U10s host Thornensians

The coaches on both sides had a bit of a losing battle to get the squads warmed up, with a strong physical team fielded on both sides, the match progressed in very windy conditions.

The Panthers showed greater levels of team work every week, with the rucks turning over with much greater speed. The matches were very close with minimal tries on both sides and every inch was battled for. A rare sighting of Ben refereeing!

Try’s scored today by Charlie.

Thoughts from the trenches:

Andy: A tale of two halves really. First half not making any tackles which could have been down to them being too cold. Not making tackle’s and not arriving at the break down in time and clearing out properly. Second half a huge improvement, much quicker to the break down. It was very evenly contested in the second half, they spread the ball better and looked after it better. The biggest difference in the second half was that they started to make tackles, and it finished 1 all, an even game overall and a huge improvement. Charlie was the man of the match, for his leadership, and how he drove the team on, Ethan was colossal with his tackles until he got injured.

Garvin: A good game, two extremely competent teams evenly matched. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a nil, nil draw. But Iitwas not a bore draw, it was a full on exciting. Could have gone either way, really pleased with everything that they did with commitment, the break down in play is improving all the time. The outstanding players this week; Oli for ripping the ball and his cover tackles overall in the game with Felix at the break downs pushing them back.

Thanks to Thornensians for very enjoyable and closely fought matches in difficult weather conditions.

Thanks to Alice, Andy, Ben, Dave, Garvin and Richard for all the hard work they put in every week.

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