Dragons @ Old Colfeians Festival
A great day out at Old Colfeians. The weather held off the rain and we had perfect conditions for rugby. Firstly I would like to congratulate all the boys on their conduct and behaviour throughout the festival. Many coaches complimented the boys on their play, conduct on the pitch and excellent defensive tactics.

Played 5 won 4, Solid start against Barbarians 4-1 win. Defeat to Alleynians followed 5-4 to them poor defence not in shape and a slow start let us down and we could could not get back in front. Dartfordians followed and we rectified our previous defensive errors with a great 7-2 win to Whits. Tonbridge Juddians followed 6-4 win to Whits and finally the last game of the day against an excellent Cranbrook team. Cranbrook started well scoring straight from the off. We clawed it back 7-8 to Whits with a winning try in last minute of the last play from Bobby after a great last minute substitution from Kev! Try of the day! Great teamwork from all the boys and maximum effort and commitment. Big thanks to Sam P, Sam H and Noah H for their multiple appearances on the Barbarians team all representing their club with excellent performances. Extra game time for them I was surprised we did not have more volunteers!

Fantastic support from all the parents today much appreciated! Special thanks to Rhian for organising all the subs and keeping the coaches and boys organised super star mum!

After a long period without a festival it was really satisfying to see the progression made by all the boys with their rugby skills and reactions to different opposition, a great display by all the boys. Max and Finn enjoyed a spectacular clash of heads in the first five minutes of the first game ! They recovered and put in a solid shift in all their games real team players and some brilliant try's. Sam H made some great forward runs and scored a few great tries no looking back just going for it great to see! Special mentions to Zachary and Noah who led the defensive line all day probably grabbing about 70% of the tags between them and multiple seven tag turnovers in a number of games. Finn White kept everyone busy with great runs and set up play. Bobby and Cameron brilliant going forward and both scored a number of fantastic solo tries long mazy runs evading all attempts to tag them on many occasions.

Defence is crucial and we must work on staying in our line and working together in twos and threes to get the ball back. If players are not in the line and hanging back they are not in the game. Let's take this forward into the next games and ensure your sons are in the line and involved. They will not save the day hanging back on the try line! Really proud of our team performance and work ethic today thanks everybody Paul and Kev

Warriors/Wizards @ Old Elthamians Foxbury Festival
A good team performance this week despite a dreadful first half in the first game which saw us 1-4 down at half-time to Sidcup due to some woeful defending. However, after some stern words during the interval (no swearing, though tempting) about defending as a team, there was a big step-change in the second half as we kept our opposition scoreless and scored 4 very good tries ourselves to win. Well that should have been the case, however it transpired that the referee didn't allow the last try in the last second of the game as Ronnie dived over in the corner and awarded a 4-4 draw. I'll allow you to make your own conclusions.....

For the remainder of the tournament the boys gradually warmed up to the idea that a Sunday morning was perhaps not a "lie-in" after all and that they were at the tournament to play Rugby albeit with some "gentle yet persistent" persuasion from their coach.

For the other two matches we really used the length and width of the pitch, although on several occasions too much of the width was used and we found touch. We started to apply pressure on the opposition so that often they ended up going backwards. We managed at least one 7 tag turnover in each game which meant we generated turnovers. We need to run straight far more often and into contact, at times we ended up running backwards which we need to stop doing.

Highlights of the day were Jaxson for his try scoring, and love affair with the touchline; James for great tagging that led to turnovers; Christian for his super aggressive tagging and direct running, Harri was awesome in defence with his tagging which created loads of turnovers too, Seb for his ability to change direction off either foot (and being a good captain, no more bunny ears please) Charles for top notch support play and all round never give up attitude and Ronnie who when he runs a more direct line will really open up defences and "yes" it was a try.

By the end of the tournament the boys had finally got out of bed, learnt from the first half of the first game and remembered that defending properly as a team was just as beneficial to their already very impressive running with the ball in hand and support play. A good day had by all....well almost all.

Areas for improvement, concentration levels, tagging and running forward/straight not around OR BACKWARDS.
Results
Old Whits 4(5) V Sidcup 4
Old Whits 5 V Old Elthamians 2
Old Whits 5 V Gravesend 1

The Warriors @ The Old Elthamians Foxbury Festival
Overall the boys performed well and at times played some great rugby. However this great rugby was also mixed with some mistakes which resulted in games being lost from winning positions. This mix of the good, the bad and the ugly resulted in 2 wins and 2 losses.

First up against the mighty Warriors was a good Sevenoaks team who possessed a number of strong runners. The teams were evenly matched and at half time we had a 4-3 lead. However in the second half we turned over possession 3 times as a result of a poorly directed pass, a panicked misplaced pass and a throw it anywhere pass. As a result of giving away possession we ran out losing 5-7.

The positives from this game was some excellent support play from Tom The Tornado Coombs, which enabled him to be in the right place at the right time to receive the ball and go over for 2 tries. 2 Tries were also registered by Wolverine William who showed great pace and an excellent change of direction to get over the line. Will, run like the Wind Letchford, showed a great turn of speed and great agility to tip toe down the touchline and go over in the corner for a great individual try.

Next up Westcombe Park and our first win of the day. Some excellent tagging lead by Terminator Teddy K saw us regain possession on 3 occasions and having defended well we were able to use the extra time with the ball to create 6 tries and ran out comfortable 6-3 winners. A superb hatrick of tries from Snake hips Noah drew applause from opposition parents and coaches as he jinked and jived his way through Westcombe Parks defensive line. These tries were followed up by fine tries from Will, William and Tom, completing a good team performance.

We were brought back down to earth by a well drilled Old Dartfordians, despite leading again at half time 3-2.

Tries from Noah, Will and a great team try from Luke the wrecking ball Bradley. Having received a great off load from Teddy K, Luke raced over the try line to give us a narrow lead. However Old Darts defensive line pressed us hard and fast in the second half resulting in them reaching 7 tags on 3 occasions. Having regained possession of the ball they scored 4 tries in the second half and eventually ran out 4-6 winners. Unfortunately the boys heads went down during the game when they were turned over. Rather than respond by pressing hard to get tags and get the ball back we went into our shells and a bit disappointingly sulked as things went against us.

Following a stern lecture around the subject of never giving up and working even harder when things aren’t going well, the boys were determined to finish the tournament with a win which they duly delivered against Old Elthamians in a closely fought match.

Coach was unable to identify the player who scrambled over in the far corner for the first try of the match as he was busy separating his subs from wrestling! Boys, parents please claim the try accordingly! A hatrick of almost identical tries were scored by Will who supported the runner superbly to receive the ball and go over the line on each occasion. William and Noah scored a try respectively, in similar style to their previous solo efforts. This was backed up by a superb try from Jinky Jago who weaved his way through the defensive line to elude the desperate attempts to grab his tags, Just reward for his effort throughout the day. The boys saved their best all round performance for last to run out 7-5 winners.

Jet deserves the final mention for his fine contribution in each of the games with some strong runs, which made good ground, along with good passing and some important tagging.

The Good
Some great tries scored as a result of players supporting the runner with the ball.
Some fine individual tries.
Some fine team tries which saw the ball passed around a number of players.
Good Defence – When the boys pressed the opposition quickly, in a tight line at the re-start, they were able to get 7 tags and regain possession of the ball.

The Bad
Poor Defence – Standing still at the re-start or going backwards rather than going forwards and pressing the opposition as a unit and tagging them close to the half way line. As a result the first tag was made 10 – 15 yards into our half or worst still a try was conceded directly from the re-start.
Poor Passing – Throwing the ball anywhere, trying to throw clever long passes, general poor passing. This saw us turnover possession of the ball having just got it back. Keep it simple. Pass it to the player closest to you, along the line.

The Ugly
Sulking when things aren’t going well. Don’t sulk or give up! Roll your sleeves up boys, pull together as a team and work even harder to turn things around!
Crowding around the player with the ball from the re-start. Boys when we are bunched as a group in the centre of the pitch it is easier to tag you quickly. When we spread out, in our lines and use the width of the pitch it creates gaps and space in the opposition defensive line.

Overall it was a good festival, played in the right spirit and the boys did really well against some tough opposition, well done !
However still plenty to work on.

Coach Matt.

Vampires
The team played really well this week despite a shockingly poor first half in the first game which saw us losing 3-1 due to some very poor defending. However, after some stern words at half time about defending as a team, and some reshaping of player roles, there was a miraculous change in the second half as we kept our opposition scoreless and scored 5 tries ourselves to win 6-3.

For the remainder of the tournament Thomas K anchored one wing and River the other with Hamza stepping in when either was not on the pitch which meant that teams were no longer able to run round us. In the middle Alfie, James Banwell, Tommy, Akash and Stephen applied huge pressure on the opposition so that often they ended up going backwards or dropping the ball. We managed at least one 7 tag turnover in each game and often several. We also forced the opposition off the pitch a number of times (once illegally which is a legacy of our Tuesday training sessions!) which meant we generated lots of turnovers and one coach described the team as an absolute nightmare to try to play Rugby because as a team we put our opponents under so much pressure. The effort we put into defence meant that we ended up winning all of our matches by a margin.

Standouts on the day were Thomas for his running and mesmerising changes of direction; James B for his running and some great tags that led to turnovers; Akash for his aggressive tagging, direct running and bagful of tries; River for stopping teams running round us and a couple of long range tries; Tommy for running straight and diving on so many dropped balls to win us turnovers; Stephen for his starting passing in every game and his direct runs to draw the other team in; Hamza for tagging with a sore hand, his eye for a gap and his bucket load of tries and Alfie for being an absolute pest and Tag harvesting machine (so much so that at half time in one game their coach was telling his players to run and pass to wherever Alfie wasn't).

All in all it was great to see the boys learn from their mistakes in the first half of the first game and realise that, although good teams can score from anywhere, only great teams can do that and at the same time defend like their lives depend on it. Today the boys learned that the difference for them between winning and losing was the effort they put into defending.

Coach Damian