EMU9s v Rochford

The EM U9s put in a very good performance against Rochford on Sunday.

Alex and Charlie were key to starting the moves by making some good passes from the tackle and linking with Harry who shipped the ball to Gus and Michael on the wing. Johnny got us off to a good start with a great individual try in the first game and continued with his darting runs and crucial tackles. Rochford are a very good defensive side, but every time one of our players was tackled he had support on his shoulder to keep the ball moving. In the second game this approach paid off. Alfie ran hard through the middle and it took 2 or 3 players to stop him before turning and passing his support players. Our tackling also improved in the second game, helped by the introduction of Liam who made some very strong and brave tackles. Throughout the day Archie threatened to score and Rochford had to make some very good last gasp tackles to stop him going through. In the final game we began to tier and we had lost Nick through injury, but typically we did not give up and kept battling at the Rochford line.

We won one game and lost two, and this performance was a definite step forward. The ball was passed away from the tackle area to the wings, which is something we have been working on. The team's concentration was very good and nobody had a bad game. Some players stood out for the improvements they made to their overall game such Charlie, Rory and in particular Michael. The well deserved man of the match ball went to Archie for his commitment and running.

The area we need to work on now is getting the breakaway runners to make the final pass to a supporting player before getting tackled. If we can do that we should be on course to score a lot of tries.