Leek and Stoke triangular at home – u8s match report – Sunday 31st January

The weather was wet, the pitches were pretty sodden, the air was cold but nonetheless one visiting supporter / parent noted aloud; ‘Great rugby playing conditions!’ I’m not sure all the lads agreed by the end of the morning’s play but nonetheless seven boys turned out for the team this week including: Dylan, Elliot, Lauchlan, Lucas, Max, Steffan and William (captain). They played two c. 15 minute ‘mini games’; the first was against Leek and the second was against Stoke.

The first game against Leek was evenly contested with both sides eventually scoring 7 tries apiece. Leek won the first half by 4 tries to 3, whilst Trentham won the second half by the same margin. Trentham took a time to get organised and a little frustratingly kept letting Leek score in exactly the same corner for the first half. However they matched Leek going forward and scored some excellent individual and team tries. Overall they looked the better team on the day but couldn’t quite pull away from a resolute Leek side.

During the second game Trentham’s u8s became somewhat lacklustre and were soundly beaten for the first time I can remember this season. Whilst they still looked potent with the ball in hand and scored some decent tries (they always do), a combination of the cold and wet conditions conspired to dampen their spirits and they were pretty awful in defence allowing Stoke players to waltz through the middle on numerous occasions. Several players looked liked they wanted to go home or be anywhere except on that pitch and most of them were definitely up for their hot dogs well before the end of the second match!

Every player contributed with some tries this week but nobody really stood out going forward as is the case some weeks. Defensively the team were very mixed although Lauchlan, Will and Steffan grabbed a reasonable amount of tags. This week’s man-of-the-match award goes to Elliot who showed lots of endeavour, supported the team work well, scored a really well worked try and never gave up despite the difficult conditions. He showed some resilience this week and was one of the few players who kept trying hard when the going got a bit tough. Well done Elliot you showed some real grit this week despite being very cold and wet! As always thanks to the mums and dads for supporting the children and especially Ade / Leslie for supplying some very welcome oranges at half time to the lads (they really appreciated these)!