Warly minis travel to Richmond to take on the Big Guns. The minis went to Richmond festival this weekend. The festival included such big names such as Quins, London Irish, Scottish and Welsh amongst others. They showed them all that names mean nothing, it’s the brand of rugby that you play is what really counts.

Brighty

U7’s Richmond report:

The second festival of the season and of our budding young stars Rugby careers took place in Richmond. Two teams donned the Blue & White stripes to compete against the best SW London had to offer. All the kids were again superb.

The coaches and parents watched in awe as they passed, tagged and scored their way through the matches with one of the teams making up a BaaBaas team and ended up playing 3 back to back matches. Going forward more of the kids ran with purpose toward the try line with many tries scored but the defence was especially electric.

Diving tags of players, perfectly marshalled flat lines and even an interception try for the full length of the pitch. This group has got attitude in spades and we love it!

U8’s Richmond report

The U8’s entered 2 teams in the Richmond festival and had some really excellent performances across the board. Both teams went unbeaten again, but what really impressed the coaches was the defensive cohesion between the players.

The discipline in maintaining the defensive line was first class, to the point that we had 2 separate, opposing team coaches comment and commend us on our shape, saying we were the most organised of all the teams they have played to date.

It just proves that the hard work and effort both the coaches and the kids have put in during training is staring to pay dividends. Again, we are incredibly proud of every single player, with contributions from all team members. We now look forward training this weekend and refining where needed ahead of our home festival the following weekend.

U9’s Richmond report

We brought two teams down to Richmond, leaving two teams at home to fine tune their skills. With superb running lines, support play and spinning the ball out wide the oppo had no chance. The dominant tackling continued on from last week.

The boys smashed Quins from a promising attacking position all the way back to their own try line. With most teams tactics of give it to the big lad, the boys showed that if you hit them hard enough they don’t want to know.

They started to use the dummy, switch, pop we have been practicing in training. Throw in a couple of goose steps, popping up of the floor and it was not only the tackling that they should their dominance in. Back to training this weekend to fine tune their already outstanding skill set

U10’s Richmond report

We had the privilege of attending the Richmond rugby festival this past weekend, and it turned out to be a great test of character and determination for the team.

We got off to a bit of a slow start, taking some time to settle into our usual rhythm, but credit to the players for keeping their heads up and sticking to the basics.

As the day wore on, we really started to dominate the rucks, winning crucial turnovers and setting a solid platform for our attack. The team showed great physicality in the breakdown, which allowed us to gain momentum and control key moments in the game. I must say, our hosts were full of praise for the way we played, especially for our work at the ruck and the intensity we brought.

They appreciated the structure and commitment we showed, and it was good to see the players step up after a tough start. It’s encouraging to see the them growing as a team, and there’s a lot to take forward from this performance.

U11’s Richmond report

Our first festival of the season and was brilliant to see the hard work in training being executed on the field in games. We had four hard fought matches where the squad defended admirably with great technique, determination and shape.

In attack we passed the ball down the line into space and were often just 1 pass away from scoring many more tries. We will be focusing on the breakdown as an area to focus on as at times were just slightly slower to react and win the breakdown battle.

Overall, all coaches were super proud of the team and substantial progress made from end of last season. The hard work in training is paying off. Shout out to Nathanial for his first ever tournament making some great line breaks and tackling well.