Nicola Spence
U12s Team Manager
U12s @ Surrey “A” Festival
The Under 12s competed in the Surrey “A” Mini Festival at Dorking R.F.C. Unlike previous festivals at Dorking, the weather was glorious. We had made the decision to compete in the “A” Festival as we believed that, although we have a small squad in comparison to the other major Surrey clubs, we have the talent to be able to perform well at this level.
Our first game was against Dorking. The team were really fired up & put on a tremendous defensive display against a physically bigger, stronger team. We thoroughly deserved to earn a 0–0 draw.
The second game was against Camberley who had already shown their strength by beating a strong Haslemere side. This time it was all about our attacking game. We spent most of the first half camped on the Camberley try line, just failing on a number of occasions to cross the line. This continued in the second half until, completely against the run of play, Camberley sneaked a try. This was a really disappointing loss that could easily have been a resounding victory. The lesson was to make sure we finished off the opportunities we created.
The lesson was learnt quickly in the third game when we showed a more ruthless streak in scoring 3 tries against Esher.
Then in the fourth game we met local rivals, Haslemere. We know that they are a strong side with very strong backs and the key was for us to win enough ball in the forwards and then to use our forward power to drive them back. Unfortunately, Haslemere won a lot of ball up front which enabled them to release their formidable back line who ran in 3 tries.
By this time we knew that we were not going to win the group and the team found it hard to maintain the motivation through a long day. In the last game against Old Rutlishians, a team we have beaten recently, we had a very poor first half and, although we improved considerably in the second half, we could not avoid another defeat.
However, overall the team did all that was asked of them. They tried their hardest and, with a little more luck against Camberley which would have given us some momentum, we could have won the group.
Well done to all.
Jeremy Glynne-Jones
CRFC U12s Coach
Guildfordians Festival
The Under 12s had a very exciting match against Old Guildfordians in the curtain raiser to the parents and coaches game! To ensure everyone had a chance to play, we played 15 minute thirds.
In the first third we scored 2 excellent converted tries and the boys played exciting rugby using both the power of the forwards and the pace of the backs to make good ground and keep quality possession.
The high quality play continued for the next 2 thirds but, although we dominated possession and territory, we could not put away the final pass to seal the victory.
Also Old Guildfordians stepped up their own work rate significantly & their defense was fantastic.
In the final third, Old Guildfordians scored their second try but, luckily for us, failed to convert giving us a nail biting 14-12 victory.
We have been concentrating this season on 2 core rugby principles, namely 'go forward' and 'support' and the team has come on leaps & bounds over the last 2 months.
We are hopeful that we will be able to keep improving and feature strongly in the festivals at the end of the season.
Jez Glynne-Jones - U12s Coach
