13/12/09 - Under 7's & 8's vs Tor & Burnham

Report by Simon Marshall

It has been a good start to the season for the mini’s section. The team have been playing well, the coaching has been excellent and we now have our own marked pitch. The old cricket pavilion has been refurbished and acts not only as shelter for chilly parents and as a temporary classroom for theory training, but it is also the place for everyone to get a hot drink on match days. The cherry on the cake, so to speak this week, was our new match kit! No longer will mums and dads have to spend hours rolling up the sleeves of second-hand under 11’s kit (my personal record was 6 folds, a struggle even for a black belt in origami such as myself!).

We now have everything we asked for at the start of the season. The only things now that could possibly make it better would be Lady Gaga serving the post match hot dogs and Tiger Woods organising our social calendar!!!

Photos of the team and coaches wearing the new strip can be found below.

This week consisted of two teams travelling to play at Beggars Brook – Tor and Burnham.

MATCH 1 (v Tor)

First match was Pethy versus Tor. Although we put out a reasonably strong team they were generally older and bigger and also very well drilled. Tor were quickly two tries to nil up with some great support play. Every time someone was tagged there was a player there waiting to receive the ball (something we still need to do a little work on!). To our credit the players dug in and rallied hard and by mid way through the second half we were on level terms. Tries for Pethy were pretty evenly shared out with Ben Jackson(2), Sam Cobb(2) Will Grant (3) and Nick Payne all scoring. Highlight of the match was though a try from Archie Attwood. One of our hardest working and most talented players, he has played really well all season both in attack and defence but had not up until this point made it over the try line. He made a couple of great breaks during the game only to be tagged but eventually some great interplay saw him go over the line for a very well deserved try. Double pocket money please this week Gav!

Towards the end of the match a couple of handling errors from Pethy and some good awareness from Tor meant that they won by a couple of tries.

Given the freezing conditions, the quality of rugby played was of the highest standard and a credit to the players and coaches of both teams.

FINAL SCORE: NORTH PETHERTON 50 - TOR 60

TEAM – Nicholas Payne (Captain), Archie Atwood , Sam Cobb, Ben Jackson, Oscar Hallett, Patrick Lockyer, Will Grant, Thomas Small

MATCH 2 (v Burnham)

Match 2 saw our younger players against Burnham. It is always difficult at this time of year to get enough players due to illness and so on. Burnham’s team was a mixture of under 8’s and then their much younger players. Generally a pretty even match.

Again the match was end to end stuff with both defences a bit more open than the first game. The teams matched each other try for try and again given the conditions there was not too much in the way of handling errors or missed tags.

An excellent all round performance from Will Dyer meant a hat trick of tries and the same also for Thomas Small . Patrick Lockyer scored another even though frozen to the bone having played in both matches. Particular mention however, must go to two players who scored for the first time in Pethy colours – James Grant, in what was I believe his first game for the club, which he followed up with some fantastic, fully committed Jonny Wilkinson style tackles only to have the referee explain he wasn’t allowed to tackle in tag rugby! And, my own flesh and blood, Tristan Marshall, who after an excellent run from the halfway line managed to get over the try line and sort of put the ball down. After consulting the Burnham coach a try was awarded although a video ref might have seen it differently! His reward, a box of Cadbury Heroes and to see his name on the website match report!

The match eventually finished nine tries all, a fair result overall.

We very much look forward to the return match at Burnham in March, where we always get really well looked after and can only hope the weather is a bit warmer!

FINAL SCORE: NORTH PETHERTON 45 - BURNHAM 45

TEAM – Eve Shadwick (Captain), Tristan Marshall, Daniel Osianka, Will Dyer, James Grant, Nicholas Payne, Nathaniel Morris, Thomas Small

NEXT MATCH: MINEHEAD AWAY - SUNDAY 3rd JANUARY 2010