Thanks Steve

When I say passing I mean in the most basic form, but specifically passing rather than offloading in the tackle that most other teams seem to do in a fairly haphazard way in the main. We see week after we see kids surrounding the ball carrier all shouting for the ball and most of the time when the ball comes out it is pot luck were it goes. We are trying to get them to pass the ball before getting to the line rather than offloading in the tackle - all very basic.

The thing we are really working on in addition to the core skills and general physical development is running onto the ball and taking it from the dummy half at (a some) pace rather than standing waiting for it and running when they have caught it. The lads are getting this idea slowly but surely, and are also getting the idea of moving in as a defensive line when the ball is passed.

2 weeks ago we had a bit of a blip and had a bad day at the office with not a right lot going for us - I was on holiday so can't really say what specifically went wrong - but it was apparently one of those days when they forget everything they have learned against a decent Shaw Cross team.

Last week we went to Kippax missing a few of our main tacklers but the rest of the kids really stepped up and despite the scoreline put in just about our best performance of the season in very hot conditions against a much bigger side who had a full season last season under their belts.

Had basically a mess about session on Monday's training and the kids loved it acting about, will have a steady session tonight given the heat and then our last game before the break is Newsome on Sunday then it's Gala and friendly time during the holidays.

They all seem to be really enjoying it (coaches and parents included), and are improving nicely on the whole in their first season.

oooooh

gets worse the older you get, glad he's OK tho

We (Raiders U7's) have had 2 games since the mid season break - Elland and Cas Panthers, both away.

Elland last week was a bit of an eye opener, with one of our lads having a "try" disallowed because of a double movement and one because he put the ball down over the dead ball line after breaking through and being in the clear - ah well. Elland had a couple of good players and put on the customary offloads like just about all teams, with the usual mixed results - they were a bit over aggressive though and tried to bully there way through parts of the game. After being 4-0 down early doors, as seems the norm for our lads, we got it back and lost out by 1 score in the end. A much improved performance from our lads from earlier in the season, with them starting to run onto the ball with more speed and defending as more of a unit.

Today we went to Cas Panthers, a side who unlike most sides have almost a structured passing game rather than offloading the ball anywhere in the tackle. They had the odd dummy runner, put a couple of passes together and even a drop off/inside ball and really look the part - the fact they passed it seemed to confuse our lads who were a bit reluctant to move in as we have been working on - so it game them plenty of room. Anyway, big effort from 2 very different teams (our boys are coached not to offload this year) and refereed very well by a young lad - our lads really enjoyed it and it shows we are going in the right direction in our first season.

Dudley Hill next week, so we will play a team of our smaller/less experienced boys and let them all have a good run out.

I am absolutely staggered that somebody can come onto this forum and post this comment. The game was an entertaining local derby, played by two teams who put everything into producing a great advert for junior rugby. There was a handbags incident which lasted about 10 seconds, but what about the other 49 minutes and 50 seconds? Rather than posting anything positive, and there was plenty on show, you’ve come home from the game and spouted off about the only negative. Junior rugby is a great participation sport for youngsters and we should be spending time shouting the merits of the game from the rooftops and not trying to kick the game down at any opportunity

Just for the record sweetie – although you may have heard somebody shouting, it certainly didn’t come from our touch line manager

Thanks for bringing some sanity back to this thread with a well thought out and reasonable post about junior RL.

The same poster also tried a 'subtle' accusation towards me for allegedly not forwarding transfer papers, without being in view of any facts at all, waiting for an apology for that one.