Sunday 4th October 2015

Romford & GP U11 vs Stanford / Bancroft U11

J.Roberts, F.McCloud, D.Wood, J.Gutteridge, T.Portelli, L.Walker, D.Metcalf, N.Moonie, M.Tranter, O.Butler, E.Taylor, C.Pearson, N.Robinson.

First outing of the season for our new u11’s side and they were a credit to the long pre-season and the hours they have put into training. We faced Bancroft in the first of our two matches, during which the coaching team were keen to see if the new laws and changes to the format had sunk in. With a larger pitch, an introduction to kicking and competing at the scrum for the first time to name a few, the players could have been forgiven for getting off to a stuttering start…. But they didn’t.
The contact area and breakdown has always been one of our team’s strengths and this continued today, providing a great attacking platform from which to spread the ball wide and attack the visitors defence.
The off-loading was outstanding, everyone played for one another and put their teammates into spaces that they previously may have tried to run into themselves. Tries came regularly and the defence was not breached at all which is particularly pleasing. Every restarting kick was executed accurately, and equal to that was the way we took the high ball from the oppositions kick-off, I cannot recall a single dropped catch. A convincing win to nil and a very upbeat start, with all the players showing their appreciation for one another as well which adds to a very complete performance.

The second match was against a much more physical Stanford side, who fielded some very robust and direct players. The team met this challenge head on and proved that they are just as comfortable defended hard, working at every breakdown, and scrapping for every loose ball. We appeared to have the edge in every 50-50 situation, showing good strength and determination to rip the ball away and off-load. The accuracy with which the ball was often spread wide from the breakdown was good to watch, with the newest members of our team not shying away from playing their part. We held a narrow 2-0 lead at half time but had the luxury of being able to then ‘empty the bench’ and extend the lead and finish well on top and most pleasing off all, to nil again. I could write at length about what each of the boys did really well, and I will give a special mention to Ethan Taylor who made his full debut and sustained a nice fat lip for his troubles (whilst making a very brave tackle!), but ultimately it was a very satisfying team performance and praise goes to the team as a whole.

Welcome back boys, a very pleasing start to the new season

ROMFORD & GIDEA PARK R.F.C

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