Latest Fixture News
Saturday17 March
seniors Firsts, Dev and Vandals all at home v Birmingham Medics
Sunday 18th March
Juniors
U7 and U8 v Sutton Away
U9 training
U11 awaiting news
U 16 v Birmingham Exiles away
If we search hard enough I am confident that some positive news will appear, not just The Gunners giving teams a start and then cruising to victory.
Senior Rugby
A win at home to fellow strugglers, Evesham might have helped us avoid the drop but it wasn't to be. A defeat by 15-25 was not good enough on the day. If you want a balanced report of the match, go to the site of the Evesham Observer.
A 'social' XV took the Hagley Road to Old Halesonians and judging by the long faces that returned I suspect that only the silver medal place was achieved.
Minis and Juniors
The under 7 and under 8 squads took the M42 North to Tamworth and I have received a match report from the management team.
On a lovely spring day the U7's played a 3 way tie at Tamworth
against sides from Tamworth and Walsall.
In the first game against Tamworth we were excellent, Ben stood
forward to captain the side and did a great job organizing our defence and
making sure all were involved in play. We talked before the game about the
importance of not going into touch and the boys all took this on board. We
tagged really well and following on from previous games the support play in
attack was excellent, particularly Frankie who was always on hand to take the
pass. The boys are all improving and this was shown in the scoreline, with the
Old Yards winning 12-5 with tries from Frankie (8), Ben (3) and Harry
(1).
After a big effort to beat Tamworth the boys then played a strong
looking Walsall team. Our boys began to tire as the match progressed, and at
times we were caught out with Walsall taking a quick re-start before we were
quite ready and they ran in some tries. Despite this the boys realized this was
happening and then acquitted themselves well. Frankie captained the side and
led from the front, scoring 3 tries. Also Harley scored 2 and Ben and Lewis
also got over the line. It ended up being pretty close but Walsall just sneaked
the win at 9-7. The boys tried exceptionally hard and both Harley and Alfie
deserve special credit. Harley fell awkwardly in the tackle and despite being in
pain (and on the back of a lost tooth last week) quickly got back on the pitch
and Alfie put in a massive effort, playing through a nasty flare up of asthma.
Also, Charlie and Harry, both reception age boys, played through both matches
and competed well against boys who were 2 years
older.
Well done to all the boys and thanks also to Gavin for stepping in
and refereeing both matches.
The under 9 team meanwhile travelled west to take on a bleend of Old Halesonians under 9 and under 10 squads. Yet again I have receeived a report from the management.
Match Report Old Yardleians U9’s vs Old Halesonians U9’s / U10’s
After
a hastily arranged match we arrived at Old Halesonians to find that we
would be playing a mixed team made up of U10’s and U9’s, which would
prove to be a tough test for our boys on the back of their seasons best
11-0 win over Old Eds.
The first half was extremely well
contested, a tight & physical match with Dan and Ollie D
particularly showing their defensive skills from the off putting in some
excellent low tackles to help stop Halesonians breaking through our
defences. The pressure had to give somewhere though and Halesonians ran
in three first half tries. At half time we pointed out to the boys the
hill they had been playing up, and what an advantage that would give
them in the second half, which put the spring back in their step.
Sure
enough Ollie L, Ollie D, Josh H and Aiden (who had now warmed up from
the big freeze of a week before) showed the way and used the hill and
some great lines of running to set up the first response try set up by
Ollie L, scored by Oliver D. Ollie L was getting into the grove and
again took route A up the middle of the park and set up Josh T to add a
second. Ollie D worked tirelessly both in attack and defence, along
with Dan they both put in some crunching and try saving tackles. Chased
down hard by Sam and Dan a late breakaway try from Hales sealed the win
(4-2) for them, but considering we were up against a much more
experienced side, another stellar performance from the Y’s U9’s.
Ollie
Lonie lead by example, receiving the ball from the start of the second
game, and surprised himself when he was finally brought down just 5
yards short, but that didn’t stop him from recycling the ball, setting
up Ollie D for his second in the corner, and an early and deserved lead
for Old Y’s. Sam went very close for a second but was just kept out,
and Josh H kept the pressure on being held up just short of the line, in
a 5 minute sequence of attacking phases that Stuart Lancaster might
have liked on his CV. Against the run of play, Halesonians broke for a
trio of tries using two of their older players down the wing which
sealed the second game for them, we did touch down for a consolation,
but a tight and well fought contest (3-1) was reward for the coaches who
have seen huge steps forward in this strong unit. Worthy of note was
the penalty count, 4-1 against Halesonians, proving Y’s take home the
fair play award, particularly singling out Ollie L who in a heated
exchange resisted retaliating, but stood his ground and let his rugby do
the talking.
The under 11 squad played Droitwich in a keenly contested game that was entertaining but which we narrowly lost. This team of ours play some very good rugby but need some more players as illness and injuries often leave us short on the day.
The Under 16 boys took on the very successful Old Sils, widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best, in the region, and we gave them plenty to think about. The game was eventually lost by 3 converted tries to 1 (7-21) but in terms of possession and territory there was nothing between the teams. Our scrummage was solid, line out reasonable, ruck and maul productive and in my opinion the end result was down to making the most of any opportunities that came along. Our thanks to the Sils for providing us with strong opposition and to referee Mr Les Smith who had a very good game indeed.