I have two weeks of rugby updates for you and no pix for the post........Sorry!
On Sunday 24th September the boys had their first Tournament of the season at
North Berwick. By tournament I mean "serious" rugby, not just training games....But playing to win a medal, serious stuff! (But still fun!)
The kids were all psyched up prior to going to bed on Saturday night, only to wake on Sunday to torrential rain! Oh boy, I could tell, it was going to be a "fun" day! Well it rained, and rained and then it rained and boy it rained some more!!!! It was WET. We kept waiting for the phonecall to tell us it was cancelled and other parents kept phoning me to see if I had heard any thing, me being "in the know" and all! The call never came, so there was nothing else to do but bundle the kids, towels, spare dry clothes, water bottles, rugby balls and medical kit into the car and set off for
North Berwick Rugby Club.
When we got there it was STILL raining and the pitches were looking pretty grim, especially the one Roberts team was scheduled to play on! Everyone was milling around trying to find shelter! Eventually the "powers that be" decided it would go ahead. Personally I wasn't too happy with that decision for Health and Safety reasons, but hell it had nothing to do with me! The main task over the next couple of hours was keeping the kids as dry and warm as possible so they could concentrate on the game. Let me tell you this was a mammoth task!
I managed to see some of both the boys games. Both played well despite the weather conditions. Ronan and his team managed to win 1 and lost 2. I always know when Ronan plays well coz his coach pats him on the head, and he did that alot during the games he played!
Robert and his team mates, unfortunately lost all their games. However you have to remember that their team is mainly made up of 7 year olds who have only been playing for about 1 year, and only train once aweek, against teams made up of 8-9 year olds who have been playing for 2-3 years and train 2-3 times a week. So on the whole they did really well. Robert made one VERY spectacular tackle, where he managed to aquaplane approx 10 feet across the pitch on his stomach, knocking water bottles flying and scattering the spectators! (BTW, he did get his man!) You should have seen the colour of him when he stood up! He was covered in mud from his neck to his toes, mud splattered all over his face and the biggest grin you have ever seen.....He loved it! He was soaked through, but refused to come off till the game was finished. The very day I needed my camera, and where was it.....Sitting on the kitchen table...In my haste I had forgotten it! Sods law! However, I asked
Spinningfishwives DH and he took one for me, so hopefully he will email it to me and I can blog it!
Once all the games were finished, the kids were quickly changed, bundled into the car, whisked back home with the car heater on full blast and "thrown" into a warm bath. I had to rinse out the kit in the sink before I considered putting it in the washing machine!
Oh well that was the first tournament out of the way.
The second one was on Sunday the 1st October and the boys were out for revenge! They were up against the same teams at the
Stewarts Melville Tournament as they played against the previous week at North Berwick. Both boys had been picked for this tournament too. Well Robert (at the moment) will be picked since they don't have that many players, but Ronan, well that's a different story. They have a large pool of players and have to "earn" their place. Sometimes Ronan is picked, sometimes he's not....All depends if Ronan is on "Planet rugby" or "Planet Ronan"!!!! At the moment it appears we are on "Planet rugby"!!!!
Thankfully this week the weather was better. Colder but at least it was dry....Well it was up until we were about to start....And guess what? It started to rain, but only for about 15 minutes, so all was well! No cold, wet, MUDDY kids this week.
Unfortunately I didn't see any of Ronan's games, but by all accounts they did better, finishing 3rd equal out of 8 teams. But alas no medals for the Mussie P6's at this tournament either.
Robert's team of P3/4's were amazing.... What a difference a week makes! They were playing like they had been together for years. We were all totally astonished. The teams that had beat them last week were being held to a draw (and only coz the referee played 2 minutes longer to allow the home team to score an other try to equalise. He was their coach!!!! Yes I am still a bit annoyed at this, as it doesn't teach the kids good sportsmanship if the coaches are seen to be "cheating"!!). The team that "slaughtered" us 9 tries to zero last week, we beat 6:4 this week!!!!! The coaches and parents couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Robert managed to score 4 tries and boy he was tackling like there was no tomorrow. He was just throwing himself at the opposition like he'd been doing it for years instead of only about 6 weeks. This is the first season any of them have played contact rugby. It was a joy to watch. Unfortunately they didn't get a medal either, but they certainly walked away with their heads held high.
No pix from this week either, coz I was far too busy doing "coaching" and first aid stuff to take any. I did have the camera with me though!
Back to normal training for the next 3 weeks. No more tournaments till next March/April,only training games, so we have plenty of time to work on their skills and build up their confidence.
We, as a club never do well at these two tournaments, they come too early in the season for us. However, it is usually a VERY different story at the rest of the tournaments. But lets not get complacent about it, there is A LOT of hard work needed between now and then for medals to be won!
