Chaddesley Corbett RFC U7 vs Pershore RFC U7

Pershore U7’s traveled to Chaddesley Corbett. Luckily the warm welcome provided by our hosts meant another enjoyable away trip was had by all, just as warm as our post Christmas visit, and the outside temperature was more bearable than the frost and fog that greeted us on that previous visit. Shiver-me-timbers! Although south of the Arctic Circle, Chaddesley Corbett proved it could serve up weather on a par with Yakutsk!

It was a great showing for the U7’s with 11 players present and with CCRFC unable to match our numbers, the Pershore U7s had the luxury of rotating players between match play and training.

Game 1.

William, Charlie, Esme and Josh lined up against five from Chaddesley. Charlie Smith got Pershore off to a fine start with a well worked try in the corner after an offload from Josh Young. The team were working well together and keen to involve all. Esme Wyllie was enjoying her first outing in a Pershore shirt and quickly grasped the fishing net defence making some good tags. The first half finished 2 – 3 in Pershores favour with William Bishop scoring twice.

Chaddesley failed to make the extra player count with excellent defence from Pershore and tags being taken by all. Josh Young opened his account and Charlie added another. William scored 2 more leaving Pershore 5 – 7 victors at the whistle.

Game 2.

And so it was, that after completing their training session with coach Matt S; Nelson, Rowan, Ben, Carter and Nat took to the field to take on their opponents. The Pershore traveling players were split into 3 groups of 4. One group would take on the home team of 5 whilst the others enjoyed a training game.

The first half score was very close with Chaddesley Corbett managing to exploit the occasional lapses in the Pirates defensive line. Even so, Pershore managed to keep the upper hand and nearly all the team managed to put a score on the board. The whistle blew 5-4 in our favour and after a half time pep talk from coach Matt A, the team returned to the field determined not to let their lead slip.

The second half saw a change in game plan by CCRFC, who, having seen the effectiveness of the Pirates defence decided to adopt a similar tactic. This on it’s own wouldn’t have been enough for them to necessarily beat the Pirates, however a succession of forward passes meant Pershore lost possession. Lesson learnt, the team rallied and managed to score twice in quick succession. Through a combination of strong defence, amazingly fast tagging and great interplay the Pirates managed to hold the second half score level. The final count being Pershore 8 - 7 CCRFC.

Anyone who has had the privilege of watching the U7s play over the last year or so would now hardly recognise them; where once they were a disorganised rabble more intent on fighting with one another than playing rugby, they now (almost) instinctively form their defensive positions and one day we may even see an attacking player pass the ball to a team mate! They aren’t without fault, but then again which team is? Well done all.

Anyone wanting further information on playing should contact Ben Andrews on 07779 927 852 or e-mail prfc.juniors@hotmail.co.uk