EM v Woodford U11s

A great effort from the U11s saw us win one and lose one away at Woodford on Sunday. The first game started well with a score from Andre and some excellent pressure in defence had Woodford on the back foot. We managed to draw in a lot of Woodford players into the contact area which left spaces around the outside for our backs to score. We lost Johnny to an ankle injury and Alfie to a head collision in the first half, but by half time we were level. The second half saw a change of tactic from Woodford and they used their big forward to bash through the middle from close range. Despite some heroic defence on our line we finished 3 tries down as we could not stop their big forward at close range.

In the second game we made some substitutions bringing on Henry, Oliver F, and Devan. This game continued in a similar way to the last, with some fantastic tackling and defensive efforts from the whole team, including a couple of try saving efforts from Devan on and behind our line. This Woodford side seems to be more organised in their attack and rather than relying on one big player they moved the ball through the hands very well, so it took an organised defensive effort to stop them. Our aggressive defence was led by Henry who gave their scrum half no time to get the pass out and he stopped any clean ball from their set piece scrums. Eventually our pressure paid off and we started to run in the tries which including some quick thinking tap and go moves from Johnny and Oliver.

There was no player of the match as this was a real team effort and even in defeat we had played well, although special mention must go to Nathan for his outstanding tackling, Archie for some great defensive work popping up everywhere where tackles were needed, Henry for some outstanding scrum half play and for Oliver H, Johnny and Andre for showing some great footwork and elusive running. Nick also deserves a mention for his constant battling in the scrums and making himself a nuisance; he even won one against the head on our own try line which gave Ollie the opportunity to clear our line.

Bearing in mind this was a team that beat us convincingly at the start of the season, this was a big step up (a point mentioned by the Woodford coaches). Well done the whole team and thanks to all the supporters who came to cheer us on.