What a fabulous morning to be playing rugby! Despite the wet weather, the players turned up with positive attitudes and ready to get warmed up. Ashbourne arrived with two teams so we had two games running simultaneously with rolling substitutions.
We managed to have some time again before the games to practice our rucking and gameplay which is starting to present more organisation and formation. The players are really starting to grasp what working as a team means to retaining the ball and working together to get over the try line. What really stood out today was how the players encouraged and motivated each other on the pitch. Commending each other for good tackles, rucking and running but also lifting each other when they didn't quite pull something off.
There are too many players to mention this week for their efforts on the pitch.
Albey Eley was fired up after being inspired by watching Leicester Tigers beat Worcester yesterday. We lost count of the number of tries he scored but he really showed his understanding of running into space and breaking the tackle. Matt Philliskirk impressed the coaches with his abilities in all aspects of the game. He does this week in and week out but today, not only did he manage to run in a number of tries but his efforts in defense were relentless.
Josh 'J Dog' Lewis made a big improvement this week, tackling, running the ball into space, and passing but also driving the opposition into touch and reacting to what was happening in front of him. Duncan Black also had a storming game this week, it is so good to see his confidence growing with his strong ball carries and tackling.
Our players of the matches this week go to Reefe Nel who captained one team. He always impresses with his ability in being able to run tries in from anywhere on the pitch but today he showed his understanding of teamwork by assisting tries and passing the ball to open players. His tackling was also on point and this is improving every week.
Jacob Shackles was also awarded the player of the match, again captaining his team. I think the responsibility of this really brought out the best in him. He was the perfect leader on the pitch, encouraging his teammates and making sure that they were all getting involved in the game. He got quite a nasty stud mark on his arm - it was that nasty that one of his teammates actually asked if he was going to die?! Jacob shook this off, accepted a dressing and got straight back into the game. He tackled like a beast, carried hard and basically lived his best life on that pitch today.
I could go on - we are so proud of all the players for their improvements, I wish I could say a bit about them all. Ashbourne were great opposition and again all players upheld the core values of the game throughout.
Our under 11's are growing each week and they never fail to wow us with how much they are learning and developing their skills and attitudes towards themselves and each other.