7's start season with stylish success!

After a mixed U7/U8 side took on Aldwinians last week, this was the official start of the season for the new Under 7's. After the blazing sunshine leading up to Sunday the weather had turned to provide a much more normal rugby atmosphere. Featuring players both with and without previous match experience, the coaches and the crowd were keen to see how the squad would shape up.

Game 1
Frank, Hudson, Zac, Freddie, George (sub Ashwin HT), William, Bailey (sub Joe HT)
Manchester started the game and immediately put Warrington on the back foot. Frank showed his usual composure driving through on the right wing to score in the corner and give the Tigers first blood. Despite this good start the team stayed focused and didn't allow over confidence to seep in. Warrington clearly also had players with previous big match experience and the contest appeared evenly matched. Tries were traded almost equally throughout the first half with the pace of Hudson brought into effect to give him his first try of the season. The defensive play of Manchester was immense with a focus from all of the players on covering gaps as they appeared. With the coaches looking to refresh the side, Bailey and George, after some impressive tagging, were replaced at half time by Ashwin and Joe with Manchester holding a slender 4-3 lead.
The second half also began well and Manchester immediately pressed home further advantage. Freddie 'The Dancing Dragon' Hill stunned the spectators with a trademark twinkle-toed side stepping run through the centre of the Warrington defence for one try, while Zac followed the example of the earlier scorers by stretching the Warrington defence across the width of the pitch to go over at the corner. With great support play by William and Frank, further scores followed from Frank 'The Terminator' Chatterton finishing the game with 4 and Hudson with 3, giving the Tigers a barnstorming finish to end as 9-5 winners over a dejected Warrington side.

Game 2
Tom (sub William HT), James (sub George HT), Ashwin, Joe (sub Freddie HT), Bailey, Frank (sub Hudson HT), Zac
After the convincing victory in the first game it was time to ensure that some of the less experienced players were given the opportunity to gain some match time. The pre match training session had focused on ensuring the players always kept behind the ball and if tagged passed the ball to one of their own players. This was brilliantly demonstrated by Tom playing in his first match who, after being tagged following a run down the wing, picked out Frank with a perfect pass to allow him to run through and score. With the same level of impressive tagging from game 1 continuing into game 2 it is clear that all of the squad are gaining a good grasp of the basics. Possession of the ball was rarely lost and there were only a couple of occasions when a foot inadvertently went into touch.
The balance of the two sides was perhaps more evenly matched than in the first game and Manchester made a total of four changes at half time, aiming to give all eligible players a good level of involvement while keeping enough experienced players involved to try and maintain a shape to the team. Tries were traded evenly as the game wore on but on several occasions it was only inadvertent offside from Manchester that prevented a comfortable lead being built. Hudson 'Jet heels' Brown came on at half time to inject some pace and break through to score. The game ended as a close fought 5-5 draw with Frank and Zac scoring 2 tries each.

Try Scorers; Frank 6, Hudson 4, Zac 3, Freddie 1
Star of the week; Zac 'The Fox' Sharp - all-round tagging and try scoring display, hunting down tags and pouncing for the line.