1st March 2009 - County Cup at Chosen Hill

The Cheltenham U8s squad played very impressively in this year's County Cup but the quality of our play was not reflected in the eventual outcome. Although it was a day of missed opportunities it was still a day of great enjoyment for the squad.

Cheltenham shared the group stage with Berry Hill, Hucclecote B, Dursley and hosts Chosen Hill. Our first match was a very tight affair against eventual group winners Berry Hill, who were leading 3 -2 at half time. We then played our sharpest rugby of the day to pull ahead 6-4, with Joe Langbridge running in a hat-trick of tries. Some very sloppy defending then allowed Berry Hill to score 2 tries in the final minutes, the last with the final play of the game, meaning the final score of 6-6 was something of a disappointment.

Our next matches were against Dursley and Hucclecote and the Cheltenham squad demonstrated its ability to adapt and learn by limiting the opposition to just 2 tries in these games with some very solid defending, whilst running in 12 tries ourselves, with Joshua Knox, Oli Gordon, Cameron Wilkinson the leading try-scorers.

The final group game against hosts Chosen Hill would determine who would proceed to the Quarter Finals of the Cup - a draw would suffice for Cheltenham, with Chosen Hill requiring a win. After an early exchange of scores, the speed of several Chosen Hill players caught us by surprise and Cheltenham were soon trailing 1 - 3. Again showing tremendous resilience and character, the Cheltenham team continued to demonstrate good ball-handling skills and edged into a 4 - 3 lead. As in the first match, however, we were unable to close out the game, and a dangerously ambitious pass on our own try line resulted in us gifting the winning try to Chosen Hill in the final seconds. As a result, we ended 3rd in the group and in the Plate competition, rather than the 1st or 2nd place the overall skill and determination of our players warranted.

In the Quarter Finals of the plate we faced Old Richians. By now, many of our players were beginning to tire (a consequence of us only having 10 players available on the day) and we were unable to maintain the standard of attacking play we had achieved earlier in the day. We still defended well, but were edged out 3-4 at the final whistle.

But for a couple of momentary lapses the day could have ended very differently. More importantly, however, the players enjoyed playing good competitive rugby and did so with considerable skill and huge enthusiasm and can be very proud of their performance.

The captain for the day was Joshua Knox, who led the team superbly. The other members of the squad were Danielle Gibson, Oli Gordon, Lukas James, Joe Langbridge, Caspar Lindgren, Adam Newbound, Harry Orme, Marcus Wakefield and Cameron Wilkinson.

January 23rd 2009

After a frosty start in early January, the U8s squad is now back in action and playing rugby each weekend. 2009 started where we left off before Christmas, with a couple of training sessions with a strong focus on ball-handling skills. We then had an opportunity to put theory into practice with home matches, first against Evesham and then against Stoud the following weekend.

On 16th Janaury, we hosted Evesham and played 3 matches against them and in each game showed the benefits of developing a fast paced style of play. After a slow start the team gained in confidence and started to pass the ball very well, enabling us to score some very good tries. Our defence is somewhat creaky at times, and perhaps allows the opposition a little too much space, but we did manage to outscore Evesham in each game to record three narrow victories.

The following week, on 23rd Janaury, we hosted a strong Stroud team at Newlands, and again played them 3 times, with Monty Rogers being our captain for the day. As is becoming something of a routine, we started a little slowly and were outscored in the first match by a talented Stroud team that contains a number of very speedy players. The final score was Cheltenham 6 Stroud 9, reflecting the free-flowing attacking style of the game. The Cheltenham squad re-grouped well in the following 2 games and some excellent passing resulting in us scoring some excellent tries scored by Joe Langbrige, Danielle Gibson, Cameron Wilkinson, Alex Sharam, Josh Knox and Oli Gordon. Some excellent positional and support play by Adam Newbound, Marcus Wakefield and Caspar Lindgren also saw their names appear on the scoresheet and our defence, particularly well marshalled by Josh Knox and Oli Gordon, improved considerably and forced a number of turnovers, which enabled us to win these last 2 games, 10-6 and 10-8. More important that the final scoreline, it was particularly pleasing to see Cheltenham playing some excellent passing rugby in a competitive matches against very strong opposition, and we shall continue to focus on our ball-handling skills in the coming weeks.

The Under 8s squad now consists of a group of 14 players. We are looking to increase the size of the squad so we can field two teams each weekend, so we are hoping to welcome more players to our squad. Our next training session at Newlands is on 15th February and potential players, both boys and girls, are welcome to join the session to see if they would like to join our squad on a permanent basis.

Cheltenham Tigers, U8s squad philosophy

Last year many of our squad formed much of the successful U7s squad which came second in the end-of-season tournament in Stratford (unbeaten, but lost on a count-back of tries). This year objective is to develop further the handling skills and tactical awareness of the game in a way that is fun and enjoyable for as many of the players as possible. Knowing that players of this age have short attention spans, the Coaches ensure that the training sessions are varied and full of different tasks so that the players can develop their skills in ways they find entertaining and interesting.

As a result, the motivation of the players is maintained and the players continue to enjoy playing rugby, even when the weather is atrocious!. No less important, the quality of the rugby gets better and better each week. We ensure that all players, girls and boys, are included each week, both in training sessions and in matches, and we welcome new players to the squad at any time – it’s never too late to join. We play on Sunday mornings, from 10.00 to 12.00 if we’re training at Newlands or the Prince of Wales stadium. We also have a full schedule of matches throughout the season, played both home and away, and we’re scheduled to play in several tournaments at the end of the season.