First contact match ever !!!! Bring it on .

A NEW DAWN
So folks, after all the waiting and the training, our little boys came of age. Contact rugby has arrived!
First up for the season were Caldy who brought three teams to play our two.
Team A were; Matthew, Ollie Smith, Rhys, Finn, Ben, Josh and Tom.
Team B were Ollie Pryce, Aiden, George Morris, Miles, Charlie, Hugh, Will, Seamus and Scott.
Team A, who I will report on, played a very evenly matched Caldy team.
First blood went to Wirral through a great try by Ollie Smith gained from a turnover ball when Caldy were forced into touch. Ollie showed no summer rustiness, bursting through Caldy’s defence for the opener. No more tries were scored in that game as each team cancelled the other out with some great tackling and equally great running.
Game 2 was slightly different with Wirral winning 4-0, the score line not really reflecting the effort put in by Caldy. New boy Josh opened the scoring through great teamwork, then Ollie scored in great style with a stylish “swan dive” then adding another to his daily tally to make it three. The fourth was scored by an unusually quiet Matthew, who had been partying hard all weekend in Blackpool! More effort needed from him next time!
Game 3 opened with a strong run from Rhys to open his account but not being one to rest on his laurels, he quickly added another. More tries followed through Ben and Finn, the two “big boys” in the team showing great strength to break the Caldy defence. Great team passing allowed Rhys to get his third but Caldy showed they were no pushovers by adding three tries of their own. The game was very equally balanced as Caldy scored two more tries making it five all until Ollie scored two more tries one from a pass by Matthew that opened Caldy’s defence the other an individual effort taking his tally to five for the day, superb effort Ollie! A great run down the wing by Rhys, who had ran well all day, finished the scoring and Wirral finished game 3, eight points to five winners.
Team B also put on a great performance drawing the first game two all and winning the second three points to two. The final game finished three points all. The coaches from team B reported great running and tackling by all players who gelled together to form a very strong unit.
Summer training has obviously paid off and all players deserve a pat on the back for showing great discipline, effort and commitment. New boys, Josh, Scott and Tom also deserve a mention for coming into the team and fitting in seamlessly. It looks like all the coaches efforts and training has finally sunk in and the boys are looking forward to the next game eagerly.

Well what a day – What performances from all our lads. As was said at the end of the day the quality of rugby from all the sides Wirral and Caldy was magnificent. For our two teams to play non stop against Caldy’s Four squads and maintain those levels of fitness competition and skill was very pleasing.

All the coaches are very proud of the lads in our whole squad but we would like to know who has been coaching our lads behind our backs – and can they keep it up.

We have asked for some of the statistics reports to be prepared for us and these will be included on the Pitchero site.

From the games I referee’d I would like to commend the whole team for their discipline and particularly in their control of the offside’s, Yes even Finn, Ben, Rhys and Tom because I know that has been a challenge for them in the past so for them to perform so well is to their credit and our whole squad were complimented by the Caldy coaches.

Just as we said at the start our games are opportunities to learn and you all grabbed that opportunity in the matches.

Worthy of note were comments from Phil about our development boys they really came on yesterday getting their hands on the ball more and so developing their skills, we hope that with their effort in the future we will have even stronger squads.

Typical of the head coach though, I would remind us all that this is just the start. We all still have lots to learn. I would like the boys to think about what they found difficult what they could do better what they want to learn more. The coaches too will be spending this next week concentrating on drills and plays for us to move on so we need you all to focus in training as you do in games.

Keep it going boys !