Programmes were scrutinised and we realised we had nearly an hour to wait until our first game. A pre tournament briefing from Rex advised “not to get too exhausted” by running around like lunatics pre match. This advice was taken on board 100% by the grown ups, the team, not so much.

First Match v Ashbourne Blue

First impressions, watching their warm up and first. These were a serious team.

First half we played down hill. Half time score 3 0 to Ashbourne. Verdict from Rex “Great Half but need more pressure and stop missing tackles” and “Go into the ruck and get the bloody ball”

Final score 8 0 to Ashbourne.

Verdict from Rex “Great game, put pressure on and they made mistakes” “keep going, proud of you, keepnthose levels up”

Now for some quotes from the team.

Bradwell “both teams played well, they slipped through”
Owen “they handed off a lot and that's where most of their tries came from”
Felix “not enough pressure and too many missed tackles”

Second match Casuals v Derby

No rest for Casuals as they went straight into their second game against Derby. Another tough looking team.

Verdict from the spectators. Some questionable refereeing decisions and interesting law interpretation led to at least one of their tries.

This was the match with possibly the try of the tournament. Derby kicked downfield to Emmett who got the ball and did a magnificent solo nimble run ¾ of the length of the pitch to score.

Final score 7 1 to Derby

Coach feedback following this match: very competitive, everyone stepped up, think about competing and how to win games.

Team comments:
Otto “good. Played rough”
Mikey “it was alright, think I broke some kids shins”
Emmett (a man of few words) “I've got nothing”
George “it was a bit tough. We need to okay a bit harder”
Felix “we missed too many tackles but were good at putting under pressure and making them make mistakes. Couldn't turn mistakes into points”

Third match Chesterfield Red v Casuals

There was a bit of a break before this match so the team could get a bit of a breather.

The first half was competitive and finished 1 try each with our try coming from a trundling run from Owen who did a perfectly timed offload to Bradwell who then had a clear field ahead of him to touch down over the line. It should be noted that Chesterfield had a try disallowed in the first half as the player threw the ball to the ground, American football style, instead of having control and downward pressure. I don't think Chesterfield were thrilled by this.

In the second half, the team followed the advice to keep putting pressure on Chesterfield, and they came away winners. Woo hoo!

Final score 4 2 to Casuals.

Team quotes:
Rupert “er er opposition were mean. Proud to win”
Stan “referee a tiny bit of their side so to overcome that was good”
Liam “it was cool”

Final match Casuals v Ilkeston

Again we had a break before our final match. Hopes were high for this match as we had already beaten Ilkeston twice this season. The team were warned about getting complacent and put in a good solid performance to win the match convincingly.

Final Score 10 3 to Casuals

Quote from Tom “favourite match, had fun but tiring at the end”

Overall

It was a good day! I think win 2 lost 2 was a pretty decent result. The feedback from the team was that they all had fun which was good to hear. Coach told the team how pleased he was with their performance, just need to focus on winning their rucks and putting more pressure on in defence but overall he was proud of the team and their performance.

Nathan quote “I didn't score a try, but we lost and won two matches”

Effie “it was really fun playing lots of different teams and not just one”

Spencer “The first matches we weren’t ready for the teams to be as good as they were, but in the last two matches I think we played really well as a team”

Awards

As we didn't get a chance to award Player of the Week etc on Sunday, I will take it upon myself (as Team Manager) to award POTW and TOTW myself.

Special shout out to our top try scorers Stan and Emmett who got 3 tries each.

TOTW - Emmett for his magnificent solo effort against Derby.

POTW - The whole team for having fun, pulling together, never giving up and trying their best.

NB. For further statistical analysis please contact the resident stattos Andy S and Will who took detailed notes on the day.