U9's at Old Beccs

This weekend we took two teams to West Wickham for the Beccahamians festival. Robert and I looked after the Broncos and first game was against Tunbridge Wells who were new opponents for us. We immediately knew that we were in for a tough physical encounter as they flew into tackles and ran straight and hard when in possession. We struggled to make much headway with the ball in hand and could only break through for a single score. The physical Wells team however added a few and we were well beaten by the end. We regrouped reminded them that they could play rugby and they needed to spread out, tackle and keep pressing them with our defensive lines. Advice was taken and we came out of the blocks firing on all cylinders against Old Whitgiftians. It was our opponents who struggled to cope with our pressing and it was particularly good to see Henry swiftly pick up a loose ball to run though and score and Jemima with a great double in the second half which saw her break the lines to race clear and finish. At the end we were comfortable winners at around 7-0 I think. Next up were Sevenoaks who had taken a couple of hammerings prior to our game with them. We played well again and were two up and half time. Second half was more even as Sevenoaks confidence grew with a couple of tries but we kept our noses in front to come out 5-4 winners in a decent game. Finally it was Cranbrook again a well drilled outfit who we struggled to break down and were again a bit too good for us on the day.

Overall though again a really good mornings rugby things to work on for the Kents next week but it was a brave show against some decent opponents and we kept going despite a growing injury list in the last game. Oli K finished bruised and battered but still came back out to finish the final game which was a great effort.

The festival merry go round stops this weekend in Cranbrook. Don't forget to put your clocks forward and hour and see you there!

Below is Jerry's report of the Buffaloes:

Today the Buffaloes took part in the Beccahamians festival. We were full of anticipation after the success we had last week at the Old Colfians festival. After speaking about the need to tackle from the start unfortunately we were not able to collectively as a team to put it in to pratice for our first three games against Beccahamians, Sevenoaks and Old Colfians. That said, at times, every boy made some good tackles and there were flashes of brilliance with some real go forward rugby and passes in to space. But we lacked consistency and the boys resolved to put it right in the last game against Westcombe Park. Well led by Peter each boy really gave it their all and tackled from the start and continued to do so throughout the match. Not only that there was some excellent running rugby with all the boys looking to support the ball carrier and receive the offload. All of the boys should be really proud of the character and team spirit they showed to end the festival on a real high with an excellent win against a strong opposition.

Thanks as always to the parents, guardians, brothers and sisters for your superb support but particular thanks to Geoff Towers for his efforts in coaching and managing the team today.

Yours in Rugby

Jerry