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U 16 County trial v Cornwall |
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On tour in October 2010 - Paris |
Hello everyone,
This is my last blog, sorry there have not been more recently but yet again school and every other aspect of my life have been very busy. Of course this also means that my time as junior club captain is up. I have really found the experience good and I think coaching the U’11s and the other responsibilities around the club have been brilliant for me. I would definitely advise all the kids in the younger age groups to aspire to the role.
I am writing this the day after my first colts match against a touring team from Wales. We put out a mixture of u’16s and u’17s whilst they put out some 18’s as well. More importantly though some of those players played for Cardiff blues academy and I think they had a couple of welsh players also. Consequently I am a little sore this morning as I’m sure many of the U’ 16s are. We faired quite well and I think the sole reason for that is the effort our coaches have put in over the last few years. So I would like to use this as a chance to personally say thank you to everyone that has helped our team and we all really appreciate it.
Cheers,
Will
Hello again,
Further snow has made the time over Christmas difficult for rugby playing and for everything really. Although being very fun for probably everyone but me due to pipes freezing on my Dad’s farm. All this led to early mornings for me and then getting freezing cold outside. I am officially now a snow scrooge.
However more recently, a little less fit than before, I have played a little more rugby. One loss and one win. As you can probably tell, tackling seems to be an issue for my team and this is continuing with me being the new biggest culprit. I will definitely have to try and sort it out before I play again. Unfortunately that can’t be this weekend though as I am off to watch Wasps vs. Toulouse on Sunday along with the U’11’s. I am hoping it will be a great game and I won’t look to stupid when we go onto the pitch at half time. Despite that minor detail I am really looking forward to it. If they read this can I just say to the under 11’s that they are improving very well and there is a lot of talent in that team so if you just apply yourselves a little more then there is a lot more good rugby to come from you.
Recently I have had more GCSE exams which I have not found pleasant. Constant revision for the last month has also been hell. However I feel the exams have gone well and for once I’m actually looking forward to getting a grade back in a subject other than maths.
Hi rugby players,
The past months certainly haven’t been the best for Rugby because of the snow and freezing cold. I don’t know about all age groups but the under 16’s team has lost a lot of game now to it. As well as this, trainings have been missed and it certainly showed in our performance against Wimborne with too many balls being dropped and too many tackles being missed. However we fought for it and with a bit more practice we would have won, considering we hadn’t trained in a long time we put out one of our best performances of the season. I very much hope this transfers down through the age groups and everyone is performing to the utmost of their abilities. My previous experience of rugby before last Sunday was back in mid- November where I managed to get a call up for county due to an injury to their full-back. This was a great opportunity for me and proved to me that I should never give up because opportunities will come to me. The young players in Dorchester who are putting themselves into the county system need to remember this and keep striving to get better as you will get your chance.
Despite the snow rugby was still on many of our minds because of the autumn internationals. I watched most of the matches and really enjoyed watching England beat Australia as I am sure that many of you also did. Fortunately I didn’t see the South Africa match as I was in Cardiff watching Wales vs. New Zealand. The game was incredible and I would recommend going to the Millennium stadium to anyone, the Welsh give it a great atmosphere. Have a great Christmas everyone.
Will
My name is Will Holmes and for this year I am junior club captain at Dorchester rugby club. During this year I will write a blog each month on my rugby and some stuff which I have been doing. First I would like to apologise for not starting this sooner but it has been a busy time so far this year. For the younger ones GCCE’s are horrible. Apart from school though, my Rugby life has also been busy. Playing for the U16 team and going through the county trial process, even managing to squeeze in a game for the U17’s. So far the rugby for the U16’s is going well when we are playing to our potential (not against Bridport) and I hope this is filtering down through the club. It is certainly starting to with the U11’s that I am helping to train. Good win this weekend boys against Ivel but not so impressive against Salisbury, you made up for it in the Ivel match though.
Over the half term the U16’s went on tour to Paris. I would strongly recommend all future age groups doing a big tour at this age. It was great fun possibly forgetting Lewie and Ben spending the night throwing up in the toilet. The highlight of the tour for me was winning against Pontault Combault 31-19, (not being heavily fined on the first court of tour for having my mum with me, although it was a nice t shirt I had to wear for the rest of the tour.) It was a great team game considering some of their players were U17’s and the win was a good one. The other game against a French team is not quite so fondly remembered though, as the U17’s playing for them were a little bigger than Pontault Combault which resulted in me getting a black eye then subsequently getting yellow carded for a chest high tackle on the same player (joining “the club” isn’t much consolation), as well as a few other boys picking up injuries. The result in this game was a 14-0 loss so still no consolation there. Finally from the tour I would like to mention Disneyland which I believe does not get boring at any age, older members of the tour (grumpy old men) might disagree though and say “what’s up with this annoying music,” I can sympathise with this view. Great day though and a great tour. Cheers to all the guys that put in an effort to organise that. For us starting the fundraising 3 years early meant that all the team could go on tour and the fundraising bought the team closer together. So start getting your mums and dads to help you get started.
Good luck in your games during November boys
Will Holmes