Full Turnout

For the first time this season, the Under 9's had all 21 boys available with all being keen to face this tough away fixture at Wilmslow.

The full turnout allowed us to field 3 teams, each playing 3 games, and the boys were split as follows:

Rob coaching Harry, Joel, Charlie, Oli P, Ishy, Joe K and Seb.
Dave coaching Sam Y, Ethan, Kaya, Finlay, Will C, Joe C, and Alex.
Nim coaching Max, Sam N, Edward, Sergio, Oli B, Will M, and Ashwin.

Rob's team was largely made up of those boys who were unavailable last weekend, with the exception being Charlie. The additional game time gained by Charlie last week initially showed, but as the games went on, the more the other boys grew in confidence,. Ishy showed us his strong running game, whilst Oli P, Harry and Joel used their speed and balance to make good gains. Seb too started to use his strengths and put in some super tackles. With Joe K also making some good runs in the last game especially the only down side to the morning was the nasty injury picked up by Oli P, although in true Oli P style, he managed to get back on the pitch before the final whistle.

Dave's team picked up from where they left last weekend, with the dynamic tackling of both Sam and Finlay a feature in the opening games. The boys are starting to recognise the strengths of each others playing style,. This week we saw Alex continue to develop his direct running style, and the boys are starting to understand that being off his shoulder will quite often lead to a quick off-load, and lots of space. Finlay continued to us his pace to out run the defence, whilst his improvement in the tackle in the last two weeks has not gon unnoticed. Sam, as usual made some illusive runs, whilst Will C, Joe C and Kaya also began to grow into each game, with Joe and Kaya both putting in some excellent runs.

Nim's team also benefited from playing together last weekend. Edward was sometimes unstoppable running through defenders, whilst Sergio also learned that it was a lot easier to run straight and fast, with defenders being unable to deal with this direct play. Oli B put some great tackles in, as well as getting on the score sheet, whilst Max was his usual terrier like in both defense and attack. With Ashwin getting his hands on the ball more and more, and Will M and Sam N also getting stuck in, the team saved their best performance for their last game of the day.

The U9's have really moved on over these last few weeks, and all bodes well for the rest of the season.