooked and served in the space of an hour for the second week running thank you so much... Have a great week, enjoy the half term break and see you all on Wednesday or at the weekend. Best wishes, Andrew Andrew Howard Chairman Mini Section