Click the pictures for game pages
Castle Cary
 
Bridgwater
 
Dorchester & Bridport
 
Chard
             
Castle Cary Away
 
Midsomer Norton Away
 
Wellington Blitz
   
             
 
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An excellent turn out with 8 players making the difficult trip to Fome and all ready by 10.30, many thanks to the parents for their commitment.  With eight players ivel had the luxury of rolling substitution ensuring everyone got a decent run out, and what a run out!

There was many positives from the away trip to Tor last week, especially Simeons try and Ethans fantastic tagging.
This week however was about turning promise and hard work in training into solid results, Frome had some big quick players but raw enthusiasm from the ivel side saw them force Frome to give up the ball a number of times, this leading to excellent counterattacking tries.

Where Frome were making the mistakes that had frustrated us in the past we seemed in mood to not give anything away. Pressuring the opposition, organising our defence and I could count the number of missed tags on one hand - one frome try resulting from us tagging them 6 times, one more tag and they would have had to concede possession.

From 6-1 up at half time Ivel triumphed 11-3 at the end, a well deserved win with try scorers Ethan and Max
1 apiece, Ryan and Rory (two each) but liam with an amazing five tries.  Good progress from Tom with some good forward drives and clean passing, keep it up Tom just need a bit more confidence which will come in future games. Strong tagging from Simeon and Freddy and excellent running, remember to follow up when we are attacking its only a matter of time before you pick up some or more tries.

Man of the match award goes to new boy Liam, with five tries from excellent running and support combined with tenacious tagging - well done.

Overall
an excellent performance but we must not forget that we will come across stronger teams than Frome.

Plus points
Excellent forward running
Brilliant support
Fantastic tagging
Good pressure on the opposition (leading to them making mistakes)
always attempting to give tags back
Staying on the pitch - not running out of play (into touch)


Some stuff to work on
Remaining onside (not straying between the tackled player and his team mates)
quicker passing after the tackle (gives the opposition less time to organise)
Staying on our feet in the tackle - diving could lead to us being penalised and handing over the ball

Training this sunday  - 7th november prior to Bridgewater away on the following week.
 
 
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Well Ivel's first Mini festival was a fantastic success, many thanks to all who put so much effort into organising - especially Fran and Julie. Special thanks on the day go to Alex Steve and Julia without who it would have been impossible for me to keep my sanity!

Ivel were in group A with challenging games against North Dorset, Warminster, Dorchester and Exeter Saracens but with some outstanding defense and good forward running with excellent support Ivel came through with 100% record - 4 matches and 4 wins.

The boys have really taken on board all of the training - especially the defensive work which we have been concentrating on since christmas, and what a difference it has made - I was so proud to see the way we organised ourselves in defense with excellent chasing and pressure on the opposition. We made very few mistakes in these group games - a coupe of strays into touch but no one hand and  no forward passes (that I can remember) this meant that Ivel used the ball effectively hardly ever giving the opposition a chance to play.

Putting the excellent defense to one side, the attacking was pretty good too - straight running but the smaller pitches sometimes made us run across field instead of direct, however on occasions where there were lateral runs our attack always seemed to find a gap and support when tagged.

My biggest hope at the start of the day was for us to make it through to the semi final and this was surpassed by the boys efforts and the joy they showed whilst gaining 100% in their table, even in the bitter wind!

The semi final saw us up against the touring welsh team of Abercwmboi, due to the onset of the rain we rushed into the semi in the hope of finishing up before we all got soaked to the skin. In hindsight I think that this may have been a mistake. The boys were weary and cold from their endeavours and having only one sub to rotate through the games meant that most of the boys had already  played nearly 30 mins of rugby. The driving rain further drained their energy reserves and I don't think that the boys fully understood that this was their do or die game. Abercwmboi showed excellent defense and were significantly larger than even our biggest boys but Ivel game them a real game
but sadly lost 3-1.

Excellent day for the under 7's and all the boys will gain hugely from this experience - defeat gives you a taste for
victory and I hope that boys are hungry on Sunday.  

Pictures hopefully to follow

 
 
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A beautiful sunny day at the Rec and as Cheddar had not managed to field a team and Bath had 13 it was agreed to split their players in half and play two Bath teams.

First game saw some strong running from a couple of Bath players and Ivel seemed to be in a bit of a daze with some lax tagging. Ivel quickly bounced back with som good breaks from Rory, Freddy, Simeon, Ethan and Murray leading to tries for Liam (2) Ethan and Rory. At times the Ivel players were frustrated by the opposition running with only one hand on the ball,diving over the try line and a little bit too much contact for a tag game.

A valuable lesson was learnt today by six seven year olds and that is you never question a rugby ref and the only option is to channel the frustration and aggression into their game. Freddy, Murray and Rory were at the forefront of making some strong and sometimes bruising runs into the defending players.

I was extremely proud of how the players handled themselves and the played some fantastic running rugby.

After some hot chocolate to warm the bones we were ready to face the second Bath Lions team.

A very similar game and although we organised ourselves relatively quickly into a defensive line we lost our shape during play. This is something to work on next week at training - we still need to stop teams scoring! Again some good forward running but we need to refocus on running straight, at times the running was lateral and even backwards - this
makes it extremely difficult for our support to get onside and leads to forward passes  (which as we know gives the ball away). Also while we are running backwards the defense can easily pressure us into mistakes.

Second game Ivel 6 Bath 7. Ivel scorers Rory, Ethan 2 and Liam 3 excellent team effort by all 6 players - we have things to work on, it is possible that we could and i belive should beat teams like this.

Man of the match Liam some fantastic runs which led to 5 tries - a small criticsm, you cannot win gams all on your own and you must run forwards, rugby is a game of gaining territory and breaking the opposition defence by continued attacks. All players have their part to play and organisation and support are key elements.

Excellent results - with room for improvement well played all.
 
 
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A very wet, soggy Sunday and an excellent turn out for the away game at Chard. Our hosts however found themselves short with only 6 players, from a couple of volunteers Freddy was chosen to play for Chard. The pitch was quite narrow but extremely long which meant plenty of running would be required.

A very even game of rugby followed with each try being answered by a try by the opposition, this was the way of things up to half time where the scores were four tries apiece. Some fantastic slalom running from Ethan leading to 2 great tries and some promising attacks.

The second half was much of the same and Darren who has recently turned 6 and moved up from the reception group making his debut. With only one training session with his team mates under his belt, he  made a couple of fantastic runs the highlight being from deep in his own half to deep into the Chard half, however he panicked when tagged and threw the ball over his shoulder. I think this demonstrated how far the boys have come from that first game of the season against Castle Cary where our mistakes gave away the game. I am confident that with a few more training sessions Darren will learn quickly with the boys he has around him. I predict it will not be long before he notches up his first try.

The game continued and Chard moved ahead after an excellent try from our Freddy - an excellent try from inside his own half after a sprint race down the touchline - need some of them for your own side!! A good run from Tom with some excellent support from Rory and Ivel were level again. Chard however came straight back and took the lead with less than a minute to go, another mazy run from the kickoff and Ethan was through for a fantastic try to even the match just before the whistle - final score Chard 7 - Ivel 7 (though Ivel players scored  8 as opposed to Chards 6!!)

Man of the match was a close call Ethan had some excellent runs which led to good attacking position and Rory was, as always amazing in his support around the park and both scored a hat trick of tries - in the end i think Ethan just edged it.

Overall i am very pleased with the way the boys have gelled as a team and with the quality of rugby that they are playing. 

A bit of an off day for Simeon and Murray which we will hopefully rectify on Sunday - biggest problem was trying to grab the player and not the tags - this was the same for both sides and if either had managed to gain more tags they would have undoubtedly won the game.

On sunday the biggest priority will be defence and bringing through some of the reception boys who have turned 6, who need to gain a bit of experience of game type situations.

Next game is on the 27th at Castle Cary which am looking forward to assess our improvement since game 1.
 
 
 

This Sunday we had enough for a team but no subs, so this could have been a difficult day with a match against North Petherton and also Minehead ahead of us!

First game was against the home side.  Ivel got off to a flying start with tries from Liam and Freddy and some excellent defending - North Petherton themselves had some good runners but Ivel did well in keeping their line and forcing them into the touchlines. Some excellent runs from Simeon, Darren and Murray gaining good yards and offloading well led to tries for the abundant support mainly in Liam Rory and Ethan. in fact the support was so good at times that the tackler hardly had a chance to pass as their team mates just grabbed the ball as they turned - very impressive team play.

Ivel eventually ran out winners 9 tries to 7.

Minehead had enough players to field two teams so it was decided to play one team in each half.  

With very little rest Ivel hit straight into the Minehead side and shot ahead to a 4-1 lead,  half time saw the Ivel side win 7-1. the second half was an entirely different affair with the stronger Minehead team offering a far tougher challenge - good tagging again by Ivel and some simple mistakes by both sides running into  touch saw the end of the second half 3-2 to Minehead.

Overall the tagging was excellent the support play superb and some lovely jinking runs from Ethan, especially his trade mark sidestep which seems to catch everyone including the refs out! Rory offered himself everywhere in support and bagged a couple of tries, Simeon was back to his best with lots of tags and some good breaks - especially the one where he had dragged his tackler, who had mistakenly grabbed his belt and not the tag, 10 feet closer to the try line! Freddy worked very hard and ran the whole length of the pitch for his try. Darren showed more promise and began to take more time when tagged to find a good pass to his team mate. Murray had an excellent game - when his mind was not elsewhere - with some excellent tagging and a try.

Man of the match was Liam with some excellent strong running and a hat full of tries some of which were due to being the first man in support (which is not easy in this Ivel team!)

This week there is no game, just training time to work on ----you guessed it organisation and keeping our defensive line. May also be an opportunity to try some miss moves, scissor cross overs and dummy running.
Only joking.
 
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Gorgeous weather and an excellent turn out of players parents and supporters who were treated to some excellent rugby.   Many thanks to all the support and I hope everyone will agree the giving up sunday mornings has been thoroughly worth it, yes this was the last match of the season and I, for one had mixed feelings. I will enjoy my lie ins no doubt (especially when nursing the occasional hangover!) but there will be a big part of my week missing because of the enjoyment i have had coaching the boys this season. I have been very fortunate to have some really good lads who are fulfilling their potential and are gelling into a really good team, the addition of the 6year old reception players has given us options too. indeed we need to ensure that, not only everyone returns for another season but that we add to our team - so august time start roping in extra players - all are welcome.

So back to today first game Weymouth.  Initially the game was a little scrappy with both sides offending the offside rule - however a quick chat from the excellent referee seemed to focus everyone once more.

The boys have been working on staggering their support runs to try to enable them more running space and there were times was this was nicely demonstrated with good effect. Excellent solo runs from Ethan Liam and Murray saw Ivel ahead 3-1 at half time.

More of the same straight running and confident tagging in the second half and Ivel lead 5-2 and the last attack from Weymouth saw them spill the ball and Liam gathered to sprint the 3/4 of the pitch to finish the game 6-2.
Tries Ethan, Liam  2  Murray and Rory one apiece.

Second and final game of the day was against Teddington and these boys were serious, Ivel however were lacking in the tagging department and let the opposition through for at least 2 easy tries and the half ended us trailing 4-2 with Rory and Ethan contributing for Ivel.

Cue half time chat about wanting to win games and having to put the effort in defence and a quick chat to the ref to get him to call a little louder when tagged (two times the ball was turned over for not stopping when tagged!).

Second half and a different Ivel team were on the pitch - the gritty determined boys who had seen off Chard in the Wellington tournament. Excellent stuff and the substitutions with the 'new boys' Darren, Jake, Brooklyn and Toby on the pitch was seameless - a credit to those boys stepping up a level. Ivel won this second half 4-3 to
lose the game a respectable 7-6. I know the boys are young but we really do need to concentrate, if the first half had been as good as the second we would have beaten a very accomplished side, that said the boys played some excellent rugby and should be rightfully proud of themselves.
Try scorers Ethan and Rory 2 liam and Freddy one each.

An excellent team effort and if i had to choose a man of the match, a difficult choice, i would plump for Ethan - 4 tries and some good penetrating runs - well played to everyone.

Next week Awards ceremony then a fun training session.