Firstly well done for all the U11 Wolves who played yesterday against Chelmsford.

We saw a lot of the work that you have been doing in training on rucking - low body position driving up from under the opposition coming out in the games yesterday.

In addition everyone was involved, we saw great commitment, some phenomenal tackling/collisions and this again produced 2 strong performances.

The cell system we introduced continued to work well and we will keep building on this at next weeks training session.

We will also continue to work on our core skills of running, passing and tackling at training on Sunday but you should be pleased with the way that the team played and your role - well done

U11 Wolves Match Report - Chelmsford 15th November

Chelmsford brought a mixed ability squad and fielded 2 teams, they had some strong direct runners, they had some speed on the wings and they especially moved the ball well at pace.

Tackle of the day goes to Thomas Pope for his multiple tackles in the first Chelmsford game. Well done Thomas.

Chelmsford A. In the first half the Wolves took some time to wake up. Although the forwards of Jack, Adam, Archie and Fred won a number of the contact areas, we could not always secure the ball through the next phase. Chelmsford were very quick at closing down the space and increasing the pressure on the decision making. When the half backs of Connor and Charlie were able to distribute the ball the backs of Freddie and William Peck they made good ground. Chelmsford did score twice in the first half through loose tackling allowing their quick wingers to drive and step through a number of outstretched arm tackles. At half time we spoke about tackle and tackle technique, reinforced the rucking and the Wolves put this immediately into practice. The forwards of Thomas, Adam, Archie and Bernard started to dominate the rucks and mauls, holding up the Chelmsford players in the mauls and demonstrated some excellent counter rucking. Connor distributed the ball quickly from the rucks allowing the backs of Will C and Will S space to show their great speed. The 1st Wolves try came as Adam received the ball at pace on the half way line and like a freight train drove through 5 Chelmsford players to the try line. The Wolves were now starting to dominate the breakdown and the backs were allowed space to exploit. Seb scored a further 2 tries to secure the win without a single Chelmsford score in the second half. The Wolves second half performance was very strong and the improvements in the tackle and commitment were superb. Well done boys on a great team performance.

Final score Wolves 15 : Chelmsford A 10
Scorers Adam Harwood-Hughes 1 & Seb Brindley 2

Chelmsford B. The Wolves went into the second game with some confidence but expected Chelmsford to be equally as strong - and they were right! This was a great game of rugby with every player on the pitch giving their total commitment. The first half was finely balanced with Adam doing one of his trade mark barn storming runs to open the scoring but Chelmsford responded with a breakaway try from their winger. There was some excellent rucking from Archie and Fred and this secured quick ball from Finn to Charlie to allow Bernard and Thomas to gain value metres and repeatedly get over the gain line. This was a tough first half from evenly matched teams, so Chelmsford started to employ some new tactics of kicking over the top but this was very well read by Will Spark, Will Cameron and Finn to allow the Wolves to counter attack at pace. The half time score of 1 try apiece was probably a fair reflection of the commitment shown by both sides. At half time we asked for more intensity in the contact area and to run the ball straight and hard. From the restart Finn gathered the ball to release Archie supported by Bernard and Thomas to drive to within 5 mfrs of the Chelmsford line. A quick off load to Seb saw him dive over the line for the second try. The Wolves now seemed to have the momentum and we saw switches in the back line from Seb & Will C, strong running from Freddie, William Peck and Will S. Chelmsford were pinned in their own half for a further 3 minutes as the forwards of Archie, Jack, Fred and Adam battered down the Chelmsford door. This sucked more of their players into the contact area and then a quick pass from Finn through the backs to Will C saw him put on the after burners to streak past the floundering defence to make it 3:1 to the Wolves. Chelmsford then seemed to step up the pace after a few substitutions and some great tackling from Freddie, Charlie and Jack saw Chelmsford not making too much ground initially. However Chelmsford were not done yet as a great individual try from one of their strong ball carriers saw him crash through some weak defending to score but with a minute to play Seb scored again after a strong direct run.

Final score Wolves 20 : Chelmsford B 10
Scorers Adam Harwood-Hughes 1, William Cameron 1 & Seb Brindley 2