Under 9's
Matches
Sun 18 Nov 2018
Billericay Rugby Club
Under 9's
10:00
Brentwood
Brentwood gave us a good challenge

Brentwood gave us a good challenge

Ben Landsberg19 Nov 2018 - 20:20
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Encouraging signs

So I had expected Brentwood to bring a fair number of players and so it was agreed that they would bring enough for 2 games. The start was delayed with Brentwood players still turning up and so it was a bit stop start with the warm up as I was expecting to start the game a bit earlier. Trying to keep the kids focused in these circumstances can be challenging as they are so looking forward to just playing the game.
We started with 8 a side which soon changed to 7 a side, so we decided rolling subs and we would sub the players on and off after every couple of tries. The kids all took their turns but we may change this in future and instead plan to change subs at half time. Keeping track of who has been off and how many times is a bit tricky when we have more than 1 sub. We would still try to ensure everyone has a fairly equal about of playing time where possible. I think it may also help them during the games so that there is a bit more structure. It is not set it stone so if it the kids prefer rolling subs we can go back to rolling subs.
We showed some good running with the ball, but also there some good examples of keeping hold off the ball when tackled. There were some good passes although we did throw some passes that made it difficult for the other players to catch. I think I even saw an over the head backwards pass, so we will look to encourage short and simple passes other wise we will end up just giving the ball to the other team a lot of the time.
The players continue to surprise me in how they are taking to tackling. I expected more players to avoid tackling but everyone is making great attempts at tackles, the next step is for us to look at getting closer to the players with the ball to try and tackle them earlier so they do not have time to get up to running speed.
We did seem to crowd the ball a lot meaning we both got in each others way. This also makes it easier for the other side to tackle us. This is not unexpected and I know all the players want to get their hands on the ball and try and score a try. So I am conscious of how we can change this behavior but still making it so that everyone gets a fair opportunity to get the ball. My initial plans are we will introduce some positioning, so my idea is that we have 2 left wingers, 2 right wingers , 2 centers and 1 full back. My thinking is that this will encourage the players to use the space and width of the pitch and we can encourage the players to alternate which side gets passed the ball so we can try to give everyone a bit of time on the ball. We will probably have to wait till the next training session to introduce this.
I think it was a good couple of challenging games against Brentwood. I am very pleased with our progress so far but do want to ensure the players continue to enjoy playing and I think the more we challenge them and develop how we play as a team then the more they will enjoy playing and training.
We are away to South Woodham Ferrers next week. My advice is you may want to get there early as from memory parking can be an issue as there is a long narrow driveway and smallish car park. I remember when we were there 2 years ago a large number of cars had to park on the grass verge on the main road as they could not get in the car park.

Match details

Match date

Sun 18 Nov 2018

Kickoff

10:00
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