Apauling Mauling to Brave Warriors- all in 2 hours. Thats St Neots Under 9's for ya!

Another glorious day down at the St.Neots ground on Sunday 27th September with just 2 more training sessions until we meet our first opponents of the new session; Hitchin away at Hitchin on 11th October 2009. So the question is, how are the St. Neots Under 9's shaping up? Have the backs got the speed and the guts and the line? Have the forwards got the drive and the hunger to be where it counts when the ball goes to ground? Well for the first hour of this weeks training despite some of Bryan's and Jim's best shouting to date I would say they hadn't a clue and it was painful watching our attempts at mauling. However, all was soon to change when the Under 9's faced the might of the under 10's for a second time as a training session. The first quarter proved that the boys were beginning to understand their positions and duties. The St. Neots under 9's  passed the ball well in this quarter and seemed unphased by the more experinced opposition. Also there was some solid, committed tackling on the park and good recycling on the ball. The forwards turned over the ball on more than one occassion allowing the backs to find the wings. Bryan was clearly delighted by the end of the first quarter when we were still holding the score at 'nil nil'. The second half exposed a few tired legs and lack of experience with mauls and the St. Neots under 10's soon began to break through our line of defense with some great solo runs.Thomas was subbed when he picked up an ankle injury. Ray was on hand with some first aid and it was decided a trip to A and E would be advisable. The next 20 minutes of the game showed us that mauling, though still a bit of a mess,will begin to work and has some force behind it. What the St. Neots under 9's will need to work on is driving over the ball when its gone to ground. When all worked - the tries came and the final score was a lot closer than anyone could have imagined. All in all a great game. Bryan and Jim's summary highlighted Alex, Jaydon and Callum for great tackling and awarded player of the week to Daniel Golden for his forward running. A club spokesman (Bryan) confirmed Thomas suffered bruising and will be back in time for the Hitchin game, taking a week off to recover.