Ashfield U10’s
.
9th November 2008
Man of the Match |
|
Weather Conditions |
Raining and windy |
Number of Players |
8 |
Injuries |
Joshua Newby bloody nose |
Duration |
7.50 min half’s |
Coach |
Paul Summerland |
NLD Under 10’s Festival 2008-9.
Nottinghamshire Qualifying Round.
Nottinghamshire Qualifying Round.
Nottingham A v Ashfield 6-0
Southwell v Ashfield 3-0
West Bridgford v Ashfield 4-0
Newark B v Ashfield ....3-0
Mellish v Ashfield ................0-4
Captains: Josh Newby, Louis Beastall, Lewis Murdoch, Wesley Smith.
Try Scorers: Jake Easom and Lewis Murdoch.
Team included: Henry Hartley (8, Wing), Jake Eason (7 Outside Centre), Louis Beastall (6, Inside centre), Mathew Moore (5, Fly half), Henry Slawson (4, Scrum Half), Wesley Smith (3 Tight head prop), Josh Newby (2, Hooker), and Lewis Murdoch (1, Loose Head prop.)
We arrived at Nottingham with 8 players. One man down, however passion and confidence was in an abundance!.
Playing Nottingham A in the first round was always going to be a tough game. However Ashfield Under 10’s did us proud.
Notts A spun the ball out to the wings at every opportunity, letting the ball do the work. Ashfield began chasing the ball from the first whistle. Holding the back line as we had practiced would have given Notts A, a formidable defence. Unfortunately we weren’t prepared for this. Quick ball from the breakdowns, spun out to the backs stretched the Ashfield backline. This will come in time.
The tackling sometimes was magnificent, huge, aggressive turning defence into attack by tackling Notts A whilst in possession, knocking them to the ground and then stealing the ball. This looked so good from the side line.
After the game, a number of coaches came upto me, saying how much they had enjoyed the game and how aggressive and well drilled Ashfield were. They all wanted to see how strong Notts A were, but didn’t envisage Ashfield was going to be as strong as they were.
More team talk, regarding tackling, support play, off loading and positional play was the hot topic in the Ashfield tent.
The next game against Southwell should have been a victory, Wesley spinning out of tackles Lewis M supporting and then offloading to Joshua was text book, picture perfick, just what we had spoken about.
Louis Beastall's tackling, once again was superb, together with Jake Easom's running. Given space, Jake is a handful to tackle, especially when he runs at an angle, leading into tackles ensures that they can’t get their arms around his legs. Cheeky, but it works.
The first try, I saw a forward pass!, the second the try scorer used a blatant “hand off” in the face of Joshua, causing a bloody nose, alas the try was still counted.
Once again great tackling although the couple that did not connect allowed the opposition to score two more try’s.
Taking into account the scrums that we won, the line outs that we won, the superb support play and off loading that we clearly demonstrated we should have won the game.
Next, West Bridgford. By now we had grown in experience, confidence and character. We have learnt from our mistakes and were starting to put into practice what we have learnt from our competitors.
Henry Slawson did a fantastic job as scrum half and with Mathew positioned and ready to attack the West Bridgford’s line, surly we were to score.
The tackling from the oppossison was very good, every time we attacked the ball, we had support, off loading wasn’t great, but grit and determination was in an abundance. The ball kept getting tied up in both rucks and mauls and somehow lost possession, because we didn’t turn in the tackles.
All their try’s came from this type of play. For the poor coach it was very distressing, for the players it must have been very frustrating.
Mathew when he received the ball, passed it down the line to the raging Lewis Murdoch and Louis Beastall was destined to cause an upset, but alas it didn’t materialise. Surely it was just a matter of time!.
Newark, was much of a much-ness. Whether the boys were getting tied, wet, the injuries started to play a part, having to sub Wesley for Kai (the Blonde Bomber / exacet missile!!). Where he lacks in statue and size, the little man has an abundance of grit, aggression and passion. Not always in the right place at the right time, but nonetheless a right little handful for the opposition.
Once again, ball lost in rucks and mauls, spun out and easy try’s scored.
Massive impacts from Lewis Murdoch and Wesley made sure that Newark knew they had been in a game.
And then came Mellish,
The front row: Wesley, Josh and Lewis M, Mellish were going nowhere but backwards. With Josh’s hooking and Henry S ball handling skills I could see a great partnership blossoming.
Henry Hartley on the wing, what a sight, but when in motion, cutting across field made some fantastic efforts and came close to scoring a number of times. His crashing pace could be compared with Jona Lomu. “Henry, ask your dad to show you Jona on YouTube, you’ll see what I mean”!!
Having agreed in the Ashfield tent to spin out of the tackles and then drop the shoulder, hit the defence and then off load. The talk couldn’t have come at a better time. Wesley and Lewis Murdoch worked their way up the left hand side with ease, smashing their way through the Mellish defence, for then Lewis to go crashing over the line for his first try. Hurrrrrray, about bloomin' time!
Jake’s superb running ultimately paid off, when he started off in his own half and ran for it seemed a marathon, before dodging and weaving his way through the Mellish defence to make it 2 – 0.
Mathew gaining in confidence started to run with the ball and made significant ground, then offloading to Louis B.
All in all, a great performance from the under 10’s. Our aim must be to keep practicing the basics with the occasional twist in order to keep the opposition on their toes.
Next game against Keyworth bring it on.
Report by Paul Summerland.