U9′s Fixtures & Results

Results (see bottom for Fixtures)

Sunday 22 April

Ipswich Festival

Paras

Following a solid performance at the previous week’s Westcliff tournament a squad of 13 boys looked forward to another festival intent on enjoying themselves and playing flowing rugby.

In the first pool game we faced Ipswich B. This Ipswich side had improved since our meeting at the Colchester festival. However the Paras were well motivated and played entertaining and varied rugby that saw several players get their names on the scoresheet. Chris Cathcart opened the scoring following good play from our hunters to create some space for Chris to expose. Debutant Felix Peterson slotted in well and his hard work was rewarded with a debut try. Resolute defence denied Ipswich and Colchester willingly attacked the space, James Pugh eventually scoring two tries. Still during the first half Colchester moved the ball wide which saw Nathan Gardner and Aiden Cambell-Dunne eventually cross the line following good team play. Making 4 changes did not dampen our play and Finn Mackman completed the scoring .

Our second pool game was against a strong looking and highly competitive Bury St Edmunds side, this was due to be our strongest match in the pool stage. From the start we carried the ball well with George Welsh, Noah Backhouse and Con Tyler finding gaps in the Bury defence and setting a good platform for the gatherers to move the ball wide. A typical break from Harry Williams saw him open the scoring with a finish of acrobatic quality that would have made Chris Ashton proud. Some uncustomary missed tackles enabled Bury to gain some momentum and they crossed the Colchester line, ( the only try we were to concede all tournament) Again Colchester continued to press forwards and looked to move the ball wide, making it difficult for the defence. more good play created space for the pace of Finn Mackman to add another to the tally. Bury continued to be direct and stout tackles form Alex Ward, Hugh Stanton, Guy Haines and the trio of hunters prevented Bury from scoring and led to some good turnover ball. More good team play created another try from Williams. A direct run from  Noah Backhouse saw him denied close to the line, George Welsh gathered the bouncing ball and barrelled towards the line, only to trip over the Bury player he had knocked down. Undettered the Paras continued to press forwards and more good play saw Finn Mackman score the final try.

The final pool game was against Hadleigh, who again had improved from our previous meetings. As is customary Colchester policy this match again saw all players involved in each game, with players able to adopt any role on the pitch. Hugh Stanton opened the scoring following a good break from the base of a scrum. Noah Backhouse continued to run purposefully with the ball and demonstrated two very good side steps to bamboozle the defence and dive in at the corner. Colchester continually moved the ball wide with several players closing in on the try line only to be stopped by last ditch tackles. After Nother good team build up Finn Mackman crashed over the line followed my another Noah Backhuse try.

This completed the pool stages with a record of played 3 , won 3 scored 15 tries conceded 1. Statistics that all players contributed towards. This set up a final showdown against a very strong Sudbury side. The start to the final was delayed by thunder, lightning, hail and heavy rain, with only snow failing to make an appearance!!

Once the final started it was a very physical battle as expected as both sides had played each other previously. Sudbury were very direct with the ball only to be met by equally robust tackling.outstanding tackles were made with  George Welsh, Noah Backhouse, Nathan Gardner, Alex Ward, all driving the Sudbury player backwards. Sticking to our style of play we continued to move the ball wide on.y to be denied by covering tackles in this scintillating game that had coaches, parents and spectators impressed by the quality. This set the  pattern for the first half as both sides created an entertaining spectacle that had the crowd enthralled as both sides strove to gain the upper hand. Moments into the second half we capitalised on the space that the hunters created and Stanton, Ward and Williams eventually put the flying Finn Mackman into space and he outran the defence, with Pugh and Haines ably supporting to make this a whole team performance. From here we continued to have the upper hand in this magnificent spectacle and again well organised defence created space again for us to expose, with Mackman scoring again.

Colchester winning the Cup for the 3rd time in succession. All players should take pride from their perfomances and acct the praise that they unquestionably deserve for their performances this year.

Con Tyler
James Pugh 2
Harry Williams 2
Finn Mackman 6 ( at least one in every game!!)
Felix Peterson 1
Chris Cathcart 1
George Welsh
Noah Backhouse 2
Hugh Stanton 1
Guy Haines
Nathan Gardner 1
Aiden Campbell-Dunne 1
Alex Ward

Gurkhas

The Gurkhas came to the Ipswich festival on the back of a set of convincing set of games away to Upminster.  The quality in depth of Colchester’s under 9s squad shone through in the first game as the Gurkhas managed to beat the Ipswich A team by a single try by Dylan Sayer.

In the second game some lax defending cost the Gurkhas dear as Woodbridge scored early tries and held a good lead by half time.  It was to the credit of the team that their heads did not go down and they showed tremendous spirit to score three times in the second half to claw back to a single point defeat with tries by Flynn Dalziel and Dylan again.

The third game against Diss was a tense attritional affair with resilient defence in evidence by both teams.  The Gurkhas and Diss finally ground out a fair one all draw with Matthew Johnson scoring for Colchester.

In the final game of the pool stages the Gurkhas faced a very strong Sudbury team who would go on to contest the final against the Paras.  It was always going to be a tough game but the Gurkhas acquitted themselves admirably and made Sudbury work hard for their three – one victory.  Once again Flynn’s power was instrumental in bring the Gurkhas their solitary try.

The coaches and parents congratulated the team at the end of the festival on a tremendous performance, especially as all of the team’s opposition were A teams.  Special mention must go to Roman Seal for the Gurkhas’ tackle of the season when he brought down the player, dislodged the ball and saved a certain try.

Jamie Allen
Flynn Dalziel (2)
Matthew Johnson (1)
Alex Gerrard
Roman Seal
Dylan Sayer (2)
Kye Simpson
Will Kerr
Finlay MacBrayne
Samuel Hodgkins
Brendan Edwards
Finn Jeffrey
Charlie Speck

Sunday 25 March

Colchester Festival

In glorious sunshine, the Under 9 Squad enjoyed a great day at their home mini rugby festival, fielding four teams with over 40 home players involved. The level of play and commitment from every side competing was exceptional and the spirit and sportsmanship displayed was a credit to local rugby.

Overall, Colchester Opsreys won pool A with 5 wins out of 5 matches and conceded no tries with Sudbury runners up. In Pool B a very strong Bishop’s Stortford team won the Pool with an unbeaten display and Colchester Dragons battled to claim second place. Colchester Lions and Saracens had some tough encounters against strong teams but both sets of plays showed tremendous character to never give up and pushed every opponent extremely hard.

Highlights of the day were not just the winning but the efforts and enjoyment shown by players, the Saracens team just got better and better with every match with Lewis Murrell grabbing three deserved tries. Try saving tackles were a key feature in some games with Alex Ward producing one for the Ospreys to deny Sudbury. A spectacular breakaway try from Alex Gerrard was a highlight for the Lions and the Dragons team effort against Woodbridge which sealed second place.

Tries scorers were:

Lewis Murrell (3), Jamie Allen (3), James Carver-Hardy, Brendan Edwards (3), Guy Haines, James Pugh (3), Matthew Johnson (2), Will Kerr, Finn MacBrayne (4), Dylan Sayer, Alex Gerard(3), Felix Peterson, Kye Simpson(2), Noah Backhouse, Flynn Dalziel, Nathan Gardner, Finn Mackman(6), Con Tyler, Alex Ward(3), Harry Williams(9).

Sunday 11 March

Southend B Festival

Colchester’s under nines Gurkhas squad enjoyed a terrific day of rugby in the sunshine at the Southend B Festival and ran out runners up to Upminster in an exciting final.

Colchester 6 – 0 Westcliff
Dylan Sayer (2), Finlay MacBrayne (2), Jamie Allen, Matthew Johnson

Gurkhas away at Woodbridge

Colchester Gurkhas enjoyed a great morning of rugby in the sunshine at Woodbridge.  After a frosty start there was a mass disrobing as Colchester players removed the extra tops, base layers and gloves that they had got used to playing in as temperatures soared.

Colchester started the first game brightly with Dylan, Brendan and James driving forward through rucks and mauls and Matthew Johnson distributing to an eager set of backs at every opportunity.  Colchester crossed the line 3 times in the first half through Finlay, Dylan and Adam.  The second half was more even, but the honours went to Colchester as William Mabon scored from a scorching run.

In the second game Colchester again dominated against a mixed Woodbridge/Lowestoft team.  Strong running and breaking of tackles by Brendan Edwards, Alex Gerrard and James Carver-Hardy  contributed to Colchester’s score, while individual runs by Charlie Speck and Finaly MacBrayne saw Colchester home. Although he did not score Felix Patterson made some very effective runs which created scoring opportunities for others.

In the final game Colchester combined with Lowestoft to create a barbarians squad.  In a very close game Colchester were again successful with a tries from Brendan Edwards and Gus Edwards.

Colchester 5 – 0 Woodbridge

Finlay MacBrayne (2), Dylan Sawyer, Adam Widlake, William Mabon

Sunday 22 January

Away Matches vs Southend

A squad of 22 players from across the groups travelled away to Southend, with whom the fixtures are always highly competitive. On arrival there was some adjustments to the squads which saw us select two new names For our squads based on the mixed nature.
It culminated that our new Osprey squad played first against a large Southend B squad. ( Will Kerr, Jamie Allen, Sandy Cowie, Sam Hodgkins, Tom Sturgeon, James Carver-Hardy, Adam Widlake, Alex Gerrard, Kye Simpson,, Charlie Speck and Harry Williams) in their first match the Ospreys took a while to get to grips with the direct running of the well drilled Southend squad. Eventually the Ospreys settled down and started to run back at the opposition. James Carver-Hardy, Alex Gerrard and Harry Williams led the way some surging runs, only to be denied at the last minute as the ball was lost in contact. In the final moments Southend snatched victory after a period of possession in the Osprey half.
0-1
Having watched the game the Dragons squad (Hugh Stanton, Alex Ward, George Welsh, Felixstowe Peterson, Finn Mackman, James Pugh, Con Tyler, Roman Seal, Noah Backhouse, Aiden Campbell-Dunne, Ed Lucking) knew what to expect. From the first pass the tempo for this match was set with the Southend team looking to dominate the rucks and Dragons looking to move the ball out wide. This Southend team have progressed to the semi finals in the Harlequins Cup and Demonstrated the skills that have got them to this stage. With the Dragons looking to apply the new style of play and positional awareness they created opportunities when moving the ball. In defence the tackling was stout which led to a very competitive end to the fixture. A good passage of play saw Alex Ward score the only game of the match.
Game 3 saw a rematch between the Ospreys and Southend B.
Again this turned out to be an entertaining match for the spectators with both sides running purposefullŷ with the ball.  A couple of missed tackles saw the Southend score early on. With some better ball security the Ospreys would have scored themselves. In the second half the pattern continued. Alex Gerrard ran well with ball and outpaced the defence to even the scores. Southend continued to find some gaps but met with improved defence. A second try for Ospreys by Hugh Stanton demonstrates the progress being made but was not quite enough as Southend won 3-2.
The final match saw the Dragons play Southend A who seemed motivated to make up for earlier loss. Again this was a high tempo game that demonstrated the quality of both sides. Again the new style seemed to work for the Dragons as the trip of hunters searched for the ball in defence and carried the ball in offence. This created space for the runners to attack. Only last ditch tackles prevented us from scoring. however it was Southend who came closest to breaking the deadlock. Only a magnificent tackle from Harry Williams prevented a certain try and he was ably supported as several players secured the ball.
0-0
With an equal number at home it is testament to the levels of enjoyment And enthusiasm that the players were able to apply the new style so effectively and give the strong opposition such competitive and well played matches.

Colchester Ospreys 0-1 Southend

Colchester Ospreys 2 (Alex Gerrard, Hugh Stanton)-3 Southend

Colchester Dragons 1 (Alex Ward) 0 Southend

Colchester Dragons 0 – 0 Southend

Award winners from the matches were:
Ospreys
Top tackler – Hugh Stanton
Hardest working – Jamie Allen, Sam Hodgkins

Golden boot- Alex Gerrard

Dragons -
Top tackler – Edward Lucking
Hardest Working – Harry Williams

Golden Boot – Alex Ward

Home Matches vs Hadleigh

With 22 players away, we also had 2 squads at home to play against Hadleigh. In the spirit if the game 4 Colchester boys played for Hadleigh so that there were 4 teams to avoid too much standing around on this breezy morning. These four were Guy Haines, Lewis Murrell, Kyle Kirkpatrick and Joshua Garrard. All boys played very well for Hadleigh and underlying their competitive spirit by scoring several tries against Colchester.

Similarly to the away group two new names were selected for Colchester – Sharks and Monkeys.

In their two matches the Sharks played some good rugby, scoring several tries, However the Hadleigh team ran out winners in both games.

Game 1
Colchester 4 (matthew Johnson 2, Finlay MacBrayne 2)- Hadleigh 5

Game 2
Colchester Sharks 1 (Dylan sayer) Hadleigh 7 (Guy Haines)

The Monkeys had slightly better drawing one and losing their other game.

Game 1 Colchester Monkeys 0 – Hadleigh 3

Game 2 Colchester Monkeys 3 (Flynn Dalziel 2, Chris Cathcart 1) Hadleigh 3

The final game between the two Colchester sides demonstrated the evenness of the team selction as the Monleys won narrowly:

Colchester Sharks 4 – Colchester Monkeys 5

Sharks: Dylan Sayer, Finlay MacBrayne (2), Matthew Johnson

Monkeys: Flynn Dalziel (2), Nathan Gardner (2), Finn Jeffrey

Award Winners were:
Top tacklers; Alfie Grimsey , Finlay MacBrayne and Chris Cathcart

Team Work- Brendan Edwards

Other recommendations for awards:
Guy Haines, Lewis Murrel, Kyle Kirkpatrick, Joshua Garrard for team spirit for playing for Hadleigh

15 January 2012

2 October 2011

The under 9′s opened their first season in contact in style with a superb blend of attacking rugby mixed with some very solid and determined defence. Playing in a triangular fixture with Woodford and Romford, the Paras team scored 10 tries in three matches but amazingly did not concede a single try by virtue of some superb tackling. Whilst the Gurka squad had some mixed results they still scored 7 tries and showed some excellent tackling skills throughout the morning.

Fixtures