May 2nd saw the first chance the U9s had to play a full contact game against an opposition side. There were some tense moments wondering whether the ground conditions would play ball, but thanks to some lastminute rearraging by our fixtures secretary and a shift to Yarnbury's ground we were on! It is an understatement to say all the kids arrived with huge smiles on their faces (has to be said the coaches looked almost as excited) happy that after the turbulent year they were finally getting to play a contact game of rugby against another team.

The training sessions have definitely paid off and there were certainly signs that they have been listening to the coaches and really have developed. Some development points picked up by Coach Ben to work on such as when to pass/off load, how to support from depth and finesse the tackle techinque were picked up, but for their first proper game of tackle rugby he commented they did really well with some big hits coming their way.

As an onlooker, what I was really impressed with was the support for each other as a team. We are lucky to have a large group and always had one team spectating -the support they gave each other was truly lovely to see. Such a lovely bunch of kids to be working with.

We had three teams and the coaches working with each team picked a player of the day. Charlie Marston (who I don't think stopped smiling for the full hour), Jenson Perry who has only recently joined us from playing league and Harry Davies were the worthy winners this week. Well done to all.

Roll on our game this week at Pontefract!