Mowden U10s Inspired and Inspirational

Assistant Coach Iain Taylor must have thought it was going to be one of those days this morning. He woke up with a banging headache and blurred vision out of his right eye. No other coaches had turned up, there was no kit, he had 17 players and was seen crawling on the pitch trying to find his keys as parents assisted him. Things didn’t improve as the rest of the coaching team and kit arrived. Furness turned up drinking coffee and eating a bacon bun apparently disinterested. An excellent Guisborough coach agreed a game plan but as soon as everyone kicked off Taylor’s frustration peaked. “There’s letting the game flow and taking the. “ he was heard to say Guisborough went down hill and scored three tries with ease. Furness seemed only bothered about his son’s performance ordering him into the middle of the pitch. Taylor was seen ordering his Head Coach to the opposite touch line. This was the first of severalinspirational decisions.

Taylor then made swaps. Dryden and Wild made ground, held the ball and Wild pushed Dryden over the line. The driving of team mates by putting the shoulder in low on the bottom was a feature of Taylor’s recent coaching and Mowden made it look easy. Guisborough had no answer. This inspired the Mowden team and shouts of joy came from the bench . At half time Taylor took over and reffed. The crowd then started murmuring, “Why don’t the first team do that?” And “Taylor for head coach.”

As the morning’s play progressed Mowden enjoyed it more and more. Maxey put in tackle after tackle, not always completing but putting Guisborough out of their stride so much that others completed. Morrison joined in with some towering possession and lays offs in the laid back style that has become typical of him. King linked play in the middle of the park. Wild and Braithwaite put in many tackles all afternoon but the most impressive were try saving from Dryden on the touch line and Pounds with a tap tackle that stopped a certain try. From this point on defences were in the ascendency. The only tries Guisborough could make were break aways.. Leishmann followed a top tip from coach Taylor to avoid the touch line and so like delay well. Thompson won ruck after ruck. Forrest and Gilbert showed support play and tackling which on another day would have won them man of the match but we have come to expect as normal. Enthusiasm led to some players going in front of the ball Mowden then had to show great discipline not to be wound up by high tackles and limitless Guisborough numbers in the ruck. Gratton, Tenwick and McRobert were always available to off load and take pressure off and Constance Holmes started dominating the middle. Constance is her Sunday name. It was well deserved today because when in possession she made it look like a Sunday walk up the pitch as she just kept going whatever hit her. Her steely calmness on the pitch was only bettered by her glamorous let down of hair at the end.

We haven’t even mentioned the madman of the match yet. Taylor must have realised he had turned things round when Taylor junior was high tackled and responded by fairly flooring the giant towering over him. He tackled low and hard every time, always made ground running forward and drove team mates forward. This was after overcoming an elbow to the nose in the first few mi utes of the game.

The overall impression from all spectators was that it was the most entertaining game and the best team performance.

Controversially coaches Taylor and Furness were seen at the bar afterwards but we have been unable to find out what was discussed. We tried to contact Furness but only managed to speak to his wife. “We went to see Bohemian Rhapsody last night,” she said. “I noticed there were lots of good bottoms John’s butt has been leaking and he’s not managed to patch it up so I’ve sent him to buy a new one. “
“They’re only £30 at B& M,” (other brands are available) said his older son. “The expensive ones are 6 times that and this way mum has a new one every 4 years.”

An unidentified spokesperson said, “Well it’s typical. Furness sees an inspiring team game from the lads and all he can do is talk about himself and his butt. Bring on Taylor.”

Teams

Guisborough
14 young men in orange and black

DMP
Furness (2 or 3 tries ,many yards made, made tackles), Dryden (3 or 4 tries, multiple turn overs, multiple tackles and yards made), Constance Holmes (one try and several miles made with the ball whilst walking around gracefully), Wild (one or two tries and multiple yards made), Taylor (man of the match and inspirational tackler), Braithwaite (100% tackle machine) Forrest (tackler supreme), Pounds (try saving tap tackle), Leishmann (inspirational middle of the park running and linking play), King (link man and tackler), McRobert (many yards made), Gilbert (solid rucker and tackler), Maxey (inspirational tackler), Tenwick (tackler and great link play), Gratton (cool pressure releasing runs), Thompson (top rucker), Braithwaite (top tackler of the week) (apologies if some try scorers have been missed off this list)