It was a late change of venue and opposition this week. Jarrovians were our scheduled opponents but due to waterlogged pitches they unfortunately cancelled. Thank you to Durham City who offered to host the whole Bishop Auckland mini section at late notice. This was greatly appreciated by everyone in the BARUFC minis.

Durham were excellent hosts. While the going on the pitch would be best described as boggy they were excellent conditions for our teams to play in, although the kids definitely needed hosing down after!

Durham were very good opposition and a huge test for our teams. There was a suggestion they may have fielded one team much stronger than the other, as certainly their team of seven were better organised and appeared more capable in both attack and defence than their team of six. Our teams battled hard and we can not fault the effort of our players. Well done to everyone.

Against the team of six our attacking play was excellent. Both our teams scored some great tries and dominated the Durham team. Tackling was good and we kept our shape and positioning very well. In the other matches some occasional lapses in our defence were exploited resulted in some scoring opportunities for Durham. We need to be more disciplined, aggressive, and secure in defence. There were a few missed and slipped tackles that Durham capitalised on. Our endeavour was first class but we need to work on our tackling technique in training to ensure we grab and hold in the tackle to ensure opponents do not slip through our defence and score. This is something we will be working hard on in next Sunday’s training session.

In attack, we worked very hard but some handling errors due to the slippery conditions cost our teams. We generally ran forwards very well but there were occasions when we lost ground in scoring positions by going backwards or sideways when route one was the best option. We will keep working on the importance of forward momentum in training.

As a Coaching team we were very pleased with our team’s efforts. Every member of our squad made a great contribution, we should all be very proud of their efforts and progress so far this season. Durham were a very good team who we will face again in our next fixture in two weeks at home.

Well done to everyone today, we will be working very hard on tackling and accurate passing in our training sessions.

Players of the week. As ever, this was very difficult to choose as all the players were great this morning but we decided on the following:-

Alex Hall. Alex put in some great tackles today. His tackling technique is very good, and a great example to his teammates. He grew In confidence to lead his team’s defensive line and also scored a fine try to top off a great morning. Well played Alex.

Harry Wigmore. Harry played very well today both in attack and defence. He listened to the advice of JC and confidently ran with the ball and tackled very well. He made a great contribution to his team and should be proud of his efforts. Great stuff Harry.

Henry Burns. Henry carried the ball very well and directly into the opposition defences. At every opportunity he drove forward over the gain line to give his team forward momentum. Some good tries were scored and he made some solid tackles in defence that made a great contribution to his team. Well played Henry.

Edward Bennett. Edward was full of endeavour and hard work. He tackled well and was committed with the ball in hand. He was always in the thick of the action making it difficult for his opponents and was always looking to make a difference for his team. Great work Edward.

Wednesday at 5:45pm we have indoor training. Sunday at 10am we are outdoors training at West Mills.

We look forward to seeing you and your young rugby players there.

U9 Team