ON's Blown away by Hurricanes

The Hurricanes visited ON's with the coaches wanting to take the opportunity to try some new tactics, to continue to develop the boys' skills &team work. With the aid of some coins (not to bride the lads, but simply to visualise the players on the pitch) we wanted to:

- Encourage those lads who are great at running, to pass the ball out wide more
- Reinforce the value of keeping a strong line across the width of the pitch
- Give those 'wide' players a chance to get the ball, and the confidence to push forward.

The lads were fantastic at listening to the coaching session, and applied it really well on the pitch. Today success looked like more passing, more 'keeping the line', and more forward runs through the oppositions defence.

The boys did us proud, and the fact there are many names on the scoreboard (and many more assisted these tries) show that the lads played really well as a team. The high score lines are a nice bonus.

Match 1: Hurricanes 13 - ON's 1
Tries from 7 players: George, Leo F, Simmo, James, Jack, Adam and Jake.
Strong tackling from all the lads (notably From Fred, George, Jake, Jack, Leo and James) held the ON's at bay, whilst much-improved passing (particularly front George, James, Adam and Leo) meant that the ball was passed out wider, and gave many more players the chance to push forward. The boys kept a solid, unbroken line, notably marshalled well by Will, Leo, Jake and Adam. Fred followed George's lead by putting the ON's under pressure, and at one this resulted in Adam picking up an interception to run in for a try. Simmo showed huge improvements in pushing through the ON's defence with impressive forward runs ( and was rewarded with a superb try) and James showed great judgement in giving passes to team-mates on some occasions, whilst on other occasions using his super-fast speed.

Match 2: Hurricanes 12 - ON's 2
Tries from 5 players: James, George, Fred, Jake, Will
Early on in this game, it looked as though the Hurricanes had met their match, as the ON's side went ahead through some strong runs by 2 or 3 of their quick, strong players. However, the Hurricanes defence was fantastic - often defending close to their own try-line, but brilliantly holding the ON's back. Jake was great at shouting across to the boys, to highlight gaps in the line. There was some crunching tackles from Will (often acting as the crucial last man), Jack (great technique as ever), James (often getting up for quick 2nd tackles), Leo and George (who did well to keep his head, despite the opposition getting frustrated with his 'none shall pass effectiveness). James & George made some great runs for almost the whole length of the pitch, to bag some much-needed early tries. Later on, James and Adam made some notable strong passes putting Fred and Will through for tries. Adam was as strong as ever at winning the loose ball, whilst Jake took advantage of ON's passing to steel the ball & run home a try.

Whilst the passing was significantly better today, we do need to make sure that all passes are realistic - and able to be caught by a team mate. We also need to make sure that all tackles are made to count: with the boys doing their best to bring down the man, or to hold on until 'tackle' is called.

Overall, we were hugely impressed with the improvement in shape & organisation, with the attacking & defensive lines much more defined.

Today's victories were brought to you by: Mathew Simpson, Adam Tyas, Will Leabrook, Leo Fertig, Freddy Verbruggen, George Timmins, James Boyle, Jake Martin, Jack Burton.

Many thanks to Gav, for firm & fair refereeing

Kevin, Steve - U9 Hurricanes coaches.

MH U9's Tigers v ON's
Match 1: MH 11 ON's A 7
(Tries: Fergus 8, Jake 2, Lawrence 1)
On a smaller than usual pitch, playing the 6 tackle rule having only 8 players presented us with an interesting day ahead. The ON's A team, had a number of well fed and well drilled players and were especially good at recycling the ball after the tackle. They took an early lead from a breakthrough the defensive line and were 2-0 up within 5 mins. We then woke up to the fact that moving up in defence to close down the attack and making sure first time tackles were made. Oli C, Max G and Jake D threw themselves around into every tackle and both Fergis G and Lawrence P ran well out wide to get over the whitewash. From here on in it was a solid performance with a game plan to move the ball wide, away from a crowded tackle zone. Pace played a role here with Jake D & Lawrence P nipping in for tries however Fergus G had another blistering few runs to touchdown 8 times. Good solid performance.
Match 2: MH 10 ON's B 1
(Tries: Fergus G 5, Lawrence P 3, Jake D 1, Oliver C 1)
With the added request from ON's to play 8 players on an already small pitch meant it was always going to be busy and tight around the ball. This however played nicely into our hands as we quickly worked out that fast restarts and support play found the space.
This was a slightly weaker ON's side in the first half and we were 7/0 up by half time. ON's subbed up at half time bringing on a few stronger players. This made a difference and we played out the second half with a better matched game. Marcus K and Cameron D enjoyed the contact and tackled well and Oil T looked hungry for the ball turning up to act as linkman. Lawrence P ran well with ball in hand and raced in for a brace of tries. Jake D nipped in a try in between his impressive tackling and Fergus G had his lucky boots on and went over for a well deserved 5 tries. Despite our tight defence ON's best player sneaked over for a try in the final few seconds to spoil our clean sheet however the U9 Tigers still remain unbeaten and are a team that look as if they are enjoying their rugby.