Newsletter #4 - Middlesex

What a great day!! Medals all round

Firstly I like to say how proud I am of you all. We gave our best showing at a tournament ever. The Pumas won the Team development shield and the Panthers came runners up in the bowl final.

New players George, Jake and Dean played superbly fitting into the team brilliantly. Duggie had a storming game tackling everything that moved. The whole team played for each other and as one of the Puma's coaches I was incredibly happy. We have had some difficult times at festivals, but with draws against Roslyn Park B's and Hackney Bulls, the only loss of the day was to Teddington. Sunday showed how much you guys have improved and you should all feel very proud.

The Panthers were unlucky to be beaten in the second pool game against Ruislip with them scoring during the last play of the game. The Ref commented on what a great game both teams had played. In the Quarter final we beat Saracens 28-0 which was a fantastic result. After going behind by a try in the semi final against Teddington the boys battled away. Smellis, oops sorry, Ellis held his nerve to convert the try making us 7-5 winners. In the final against London Welsh we held out well. Welsh were a great team and played good rugby beating us and winning the bowl.

Once again we are extremely proud of you all.

Tour

On Friday the 28^th March the minis are going on tour, for the guys that are not touring there probably won't be any rugby that weekend. Margaret and Sam have ordered the boys that are going on tour hoodies and bags. If you are not coming on tour and wish to purchase any of these items please speak to either of them this weekend.

See you all on Sunday.

Greg

Newsletter #3 - The Carwash

Well done to all the boys and parents who took part in the car wash on Sunday. We raised £205 which will pay for the end of season trophies. Next time we do car washing we will be a bit more organized and wash only 2 cars at a time. Everyone worked extremely hard. Steve Axbey took a picture of Steve Brinning helping out.

Middlesex Festivals

The Middlesex A, B, C festivals are to be held on the same weekend this year (it's to stop clubs putting A teams into the B tournament). They are being held at Imber Court (Teddingtons ground) on Sunday 9^th March. We have 2 teams entered so I need you all to play. If you are not available to play please let me know as soon as possible. My mobile number is 07888-678352. I also need you all to be at training on Sunday so we can work on lineouts, scrums, plays etc.

Newsletter

Mums and Dads please can you get the boys to read the news letter's hopefully it is way for them to be kept informed about what is happening in our age group. We will be updating the web site soon and hope the boys will be able to access it. Once updated, we will be posting squad lists, team selection and other information about the coming weeks. Finally if you or the boys have any news about things outside of rugby let me know and we can put it on the web site.

See you all on Wednesday

Greg

Newsletter #2 : Rugby @ Rugby

After a fantastic day at Rugby St Andrews we all made it back in one piece.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate you all on how well you all behaved at Rugby St Andrews club house and on the tour of the school. You were all a credit to me and the club. Secondly, how smart you all looked in your shirts and ties.

The rugby we played was superb, the Panthers ran out fairly easy winners in the first game with Alfie scoring his first try and being picked as man of the match, and Ali Shaw also scoring his first try and costing his Dad a round of drinks, the Guiness was superb!

However, the performance of the day for me was by the Pumas. They played against Rugby St Andrews 1^st team that contained of 5 under 12's. Whilst they lost (by only one try) they battled for the entire game and in my opinion they were defeated by a lucky try.

The tackling was outstanding with Ollie, the man of the match, leading from the front as captain, although every single player stood up to be counted. Duggie made a number of storming runs and with some great kicking by Joe we played the better rugby. Our pack of Ryan, Sam, Gareth, Ciao and Duggie pushed St Andrews back in the scrums, despite us being about 4 stone lighter. Luke made hard yards from quick tap penalties. The backline of Abu, Alex, Armand and Ashley (who stopped everyone from coming down his wing with a number of big tackles) were magnificent in not letting the bigger under 12's break through. At the end of the match I was nearly in tears (what a big baby), and by the end of our post match team talk my eyes were truly glistening. I am very proud of the entire U11's squad.

Quins Curtain Raiser

On Saturday we took part in the Quins Curtain raiser (we only played on the park at the back of the stoop not on the pitches). The Panthers played very well losing by 1 try to last years' winners Upminster. In the second game we lost 10-5, with Miles scoring his first try for Twickenham, and then crossing the line a second time with the 'try' unfortunately disallowed.
We won the last game against Upminsters B's with Jack H scoring his first try through sheer determination. You should all remember that you can beat skill but you can't beat luck and on this day luck was not with us. But all the mums and dad thought you played brilliantly.

Carwash

On Sunday 24^th February we will be holding a fund raising carwash. Can everyone get to the club for 9:30am as we want to be set up and ready to go by 10:00am. If your Mum or Dad has a spare shammy leather then bring it with you and if you're not around then can you let me know. I hope that everyone will take part as the funds we raise pay towards your gifts, ties and end of season trophies.

Coaching

This Wednesday Clive See and a few of his under 17's will be coming down to take a training session. Clive is the head coach of the under 17's, they are the most successful team Twickenham have produced. A large number of his players play for Middlessex and he has also had a lad selected for Wasps and England, which is quite an honour. They have also won the league and cup a number of times. They like us have fairly small players so they have developed great passing and speed, which hopefully they can help to pass onto us. Please try to make the session if you can It will be of great benefit.

Hope to see you all on Wednesday

.

Greg aka Sully

New Season - New Laws

Here are the laws for U11 (last year's they still haven't published this years yet):

http://tinyurl.com/3b72r4

The main differences are

- three extra players (2nd row and full back)

- and KICKING (from hand only, no fly-hacking)