Thanks to North Dorset for making the trip to Ivel and giving us our first two exciting games of rugby in some fine weather, and to John and Tom for helping out.

The first game against N.Dorset A was a great introduction for our new squad. Although losing 12-6 everybody showed that they had been listening in our short three weeks of training and everyone should be very proud of how they played as a team. Under Captaincy of Oscar every player went for the tags and was not afraid of running with the ball, including some nice midfield runs from David and Oscar. Our downfall was losing possession on a few occasions through small errors.  Although, with four tries from Thomas (plus two disallowed for diving) and one for Wallis (who was denied another by too many steps) and one for Matt, a respectable 6 points was still scored.  Man of the match was Thomas who ran well to find space for four tries.

The second match, under Captaincy of Wallis, against a fresh N.Dorset B saw Ivel pull together in a short game for a 3-2 Win: Matt, Thomas and Wallis scoring one apiece.  Even though tired,   Ivel applied pressure and forced errors.  There was energetic running from Neo and Ben, much improved passing from Freddy and excellent support from David and George and a battered Ryan, taking all important tags stopping their flow of play. Most impressive was all the players trying to stay on-side and behind the ball, no easy task in the heat of a match!  Woman of the match was Wallis for some quick thinking in passing and excellent touchline running for a try.

Excellent, first Match Games of the season.  Well done Ivel!

The u7’s First 3-way match, Thank you to all the parents who made the long trip out to Frome for a full team, and to the referee who controlled well all the games.

First match was against Bradford upon Avon. Ivel, defending from the whistle had a wakeup call as B.u.A. scored a quick try. Next play Ivel were to lose possession, but with some excellent defending by Every player ,Ivel forced the ball back to B.u.As last man who made a forward pass, gaining Ivel a turn over ball. From this Ivel levelled the game. A similar pattern followed for the rest of this closely contested match. With scores level at 20-20 Ivel had possession for the last few minutes and really started to play flowing rugby, after an interception from B.u.A. who carried the ball deep into Ivel territory, but brilliant re-grouping to defend, Ivel forced B.u.A to run out of touch. From the turn over, Ivel proceeded to play the ball with some great play allowing Wallis to sprint down touch to get tagged with 2 steps to try line. The final try was awarded only because of the amount of support directly behind, six pairs of hands ready to take the pass.  Captain was George, with tries, one a-piece from Wallis, Thomas, Oscar, Neo and Alistair.  Player of the match for his determination was George.                    An Ivel win  25-20

Thanks to Sherborne for holding this great mini tournament which the under 7s were happy to play in, also to the parents for a cold early start to the Sunday, and what a result!

The opening game was Vs Sherborne and Oscar as captain. With little time for training before, this quickly became apparent, as Sherborne steamed ahead with two tries whilst Ivel tried to organise themselves into a team. From the centre Ivel moved on and started to pass better and made some progress with their first try, but lost possession on several occasions by running out of touch allowing Sherborne another try. After half time Ivel were much more focused, with good defending from Freddy, Ben and David  causing Sherborne to make mistakes, Ivel narrowed the lead with two more tries .Although performing a lot better in the second half Ivel could not deny a strong sherborne from a three point win. Final score: Sherborne 6 – Ivel 3.   Ivel tries : Thomas, Wallis and Oscar with one a piece.  Player of the match was David for good running with both hands glued to the ball, and some great tagging.  

Next opponents after a short break were Trowbridge. From the off, and Freddy as captain, Ivel were back on form. With positive running, and supporting each player who had possession, Ivel forced Trowbridge into error and gained possession deep in our own half. Excellent passing and clean catching from all, allowed Thomas the chance to dodge the last two of Trowbridge’s defence for the opener. With Trowbridge on the attack Ivel produced some great tagging from Ryan, George and Neo, with the game ground down Ivel forced an error and gained possession. Quick off the mark Ivel produced some smooth passes, some without being tagged, until Matt found some space and ran on for Ivel’s second. Trowbridge’s attack was again slowed but good running on the touch line they score their first. After half time Trowbridge came out fighting and the two teams were at loggerheads for much of this half, both losing and gaining possession. Until in the final play a nice little flick from Oscar found Neo in space to show a clean pair of heels for the third. Final score:  Trowbridge 1 – Ivel  3.  Ivel tries : Thomas, Matt and Neo with one each.  Player of the match was Neo with his best defending yet and a great try.

The final Game was against Weymouth, with David as captain. From the start this was a close game, with both sides playing the ball around, it was great to see that all the Ivel team made the attempt to stay on side. First to open the scoring was Ivels Neo, finding an empty half to sprint to the line. Weymouth replied quick with a similar try. Ivel then gained ground with every player having contact with the ball, but they were denied a try by running out of touch. Weymouth with possession found it hard to break through Ivel’s defence but were able to score again. Last play in this half saw Ivel making use of the space on this large field, with the ball being fed out wide were Thomas received and sped off  down the touch line to level the scores. From the whistle Ivel gelled well, with fast runs to find gaps and space and quick passing when tagged, to make this an exciting and fast paced half. From a mêlée in the middle Ivel worked the ball towards Weymouth’s try line, were a nice pass from Matt gave Wallis the space to run almost the width of the field to an empty corner for a third try. Weymouth’s attack lasted a while as tags were determinedly taken especially by Wallis, Thomas and David, until they broke through for a third. Ivel lost possession early and Weymouth reversed the play, until a wild ball was intercepted by Oscar, and a clear pick up from George who passed to Wallis allowing a lightning run for her second try.  Final score:  Weymouth 3 – Ivel  4.  Ivel tries:  Neo, Thomas with one each, and Wallis two.      Player of the match was Wallis for determined defending and two great tries.