U11 Report

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U11 at Market Harborough &

Diss Development Festival

The under 11s enjoyed a fantastic set of results on Sunday morning at the Market Harborough and Diss Development Festivals.

As you know we are constantly seeking ways to challenge all the players in our squad to ensure that they improve and provide strength and depth as we move in to 15 a side in 18 months time. It is testament to the size and quality of our squad that we were able to put out two squads on Sunday.

At Market Harborough the squad played what was arguably the strongest set of teams it will every play against. Every game was really competitive which is precisely what all the players needed. Given the quality on show, it is remarkable that the only try conceded was in the first minute of the first game against Vipers in a game we went on to win 15-5. Wins against Nottingham Corsairs (10-0) and Old Scouts (15-0) before drawing the last game against the hosts 0-0. On occasion, things don t go as well as planned and we passed and caught poorly against Market Harborough which rarely happens. Notwithstanding that, we probably should have won but the game was marked by the almost suicidal defence of our line on two occasions when the team refused to concede a try.

The final was a completely different story. We played against Sutton Coldfield who apparently had a similar record to Wymondham over the last few years including a semi-final loss in the Prima Cup last year. The scoreline of 25-0 to Wymondham only tells part of the story because Sutton were huge including a second row who was almost as big as Marty and a fullback who was as big as Brett! The fullback made the mistake of running at Owain in the first 2 minutes and having been summarily dealt with was never seen again! The shellshocked Sutton players, coaches and parents were magnanimous in defeat freely acknowledging that we were the best team we have every played against. As I said to the boys afterwards, when they play like they did, they are a completely joy to watch. There was talk after that we may have to go to New Zealand or South Africa to get some proper competition!

Congratulations to everyone in the squad it was a true team effort and everyone made a massive contribution and everyone deserves a mention but I think it is important to acknowledge that in every game our forwards were quite simply superb dominating the tackle area, every breakdown, the set piece and disheartening the opposition. This should not be taken to demean the efforts of the backs in any way because they were brilliant too but as we all know, forwards win matches, backs determine by how much!

Next to Diss - I have had a full de-brief from Brett this morning. Whenever we play in Development Festivals we invariably come across the top squads from other clubs which always makes it a greater challenge to win. However, the performances and results were remarkable particularly after a shaky start against Holt which might have knocked the confidence of lesser squads. The squad

secured two draws against Woodbridge and Colchester and narrow losses against North Walsham (5-0) and Swaffham (15-5). Brett tells me that the squad got stronger and stronger throughout the day proving a match for every team they played against. He would want me to mention the particularly strong contributions from Jamie, Cameron and Joe but also recognise that everyone played their part. He tells me that the key thing for the squad to work on is acceleration on to the ball to maximise the chances of penetrating opposition defences we can work on that on Sunday. What is abundantly clear is that the competition for spaces continues to hot up I say it repeatedly but I cannot wait until we go to 15 a side so that we can start to accommodate more of the talent we have at our disposal.

There remains much to play for this season and I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday. Congratulations to everyone including all the parents for your efforts and support yesterday we continue to go from strength to strength.