U13s Cup Win at Westoe

The weather warnings had been sent out by Ian the night before warning of possible cancelled games, however, on waking to a somewhat grey day, the rain, sleet and snow had held off over night and despite the sporadic drizzle the game was good to go ahead!

The squad arrived at Westoe RUFC eager to get going and were out warming up and running through their drills under their own steam. Unfortunately the referee didn’t share the same enthusiasm or organisations and the game was delayed as we waited for his arrival after he had gone to the wrong game down the road.

The bad weather held off, although a little nipped in the air and claggy underfoot the game was underway. With the simple instructions of “keep it simple” “do the basics well” & “enjoy it” ringing in the players ears they set about their game.

Playing the majority of the game in the oppositions half, each player to a man did their job ~ nothing more a coach could ask for to be honest. A couple of handling errors (to be expected with the pitch condition) let Westoe RFC back into the game but with the DMP forwards doing a sterling job ball was quickly won back even in the set pieces. The DMP backs, not to be out done by the forwards, pushed hard in defence and were willing to run the ball when in hand from set piece or turnover ball.

We as coaches have emphasized how important it is that each player does their job. The lads have grasped this with both hands. The proof is in the pudding as they say; and with Josh crossing for a hatrick on the wing shows that the rest of the team are giving the wings a solid platform to score tries. It is a team game and it works!

The game was almost a perfect result for us coaches, the lads played well, enjoyed it, got the result and most importantly still left us coaches things to work on. Over the coming weeks with more friendly fixtures it will give us opportunities to develop the players and try new combinations in various playing positions.

Most importantly today I got a glimpse of what we have been working towards. It was from two lads that have bright futures in the game, they have great attitudes, great work ethics and willingness to learn. They are not hung up on what position to play but are more concerned in doing their job for the team to get the best possible result, irrelevant of how long they are on the pitch! Those two players were Alex H and Tom B. I won’t go into details about what they said as they spoke to me in confidence but the only concern was doing the best they could do for the team, their attitude was spot on and in my personal opinion out shone the result!

Final result:
Westoe RFC 7 vs Mowden RFC 41

Tries: Josh x3, Aiden x2, Inness, Charlie.
Conv: Ollie x3

In a nice thought from the lads, they rested the #11 shirt in respect for the legend Jonah Lomu.

Ben.