Datchworth Mini s Start with Wins for U7s and U12s!

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1 MINI MATTERS 5 th October 2015 Datchworth Mini s Start with Wins for U7s and U12s! Hello Datchworth Mini Section Coaches, Managers, Players, Parents and Supporters, Last weekend saw the first games of our Mini Rugby Season, all of the age groups reported a good morning with the U7s Winning the Letchworth Tag Festival and the U8s losing in the final. The U12s also enjoyed success at the OAs Development Festival. Well done to all of our Players and Coaches and good luck to everyone participating at Letchworth next weekend. The story of last weekend and the arrangements for next week are detailed below: U6 Training at Datchworth We had some really good fun this week. The U6 & some U7's were coached by Jodie, John, Pip and James and there were around 23 children in attendance. Player of the week went to a new comer, Morton for his excellent listening, however it could have gone to anyone today as all the children were so good! U7 Letchworth Festival Report WINNERS!!!!!!! Today 12 U7's headed off to sunny Letchworth for the North Herts Festival. We had 2 pool teams (1 & 2) playing 4 games each, with the overall winner of each pool playing a final. Steve Wooldridge - Datchworth pool 2 team played 4 hard fought matches, winning 2 (St Albans & Stevenage),

2 drawing 1 (Letchworth) and losing the final game to a strong Hitchin side. Zach to the H charged through the field scoring numerous tries and grabbing as many tags as possible, Zac to the C really impressed also with great tagging and supporting. Max to the massive and Alfie to the awesome kept the pressure on, with fab defensive lines and runs. Even our younger boys Oliver, Charlie and Daniel are all showing fantastic commitment and promise. Pool 2 team finished run ners up in the pool. Dave Gore & John McGinty - Datchworth pool 1 had a great start to the tournament winning their first 3 games against Hitchin, Letchworth and St Albans. They lost their final game by a single try against Tabard. All the boys, Alex Tatlow, Daniel McGinty, Nathan Gunnell, Sam Gore and Sam Shurety, played fantastic - supporting one another, tagging relentlessly and scoring some great tries. Pool 1 team finished winners in their pool. The final - Datchworth v Hitchin was a fast paced game with Datchworth coming out on top, winning 8 v 6. A really great day for the club and all the children showed great sportsmanship and teamwork. Thanks and well done to the coaches too - Steve, Dave, John & Danny. U8 Letchworth Festival Report The U8s had a good morning at Letchworth yesterday; unfortunately Royston didn't make it to the event. Luckily for our Green team a Letchworth C team played instead. For our Blue team they not only missed Royston but also Tabard decided to leave so they had no final match, which was a bit of a shame but our players all got some good game time in. Our U8s had 20 children playing in the two teams, with the children getting used to having 6 players on the pitch, with 6 tags earning a turnover Our blue team won one, drew one and lost two, it was a great morning for the children to get used to the new rules and spend some time on what seemed like huge pitches. Our Blue team was made up of Finn, Thomas, Finley, George, Jessica, Louis, Jake, Henry, Owen and Niall Our green team won four matches and drew their last game to win their group. They narrowly lost out on winning the final by one try to Letchworth B. Notable mentions were Indi who went from strength to strength tagging people. Great runs by Trent enjoying the freedom of the large pitch. And as ever William Grace, Elwood and Will Sharpe were fantastic at tagging and scoring tries. Rueben, Fin, Theo, Jack and Louis made good runs and made some valuable tags. We believe all players scored a try...it certainly seemed that way!!!! U9 Training at Datchworth Another glorious autumn day accompanied another consistent turn out from the Under 9's for the final week of training before the Letchworth festival. It was also great to welcome another new face

3 with William arriving from Knebwoth. We brought more of a competitive edge into the training today with some chasing of loose ball then small-sided attack and defence, followed by game. Well done to a number of the players who were demonstrating good determination in attack including Mateo, George and Sammy. We were also getting good tackles in sometimes but everyone needs to focus on this more. Particular praise goes to Alby who is only in his second week but got player of the week for a great demonstration of how to get hold of the ball, run straight down the pitch and pass to a team mate to set up a great try. Well done everyone. U10 Training at Datchworth The final pre-match training session for the U10s saw great attendance with some further new faces (we were delighted to welcome James)... With continued focus on the U10 laws, core skills and maintaining position the growing squad is in good shape ahead of our first games of the new Season next weekend at Letchworth. Our Player of the week was James with the Best Effort Award going to Jack Ingram. U11s OGs & Datchworth The U11s had a fantastic Sunday session with our great colleagues and friends from OG's. The weather was once again kind on us. After an energetic warm up we ran a multi stationed contact and passing drill. This worked specifically on body positioning going into contact to assist in ball retention and passing success and simultaneously working on fixing defenders to expose the space! We then broke out into a match involving both squads and an amazing rucking station run by our colleagues from Enfield. As a coach I was very impressed with their organisational and delivery skills. We were very competitive in the matches but still found ourselves bunching around the ball which we were punished for on a few occasions as OG's quickly distributed it wide and scored a few tries against us. We are capable of great things but we need to run from deeper lines and pass the ball around more to expose gaps in their defence and stop ball following and to keep our defensive shape. U12s OAs Development Festival WINNERS!!!!!!! Datchworth Under 12 s attended OA s Festival of Rugby today, and enjoyed wonderful weather yet again, as well as excellent playing surfaces and facilities at the OA s main grounds at the Woollam Playing Fields. It was a great opportunity to give our lads a warm up before next week s festival at Letchworth, and to allow the whole squad to have a run out and in particular introduce the new lads to the team and what it means to play for Datchworth.

4 We were placed in a pool with Hemel Hempstead and Watford, the latter of which we had not played before. First up though was Hemel, and it was a close match with some lovely flowing rugby on show from both sides. There were some big hits going in, not least of which from our new recruit Sam Whitby who made some huge tackles on some big lads, as well as from our old stalwarts like Josh Staddon and William Field, both of whom were also able to claim a try a piece. A third from Matthew Rates made the result a win to Datchworth. Next up was Watford, and having watched them in the previous game we could see they had some big units who caused Hemel a lot of trouble. On the whole we were able to contain them though, and once again William Field took a try along with Josh Staddon, and Sam Whitby s powerful running earned him two tries in the match. Watford got a try in each half, meaning another Win for Datchworth As Pool winners, we were then placed against the winners of the other pool which was Amersham, another team we had not come across before on our travels. It was a closely fought, well played match, with long spells of hard play in both defence and attack, but yet again we came away on top with a try apiece from William Field and Joshua Staddon to take the win Well done to ALL players in the squad today maximum effort was given by all players so it s difficult to name everyone, but it proved a great opening to our season. The passing game was well played today in particular, as was the level and commitment of tackling, but there is work for us to do in the breakdown area to ensure we protect our ball quickly and securely, as well as to steal opposition ball where we can. For day 1 of our match playing season it was an exceptional result though.

5 Next Weekend at a glance. Next weekend the Mini Section split as per below: U6 Training at Datchworth (usual location) U7 Training at Datchworth (usual location)) U8 Training at Datchworth (usual location) U9 Letchworth Contact Festival (9:30 meet for 10am Kick off) U10 Letchworth Contact Festival (9:30 meet for 10am Kick off) U11 Letchworth Contact Festival (9:30 meet for 10am Kick off) U12 Letchworth Contact Festival (9:30 meet for 10am Kick off) Letchworth RFC - North Herts Mini Contact Festival 2015 Thank you for accepting our invitation to join the North Herts festival for Minis this year. All of the details you require are below: Date: Start time: Meet: Briefings: Format: Sunday 11 th October 10am 9:30am latest all players and parents / warm ups 9.30am (Head Coach and / or nominated referee from each age group) U9 & U10-5 minutes each way U11 & U12-8 minutes each way The teams are being divided into two pools and there will be a Final (pool 1 winners v Pool 2 winners). However all players participating in the festival will receive a medal. Spectators Each family will be charged 1 entry and in return will receive a programme. We will be using the RFU Respect rules so parents are asked not to stand within a metre of the pitch and to not be abusive towards players and referees. Parking Only the Head coach per team can use the Club car park. Players and spectators must use the north Herts leisure centre car park (next door) or the retail park car park (opposite) allow at least 5 minutes for the walk. Catering - There will be a range of hot and cold food options, as well as cakes, available during the festival. Dogs - No dogs are allowed onto the site during the festival.

6 Datchworth Club Squad Photographs Order Forms for the photographs will be available from the Age Group Managers. Minis section Tour April 2016 Hilltop, Sherringham and Holt RFC Look out for Tour Information coming soon, this will include the tour details and forms to reserve your place. Last year we completely filled the centre so places are at a premium this year! Mid-Week Mini Training at Datchworth Last Wednesday saw a great turn out across the 4 Contact Playing Age groups for mid week training. 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 this week at 7:30 under the flood lights for any players U9 to U12. Forthcoming Fixture & Events 2015/16 Week Date Datchworth RFC Mini Section Provisional 15/16 Season Parking Duty 6 11-Oct U9 / U10 / U11 / U12 - Letchworth RFC CONTACT FESTIVAL U6 / U7 / U8 - Training at Datchworth U Oct Home Fixture Vs Leighton Buzzard All Minis at home U6 / U7 / U8 / U9 / U10 / U11 / U12 U Oct Home Fixture Vs Old Grammarians All Minis at home U Nov Training at Datchworth U Nov Away Fixture V Stevenage RFC all Mini Section Away U Nov 22-Nov Away Fixture V Enfield Ignations all Mini Section Away Training at Datchworth U18 U 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

7 Closing Notes With all of the success enjoyed by the Datchworth Mini s last weekend it is easy to forget that another game was played on Saturday evening. The results of the last two weekends were obviously a little bit disappointing for most of us at Datchworth so I am pleased to open the official club count-down to the next Rugby World Cup that is taking place in Japan in a little over 4 years time! I understand there are few fixtures remaining in the current tournament. Uruguay has a big game this Saturday evening which will be available in the Club House if anyone wants to come along and see a highly possible rare England win! Much more importantly I hope everyone has a great time at Letchworth next weekend and well done to all of the age groups that gave such a good account of the Club last weekend. Have a great week and see you all soon. Best wishes, Andrew Andrew Howard Chairman Mini Section