First Game
We had nineteen boys dressed for the game today which is excellent. Unfortunately the Yeomen only had nine. This gave us an automatic win by default so with that in the bank we loaned them four players (actually four of our better players) and played a thirteen-a-side match. It was very decent rugby and a close contest. The Yeomen ended up winners by 22-20 but since the guys we loaned them scored three out of four tries I think we can be pretty satisfied. We did some things very well and there are some things we really need to work on but for a first game it wasn't too bad at all.
The down side is that we had a couple of injuries. One boy dislocated his kneecap which of course looks ghastly and is very painful. It meant we had to call an ambulance and move the game to an adjacent pitch because he couldn't be moved until the paramedics arrived. If it is just a dislocation he should make a pretty quick recovery though. Another guy had a bad ankle sprain. He has gone to the ER for a precautionary x-ray but the physio is confident it's just a sprain.
Credit to York too. Their club has a pretty unsavoury reputation and at present their senior programme is suspended by the ORU for multiple reasons. Their juniors today played good, hard, clean rugby and I think their juniors' coach and their club president deserve to be recognised for that. If they can transfer that attitude up the age bands and ultimately to their senior team when they finish the suspension they could be a really good club.
The down side is that we had a couple of injuries. One boy dislocated his kneecap which of course looks ghastly and is very painful. It meant we had to call an ambulance and move the game to an adjacent pitch because he couldn't be moved until the paramedics arrived. If it is just a dislocation he should make a pretty quick recovery though. Another guy had a bad ankle sprain. He has gone to the ER for a precautionary x-ray but the physio is confident it's just a sprain.
Credit to York too. Their club has a pretty unsavoury reputation and at present their senior programme is suspended by the ORU for multiple reasons. Their juniors today played good, hard, clean rugby and I think their juniors' coach and their club president deserve to be recognised for that. If they can transfer that attitude up the age bands and ultimately to their senior team when they finish the suspension they could be a really good club.