U10s host Sheffield Tigers

As the morning progressed, it warmed up considerably, some of the players even removed some of the wimp layers! Even so the supporters still looked cold. Luckily Lewis managed to come in the right boots this time, the different coloured bags must have helped?

Andy and Garvin warmed up a very enthusiastic squad, which at some points looked at little bit too keen. Luckily the coaches seemed to cope well with the extra work ?.

Ben and Max joined the Tigers to make up the squads and were greeted warmly and played well in opposition to the Panthers. The matches were energetic and physical with some great individual performances but as a team the Panthers did not always form into a cohesive unit. This was probably the toughest match the Panthers have faced yet this season and although things did not always go the Panther’s way, at no point did they give up. They fought on giving a more convincing performance as the day/matches progressed. As the teams got tired, a few heads got knocked and went off winded, but that is the game of rugby. But as one young lad found out, you get a lot of attention at school, when you come in with a bruised eye.

Try scores today by Lewis, Charley, Oli H, Oli P and William.

Thoughts from the trenches:
Andy: Our side is built on speed, and that’s where we need to be but today, we were a little too slow distributing the ball and not using the pace that we have got, as a result of the slow ball scenario we coughed up too much possession against a good Sheffield Tigers team, which were not the most physical side that we have played but knew how to us the space and how to use the width of the pitch. At ruck time they were unbelievably quick and distributed the ball quicker than we did which resulted in the score line. I cannot fault the commitment and endeavour.

Garvin: I thought we did well, once again we got off to a slow start against a very good Sheffield Tigers team. Whether they intended to or not they had an A and B team. The A team was very good, as good as we have played all year. We were a bit slow out of the blocks but like we do every week we keep coming back for more and keep giving it a go, and in the team, I had we matched them 2 all which I was very pleased with. We then took that momentum into the second game which we had a more comfortable match.

The man of the match when to Tom for amongst other things an awesome cover tackle.

As the end of the year approaches, I hope everyone has enjoyed the match reports and the photographs, but all the credit goes to the coaching team, Andy, Garvin, Ben, Dave (and his levitating ball trick) and Alice who luckily wrapped up warmer this week although a woolly hat and gloves might help next week.

D.A. Cooke (Roving Match Reporter, U10(s) proof-reading Rachel Cooke any comments please email: Rugby@dacfox.com.

Thanks for another cracking match report from Cookie, and a big thank you to all our players, coaches and supporters, the commitment you continue to give makes helping with this squad a real pleasure. Going into the Christmas period, and midpoint of the season, I think we’ve had some great contests in the first half of the season and I have every confidence that we will continue to do so. We need to learn to stick to our own playing style and not get drawn into trying to take other people on at theirs, I can’t fault the spirit and determination, but we are not the biggest team and yet at times seem determined to try and knock people backwards as opposed to finding the gaps through passing and running. The progress has been great so far this year and I’m sure we’ll continue in the same vein in the new year.

For those we don’t see this week then the coaching team would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and look forward to seeing everyone back in the New Year - BP