U10s – Guildfordians Festival 2007
The U10's played some great rugby at the Guildfordians Festival on Sunday to reach the final. Despite a bitter wind and sleet at times the boys kept their concentration to show how much they have developed in the last few months.
Our first match was against Guildfordians. Playing downhill in the first half we scored three tries, whilst the second-half was scoreless despite our domination of possession (I don't remember them getting into our half) for us to win 15-0. Next up were Reeds who played a close in driving game and frustrated us. We tried to play some rugby but didn't quite get a score, whilst Reeds were awarded a try in the second half to win 5-0. Our third game was against Battersea B and here we showed some confident handling to score some lovely long range tries to win 20-0 and it should have been more. In this game the backs confidence really stated to grow as the forwards carried on driving hard to win quick ruck ball. Our final pool game was against Bracknall where we played great attacking rugby to run out comfortable 35-0 winners.
We had qualified for the final against an unbeaten Battersea A team. They were strong and well drilled, and frequently scrummaged us off the ball. They scored two tries in the first half and another one straight away after half time to leave things looking very bleak especially as we were going uphill. The boys responded with a lot of spirit to batter away at the Battersea line for the rest of the match. We couldn't find the final pass and Battersea engineered a break away in the last minute to run out deserving 20-0 winners, but the boys had responded fantastically.
The boys worked really hard for each other and can be very proud of their performance. When we win quick ball the backs have the confidence to pass to a runner in space and score from anywhere. Our first up defence was much improved with the forwards driving into first up tackles to knock opponents backwards. This should give them a lot of confidence for the rest of the season
Everyone played well, but special mentions must go to Patrick for his elusive running, tackling and mauling, and Andrew and Joe at half back whose confidence grew as the day wore on sparking some great handling and running. However Player of the Day was Toby who led from the front. In defence he was always looking for the first tackle, in the rucks he drove hard to help produce some great quick ball, and with the ball in hand he was guaranteed to get over the gain line.
Simon Jozwiak - U10s Coach
Cranleigh v Alton U10s
Sunday 24 February 2007
On Sunday we welcomed Alton to our very wet pitches. The ground cut up very quickly to become a mud bath, but the players from both sides literally threw themselves into action & it appeared a good time was had by all.
After a combined training session in which ball handling skills were of prime importance, we played a game.
Cranleigh dominated from the start. The forwards drove hard, rucked & scrummaged well, providing lots of quick ball for the backs.
In the backs we moved the ball into space, our passing to players coming at pace was very good given the conditions & we scored a number of great tries.
However our first up tackling was poor at the beginning of the match. We need to knock over big players from the first whistle. The final score was a win for Cranleigh 45-15 (I think!).
Sean at fly half ran hard, passed & supported well to score a lot of tries, but given that forwards win matches & backs decide by how many points, Player of the Day was Bill for his hard work, willingness to go forward & general enthusiasm up front.
Simon Jozwiak - U10s Coach
CRFC U10s @ Wimbledon
Sunday 18 February 2007
With a reduced squad due to half term we travelled to Wimbledon for our first match in over a month.
After an enjoyable joint training session we played a good open match which gave both teams many opportunities to run.
Wimbledon got the better of the early exchanges. Whilst we tackled well we didn't compete at the breakdown & they pushed us off a lot of scrum ball, enabling them to keep the ball for long time.
This pressure led to two tries before half time. We did move the ball well at times, but couldn't keep possession for long enough, our only reply was a great individual, length of the field, effort from Alex who we had borrowed from Wimbledon.
At half time we reorganized the match & borrowed more players from Wimbledon, playing 11 a side with 5 man uncontested scrums, so everyone got a good period of game time.
Toby's move back to the pack galvanised our forwards who got going in the loose & the game became more even.
Wimbledon scored a break away before a period of Cranleigh pressure led to Patrick, who ran well all morning, charging over from short range.
Final score was 15-10 to deserved winners Wimbledon.
We can be pleased with a lot of our play. We are beginning to pass well, we tackled hard, but all the boys must be more aggressive at the breakdown, not leave it up to one or two.
James was Player of the Day for his efforts in the forwards where he drove well & tackled his heart out.
Simon Jozwiak - U10s Coach
U10s v Guildford & Petersfield
Sunday 10th December 2007
As our pitches were waterlogged our triangular fixture against Guildford and Petersfield was moved to Petersfield's drier conditions.
We had a depleted squad so Guildford kindly lent us a few players so we could put out a team and have the luxury of substitutes.
Our first game was against a Petersfield selection. We dominated the rucks and mauls and scrummaged well to win lots of possession, for our strong running backs to score a number of tries as we run out comfortable winners.
Next we played Guildford, in a much tighter game. They scored first, but we levelled right at the end of the first half. The second half looked like being scoreless, until with the Ref calling 'last play' our scrum pushed Guildford off their ball on their line for Andrew to dart over for the winning score, much to the delight of the Guildford members of our combined team.
Our final game was against another Petersfield selection and we carried on the good work of the earlier matches to again run out comfortable winners.
We defended really well and it was very pleasing to concede only one score in the three games.
Many thanks to the Guildford boys who joined us for the day, they all made a big contribution and I hope they enjoyed themselves.
Ø James had his best game for us, driving in the rucks and running powerfully on the fringes.
Ø Matthew grew in confidence, coped well with his different positions and had a couple of good breaks.
Ø Toby led our defence, always wanted to make the first tackle and turned over a lot of ball in the mauls.
Ø Andrew looked good at scrum half, with some clever breaks and elusive runs.
Ø Joe enjoyed himself at fly half with powerful stepping runs, and destructive tackling.
Ø Daniel ran strongly from full back, seeing a lot more ball than he has recently; his decoy running was very effective.
Ø Congratulations to Joe who was awarded Player of the Day.
Coach – Simon Jozwiak
U10s v Midhurst - Sunday 19th November 2006
The fantastic Autumn weather continued as we welcomed Midhurst to our ground. After a joint training session where we worked on your passing and contact skills we played a match.
Our forwards played very well, scrummaging as a unit and frequently pushing the larger Midhurst boys off the ball. We cleared out the rucks much better than in previous weeks, whilst Ollie WS was a revelation at the front of the line out winning ball against someone twice his size. With all the ball we had we made a lot of breaks, but a combination of great cover tackling from Midhurst and poor decision making meant we found it hard to cross the try line. Ollie G scored in the corner with a weaving run in the first half after we managed some continuity, and in the second half Toby went over from half way with a typically direct run after we disrupted a Midhurst scrum. Patrick as always danced his way through a number of tacklers before injuring his arm - fortunately it was only bruised.
In defence we tackled their big boys very well, rarely allowed them to build up momentum and despite coming close on a couple of occasions I was very pleased they didn't score so we won by two 2 tries to nil.
Player of the Day was awarded to the front row, where James, Ollie WS, Bill and Toby all played, for their great effectiveness both in the tight and the loose. We need to work on using all of our talented backs, and getting the ball to the man in space.
U10s @ Alton - Sunday 5th November 2006
Last weekend saw us at Alton on another beautiful Autumn morning. After a low key training session we played the home team. Going down the hill in the first half we put together some great flowing rugby, leading to two good tries from Ollie G and Sean. Playing uphill in the second half we couldn't repeat our fluidity and started to miss a few tackles leading to an Alton score. However great scrummaging (once the Ref decided to allow competitive scrums!) led to a ball against the head and Ollie G made a classic scrum half dart for the final score for us to win convincingly 15-5.
We then combined with the few Farnborough players there to take on another Alton combination. Everyone played some part and the combined 'Cranborough' team won this game. Sean was player of the day for his powerful running and willingness to pass out of the tackle.
Overall a good performance, and when we get on the front foot we look very good. In defence we are beginning to push up as a team, but we missed too many one on one tackles, whilst in attack we didn't always clear out the rucks properly and sometimes ran sideways towards the space rather than passing the ball to our player in the space.
Simon Jozwiak - Coach
sjozwiak@hotmail.com
