Under 8's vs Burnley, 24th Jan2010

Bolton U8’s at Burnley 24th January 2010

As the curtain finally came down on snowball and sledging season we got back into the other winter sport of mini tag rugby. 18 players turned up which was an excellent attendance.
Whilst the weather was dry it was however rather nippy, but some of our players showed their metal by turning up in shorts (most of the adults had at least six layers of clothing on!!). Two teams were selected of mixed age, and following a brief session of reintroduction, warming up and ball skills it was straight into the games.
As is becoming usual this year it appeared that we would be up against bigger teams in general, and as usual this didn’t phase our chaps at all.
In the first match Bolton were caught a little on the hop as Burnley quickly scored two tries early on. However, Bolton stood up and quickly replied with four unanswered tries from George, Luke and Will following some superb pressure on defence resulting in turnovers. Burnley fought back and all was square(ish) at half time. When the drinks had defrosted it was back to action and once again the effort put in was admirable. Perhaps most pleasing was the success of our “set pieces” involving Will and Jonathan spinning the ball wide from the tap and putting in George and Will for respective tries. James, one of our quieter members, was a study in concentration and once again did all that was asked of him and produced some superb tagging with a couple of decent runs. Nathan and Luke were both up for it and ran themselves into the ground as usual, with Luke bagging himself a couple of tries. Jude once again showed how far he has improved this year by chasing down Burnley players and barely missing a tagging chance. Zak was always after the ball and a terrier in defence. Freddy, our smallest team member, got right stuck in and stood up to the Burnley lads admirably, again tagging well. He also contributed with a top run down the right wing. Jonathan as usual was highly dependable, always available in support and worked tirelessly in defence. His spin pass to Will was a pleasure to behold. Will was as usual in the face of the opposition causing continual problems to Burnley producing some determined tagging and his usual trademark swivel hip jinking runs which are always trouble to the opposition.
Not sure of the final score, and not too bothered either. This was an excellent team performance considering the extended break due to the weather. I refrained from selecting a man of the match as every single player was worthy of the accolade.
The second game was a similar affair apart from Burnley having an even bigger team!!!. I’m afraid that I didn’t watch the match as I was training the others, but what little I glimpsed at seemed to show that Bolton once again had the upper hand.
Player of the day was awarded to Sebastian. Seb is another quite member but today he really stood up and produced his best display of the year. Seb is slightly built but stood up to the biggest member of the opposition and produced an excellent tagging. For his effort and showing excellent character in standing up to the biggest player on the pitch this award is richly deserved. Well played Seb, keep it up.

Overall this was a top day for Bolton where we showed our strengths as an excellent team with all players running tirelessly and supporting their team members superbly throughout the day. We may have some excellent individuals, but it is the teamwork shown which is most pleasing.. Once again it was a pleasure to watch and an honour to be able to coach/train this squad every week. Top work and well done to all of you.

Next week we are training at a place called Bolton, wherever that is!!!!

Just a quick happy birthday to Weyland who will be 5 on Tuesday, and lead our victory cry admirably:

Altogether now, “WHO ARE WE?” “BOLTON RUGBY”

Take it easy all.

Steve Trueman