The first fixture of the 2011/2012 season saw blazing hot sunshine at the Sherborne Terraces and a splendid turn out to support the Ivel U8s.  A decent turn out on the pitch too with 10 players available to play - three of these making their debuts in the black and white of Ivel.  This was eclipsed by the 18 that Sherborne had available and  an offer of two of their squad to make 4 teams was appreciated but i was keen to ensure that i had control, especially with some of the newer players. 

It was decided, due to the heat to have four, five minute games with water breaks and squad rotation in between matches.  All four games were played at a frenetic pace and probably could have benefited from more stoppages for instruction, but there was still plenty of excellent rugby to enjoy from both teams.

I was extremely impressed with the way the new boys Billy, Harry and Rhys blended into the team and with the way they played with quite few errors considering the pace at which these games were played.

At times the Ivel defence was superb, even winning a turnover by tagging 6 in a row - fantastic communicating and organising, I even saw a stout defensive line arranged across the pitch at times!

Good attacking too, but with a few of the old errors of running crossways and even backwards creeping back in.

Support play too was excellent with very few occasions when there was not one, two or even three begging for the ball.

Excellent discipline - even when there was some confusing decisions no one moaned at the referee.

On the down side we need to spread wider in attack to create useful space for runners.  Support the player, but not directly behind him - to the side to give a chance of receiving the pass in space. 

One sour point when Murray throw the ball at an opposition player. This does not belong on the rugby pitch and was a great shame as Murray was a real contender for man of the match.

First game resulted in an Ivel victory 3 tries to 2 scorers Murray (2) and Rory.

Second game Ivel 4 Sherborne 2 Liam (2) Billy Rory

Third game Ivel 2 Sherborne 3 Liam Rory

Fourth game Ivel 3 Sherborne 4 Ethan Murray Liam

In all the games there was some very strong running and great tagging from Murray, Liam, Rory and Ethan.
Some good work from Owen, Tom and Freddy - Freddy especially worked very hard at marshalling the defensive lines.

Harry and Rhys both had a couple of good runs and showed promise on their debuts, it will take a little time to get into the game and we need to ensure that they get more ball to gain their confidence. We will also work hard on improving
tagging technique, again it is just a lack of confidence and match play.

So to the man of the match and after discussion it was decided that this week the award should go to Billy. His support was excellent, especially on such a hot day, his tackling was extremely enthusiastic and to cap it all he even got a debut try- congratulations Billy.