U9 Match Reports (Most recent at Top)

09/03/2008 away at Wootton Bassett

Players Alice Victory, Alice Telling, Joshua Jones, Reece Smith, Tom “Sat Nav” Jenkins, Charlie Williams, David Sorrill, Oliver Walsh, Joey “Toogie” Toogood, Oliver “Rizzo” Ritson

Tries Tom “Sat Nav” Jenkins (1) Joshua Jones (2)

Swindon visited Wootton Bassett RFC on Sunday, 9th March 2008. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for a good morning’s rugby.

The first match saw Swindon play Wootton Bassett A Team. It was a good start for Swindon as after a few minutes play, Joshua Jones scored a great solo try from his own half. Bassett came back strongly just before half time with a try of their own. In the second half there was some great attacking rugby from both sides with Josh making several penetrating runs from fly half. Alice Telling and Charlie Williams made strong runs and there was some great defence from David Sorrill, Oliver Walsh and Tom “Sat Nav” Jenkins. With two minutes to go, Alice Telling made a break and from the resulting ruck Reece Smith passed to Josh Jones who scored a try in the corner. Final Score: 2-1 to Swindon. Player of the match - Josh Jones.

The second match was another keenly fought contest. In the first half Tom “Sat Nav” Jenkins showed great strength and determination to go over the line with three Bassett players hanging on to him. In the second half Swindon defended bravely with David Sorrill, Charlie Williams and Oliver “Rizzo” Ritson (playing with an injured ankle and 3 hours sleep!) making great tackles to keep Bassett from scoring. With 1 minute to go Bassett were camped on the Swindon try line and nearly drove over from a maul, Swindon dug in and pushed them into touch. From the resulting lineout Swindon secured good ball from Joey “Toogie” Toogood and Alice Victory (playing out of position at prop) and cleared their lines. Swindon won the game 1-0. Player of the match - Tom Jenkins.

The last match was against Devizes who used their big forwards to good effect scoring a try in each half. Swindon played well when moving the ball wide and were unlucky not to score from runs by Reece Smith, Alice Telling and Charlie Williams. Player of the match – the Whole Team

Alice Telling was named Player of the day for her outstanding play both in attack and defence.

Photos by Libby

24/02/2008 away at Grove

Players: Alice Victory, Alice Telling, Josh Jones, Reece Smith, Tom “Sat Nav” Jenkins, Charlie Williams, David Sorrill, Oliver Walsh, Joey “Toogie” Toogood, Oliver “Rizzo” Ritson

Tries Alice Telling (2), Reece Smith (1)

The morning of Sunday 24th at Grove’s ground saw a muddy but firm pitch the sun was bright and the conditions were perfect for running rugby.

Grove 2 Swindon 2

Swindon’s first match against Grove was a keenly fought contest. In the first half the well organised Grove team started off the scoring with a try by their number 9. Oliver “Rizzo” Ritson made several strong runs from the base of rucks getting over the gain line time and time again. Alice Telling, Josh Jones and Reece Smith made good runs and Swindon were unlucky not to score on two occasions. The second half saw Grove bring on 5 substitutes and took their lead to 2-0 with another try from their number 9. After several more driving runs from Rizzo and Tom “SatNav” Jenkins, Reece went over for a try after a run from the base of the scrum. With a minute to go and after good lineout ball from Joey “Toogie” Toogood, Oliver Walsh and Reece Smith, Josh made a good run and from the resulting ruck Alice T went over in the corner and the match ended a draw.

Man of the Match - Oliver “Rizzo” Ritson

Grove 5 Swindon 1

The second match against Grove started with Swindon playing the better rugby. Tom made charge after charge breaking tackles and giving Swindon a target to run at. Alice T ran in an excellent try in the first half beating 4 players to score in the corner. Alice V went off injured and Swindon played bravely with one player less than Grove for the rest of the half. Some good solid Line out possession gave Swindon clean ball and although Grove ran in two tries Swindon defended bravely. Josh Jones made some outstanding runs and off loaded the ball well in the tackle. Alice T took a knock to the head and Alice V came back on in her place. The second half started with both Alice’s on the pitch and Grove making 5 substitutions. With their fresh players Grove ran in 3 tries in the second half against some brave but very tired defence from Swindon. David Sorrill, Reece Smith and Charlie Williams made some outstanding tackles to keep the score down and Tom’s work at the breakdown was superb.

Man of the match - Tom “SatNav” Jenkins

Everyone agreed that we had seen two outstanding matches with both teams playing some excellent rugby.

The player of the week award went jointly to Alice Telling and Josh Jones.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Photos by Libby

10/02/2008 away at Bradford on Avon

Players Alice Victory, Alice Telling, Joshua Jones, Reece Smith, Tom “Sat Nav” Jenkins, Charlie Williams, David Sorrill, Oliver Walsh, Joey “Toogie” Toogood, Oliver “Rizzo” Ritson
Conditions Muddy, no rain, sun

The morning of Sunday 10th at Bradford on Avon’s ground saw a muddy pitch after the previous week's rain but the sun was bright and the conditions were set for a good morning’s rugby. We were not to be disappointed.

Swindon 1 Bradford on Avon 4
Swindon’s first match was against the well organised Bradford on Avon team, Bradford started the better and ran in 2 tries in the first half. Alice Telling, Joshua Jones and Reece Smith made good runs but Swindon were turned over at the ruck and maul too often. The second half saw Alice Telling go over for Swindon’s first try of the day from the kick off but another 2 tries came from Bradford on Avon and the match ended with a Bradford on Avon win.

Swindon 0 Avon 5
The second match was against Avon who used their big players well with strong runs they ran in 4 tries in the first half. In the second half Avon scored another try just before the end of the match. The score would have been higher if it had not been for some outstanding tackling from David Sorrill , Charlie Williams and Oliver Walsh.

Swindon 4 Bradford on Avon 2
The last match of the day saw Swindon on top form with a hat trick of tries for Joshua, two in the first half. Avon scored a try just before half time. Another try by Joshua at the start of the second half and then one by Avon brought the score to 3 – 2 before Alice Telling finished off the match with a long range try. Some great mauling by Alice Victory, Rizzo Ritson and Tom Jenkins together with some great lineout and rucking from Joey “Toogie” Toogood set the ground work for a great win.

Reece Smith was Player of the day with a great display at Scrum half.

Photos by Libby

Training 27th January

A good turnout this week and good training session in the SUN!!!! Some impressive passing and tackling practice proved that having last week off had not affected the squad. Some more challenging clearing out and passing moves were perfected and a few games of Bulldog finished things off.

Player of the week: Josh

Training 13th January

We had a very good training session this week. Lots of passing and tackling drills, and some good work on scrums and lineouts. We are well prepared for next weeks’ match.

Player of the week: Reece

Training 6th January

This was the first training session back after the Christmas break, but everyone worked very hard. A few players were missing through illness.

Player of the week: David

25/11/2007 away at Gosford All Blacks

The U9s played 3 matches at Gosford on Sunday, we had a number of U8s and some U7s playing up and were playing against some much bigger opposition. The whole squad played some brilliant rugby and were very unlucky to loose all three matches.

Player of the week trophies went to Rizzo (Oliver) for the U9s and SatNav (Tom) for the U7/8s.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

Photos by Libby

18/11/2007 away at Cleve

Lost

Lost

Report for all matches as follows:

“Well we thought it was bad weather at Chippenham a couple of weeks ago, that was nothing compared to the wind, rain, sleet and snow (ok that is an exaggeration) that we encountered at Cleve. We did a good job of keeping warm (the players that is!) but the weather really made it difficult for either side to play running rugby. Some fantastic tackling and much improved clearing out at the rucks made the matches closer than in previous weeks but we still went down 2 matches to nil. By the end of the morning the team were soaked to the skin and covered in red clay and mud, their shorts will never be white again.

U8s player of the week Sam

U9s player of the week Alice V”

28/10/2007 Chippenham / Maidenhead triangle

Lost Chippenham

Lost Maidenhead B

Lost Maidenhead A

Report for all matches as follows:

“What a wet and windy morning! We were all soaked through before we started the matches this Sunday at Chippenham, Maidenhead had brought 2 teams so we were able to keep everyone warm with three matches. We had U7s and U8s playing up, and with only 2 substitutes everyone got plenty of game time. We lost to Chippenham and Maidenhead A but came very close to beating Maidenhead B in a spirited performance (in fact I think it may have been a draw) were we again looked dangerous with ball in hand.

Rizzo was on hand to referee 2 matches this week.

U8s player of the week little Ollie

U9s player of the week Alice T”

14/10/2007 Reading Festival

Lost Bracknell

Lost Reading Abbey

Lost Aldermaston

Report for all matches as follows:

“The Reading Festival this Sunday was a very well organised event. We were in a pool with Bracknell, Reading Abbey and Aldermaston who all proved to be tough opponents. We lost the first match against Bracknell, a well drilled team with some pretty big players, we put in some spirited tackling but did not see much of the ball. We faired a little better in our second match against Reading Abbey but we lost too much ball at the breakdown. We had a 30min gap before our third match, so with a little bit of training time on clearing out of rucks and set piece, we woke up for our match against Aldermaston and put up a good all round performance to finish the day. Josh had to be substituted in the second half of the last match due to a neck injury.

Joe was referee for Reading Abbey v Bracknell match which ended 0-0!”

Player of the week Reece”

Photos by Libby

07/10/2007 Wootton Bassett Festival

Lost Chippenham

Lost Corsham

Lost Melksham

Lost Wootton Bassett

Report for all matches as follows:

“We had a good morning’s rugby on Sunday at a well organised festival at Wootton Bassett RFC. The players really stepped up to the challenge (we had U7s and U8s playing up, some of which had only played for a couple of weeks) and everyone tried hard and were a credit to the club. Although we lost all four of our matches there was sparks of great flowing rugby and we looked dangerous with ball in hand, unfortunately we could not keep hold of the ball at the breakdown which was to prove costly. We had our share of substitutions, both tactical and forced with Alice T and Bradley being sidelined with ankle injuries. With everyone playing at least 3 matches there were some tired players at the end.

Both Joe and Rizzo were unable to attend this week so Alex and Steve were coaching and did a sterling job.”

Player of the week Reece”

30/09/2007 Devizes at home

Lost

Lost

Draw (mixed game)

Report for all matches as follows

“Devizes visited Swindon RFC for the U9s first match of the season on Sunday, and their first ever game of contact rugby! This was a big step up for the team and understandably things were a bit disjointed. We lost both matches but everybody tried hard and we showed great promise especially in the backs. After the two matches a mixed game was organised which ended a draw

Player of the week Alice T”