Under 9’s Barnstaple RFC Match Report versus South Molton RFC 8 October 2017

And so we moved onto our second fixture of the illustrious Barum U9s’ season and Tiverton were literally blown into town by Storm Brian. At 9am it was looking pretty wet and windy out there, but fortunately still very mild. By 10.30 it was game on!

Tiverton arrived with 10 children and it had been previously discussed by myself and the South Molton head coach that we would play teams of mixed ability again.

Due to Half Term we lost a few, but still fielded an exceptional line up of 15 kids :

Ben Rous, Rowan, Bence, Broady, Josh, Sam, Riley, Charlie, Harvey, Benji, Ted, Jasper, James Sampson, Oliver and Kit – Well done all of you for braving the elements!

Barnstaple were arranged into Teams 1 and 2 and everyone played at least one whole match whilst our other team benefitted from a skills camp on the adjacent pitch run by Andrew, Ashley and Rob. Thanks guys! We played 7 v 7 on a full size U9 pitch and Tiverton had continuous rolling subs.

Match 1 : Tiverton looked like a team that knew how to play passing the ball around nicely and looking for the space. However, the ferocious tackling of Ben Rous put paid to their plans and, I think, in the end, put paid to their thoughts of victory. Ben was everywhere in attack and defence. Tiverton did not cross the line once. That said, the whole team were solid in defence with Oliver and Broady putting in some notable tackles. In attack Josh Coley seemed to be the little general distributing quickly from the breakdown into the hands of a hungry Barum ball carrier. The mighty Reds scored some lovely tries through Ben, Kit and a lovely little solo jig by Sammie – the lad literally danced over the try line with the Tiverton team gasping at his nifty footwork. A convincing victory on all fronts.

Match 2 : Poor Tiverton were not only shell shocked, battered but also knackered as a completely fresh Barum team skipped onto the pitch. The weather was also closing in and the smell of sausages was calling from the club house. But anyway, the 2 teams locked horns and a much tighter battle ensued. Harvey and Ted seemed to run the show with great running and defence. They were ably supported through some juggernaut runs from Jasper and Benj who crashed over the try line with Tiverton lads and lass in his wake. The usual jinx was on show from Rowan as he mesmerised the defence with his, now famous, gravity defying running. Again, every lad put their hearts and souls on the line and Barum took another deserved victory.

Under RFC guidance we are awarding the GREEN LACE each week for a player that has shown an all round contribution to rugby’s core values : Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline, Sportsmanship. This weeks’ GREEN LACE went to Charlie Jones...he took an early blow but dusted himself down and got straight back into the action making a great all round team contribution.

I would like to congratulate every lad out there today, you were all excellent.  

Report by

Benn Coley, Under 9 Head Coach and Match Referee today