It was a fine morning as we welcomed Blaydon to West Mills. The Bishop U10’s had a great turnout, with a couple enjoying half term holidays and unfortunately a couple of late withdrawals due to illness. Hopefully a return to full fitness for Sonny and Hylton in time for midweek training.

Blaydon posed our biggest challenge of the season so far, and possibly the season as a whole. They were a big and very physical team. This needed full commitment from our squad in defence to cope with their big ball carrying players. Blaydon’s tactical approach was a very direct game plan. Before the game and in recent training sessions we had spoken about the importance of the defensive line, working together in defence, and being fully committed to the tackle.

In the most part, our teams stuck together and worked hard for each other, but unfortunately there was the odd missed tackle which created attacking opportunities for Blaydon which at times they exploited, at other times our defence reacted admirably to stop the attack much to the credit of our players.

In attack, our teams played very well. We used our fast attacking skills to our advantage and overcame the Blaydon physicality very well to score some fantastic team and individual tries. Our handling skills and passing was generally good. However, we are still a little prone to running too close to the touch lines and on occasion we lost possession being forced into touch.

Our running lines were good and our players carried hard into the Blaydon line, causing them problems in their defensive lines. The commitment running the ball forward was excellent.

The ruck was vastly improved today which was really good and shows that the hard work in training is paying off.

This was a challenging match against good opponents which will be a massive help for our development as we progress through the season. Tough teams like Blaydon made many of our players raise their game which will really benefit the whole squad.

This was just the run out we needed as we go to the Newcastle Falcons Festival next Sunday. This should be a great day of rugby and today was great preparation. As coaches we were proud of everyone’s efforts.

Players of the Week.

James Dye. James was running around and through everything that Blaydon could offer. Some great surges forward. Very strong and fantastic hard work in the ruck. Great defensively too with some very good tackling. Well played James.

Evelyn Dutton. Evelyn was throwing herself at kids 2-3 times her size and taking them down, her tackling skills were excellent with great commitment. She was also running rings around the much bigger Blaydon players causing them all manner of problems. Great play Evelyn, and congratulations on winning the big cuddly Tiger!

Caleb Dixon. Some great work from Caleb today. His alertness and speed helped him score a couple of crucial tries for his team. Great support work and strong defence, with some important tackles in an overall great effort. Well done Caleb.

Joseph Barron. Joseph played very well in the Scrum Half role, he had his team ticking as they attacked the Blaydon defence. He was alert at the ruck to pass to his teammates to keep the forward momentum going. Some good tackles against bigger players in a good performance. Well played Joseph.

Don’t forget training indoors on Wednesday. There’s plenty to keep working on as we approach a busy few weeks in the season.

Thank you to all the parents for some fantastic support and of course thank you to Gemma and all of the helpers who made it such a successful fundraising event.

U10 Team