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Marr MINI'S UPDATE 28/1/15

Marr MINI'S UPDATE 28/1/15

Gregor Inglis28 Jan 2015 - 13:04
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Marr Mini's Update 28/1/15

All

Thank you to the P7 parents and helpers for great hospitality last Sunday at Fullarton. Despite a very last minute call off from West (apart from their P5 team who were great) it was a great day with GHK providing tough competition. Match reports are below.

Unfortunately Sunday’s away matches to Glasgow Accies has been cancelled as they are still having to play on their winter 3G facilities.

Training will continue at the Magnum this Saturday at the following times for each age group and at Marr College for the P1 and P2's.
P3 and P4 will be from 9am until 10am.
P5 will be from 10am until 11am.
P6 will be from 10:30am to 12pm.
P7 will be from 11:30 until 1pm.
P1 and P2's will still be at Marr College from 10:15am to 11:30am.

Parents please note :- Coaches won’t release boys until their parents/guardian pick them up from the main hall.

If there are any kit requests please email them to minimarrs@hotmail.co.uk.

Forthcoming Fixtures
Saturday 31st Jan Training at Marr College (P1&2) & Magnum P3 to P7
Sunday 1st Feb Glasgow Accies - Cancelled!
Saturday 7th Feb Training at Marr College (P1&2) & Fullarton P3 to P7
Saturday 14th Feb Training at Marr College (P1&2) & Fullarton P3 to P7
Sunday 15th Feb Hamilton (Away P3 to 7)
Saturday 21st Feb Training at Marr College (P1&2) & Fullarton P3 to P7
Sunday 22nd Feb Ayr / Greenock (Home P3 to 7) - P6 Catering Rota
Saturday 28th Feb Training at Marr College (P1&2) & Fullarton P3 to P7
Sunday 1st March Stirling (Away P3 to 7)
Saturday 7th March Training at Fullarton P1 to P7
Sunday 8th March Birkmyre (Away P3 to 7)
Saturday 14th March Training at Fullarton P1 to P7
Saturday 21st March Training at Fullarton P1 to P7
Sunday 22nd March Marr Tournament (Home P3 to P7) P3 to P7 Parents Catering/Help Needed
Saturday 28th March Training at Fullarton P1 to P4
Sunday 29th March Kelso Tournament (Away P5 to P7)

Marr v GHK and West (P5) 25th January Match Reports

P4 Report
We had a great turn out on Sunday - 18 boys all desperate to play some rugby at last, after a long winter break. We split them into two teams and played a round robin against two GHK teams. Apart from a few wee muddy bits, the conditions were perfect for rugby. The mild weather meant no cold fingers and toes and the rain stayed off.

Although the conditions were great we were all a bit rusty and the performance was a bit of step back from the end of last year. However, none of the boys have made a tackle or run more than the width of a 5-a-side pitch for a good few weeks so that was probably to be expected. And it looked like GHK were a bit rusty as well so we didn't get a hiding.

The referees proved also to be a bit rusty, failing to record the score of a single game. In fact no adult from either side was able to suggest a final score for any of the games and I will not attempt to guess them. I can confidently say though that no game was won by more than a try or two and over the 5 games played it was pretty even.

GHK looked like they work hard on rucking and managed to form a ruck and recycle the ball fairly regularly, allowing them to retain possession. By contrast, we were a bit unsure what to do when the ball was on the ground but the boys ability in other departments kept us in the games. The games were played in a good spirit and everybody had great time.

P5 Report
The winter break over and back to action at Fullarton for the visit of GHK & West.

5 teams (Marr, GHK and 3 West), 10 matches, 2 refs, 8 coaches, 38 boys, 70 minutes, 2 pitches, countless parents - it was certainly shaping up to be a busy morning. After "Magnumgate" the previous day would the boys be rusty? In need of the run like a novice hurdler in August? Could their coaches rig the schedule so they played the right team first? No, No, Yes!

The boys kicked off the morning against a lightweight looking GHK side and got straight into one of the key themes of the morning, rucking. Time and time again they secured possession against some super tackling, making us all proud. They came our deserved winners, just reward for all their teamwork.

Next up a very nippy looking West team, packed full of pass and move. Well our boys matched them for the first period in a very entertaining game. Lots of passing, committing defenders to open up space for attacks. Josh and Ross looked the most dangerous for the purples, hitting angles and denting the opposition defence. Continuing the four letter player theme Rhys and Adam carried powerfully, but failed to put their team mates "in" after they had done the hard work. West ran out winners though, sucking up pressure and hitting on the break.

The final two games against the remaining West teams did not go so well. Basics were forgotten, the ball got sucked into contact situations from a lack of offloading and some pretty ambitious passes were thrown. I'm sure we haven't taught them to throw the ball over opponents, although now I think of it I have maybe seen some (all) coaches using the tactic in the boys v coaches practice matches we play.....

Plenty to work on and an enjoyable morning's effort. Well done to all.

P6 Report
Marr entertained a very well drilled and skilled GHK squad playing 3 ten minute games of 10 a side with the remainder rotating to a short sided skills session adjacent. The Marr ‘volunteers’ were Angus, Murray, James, Sean, Brodie , Dan ‘the man’, Andrew, Fin, Aidan K, Benn C, Charlie, Harris, Harvey, Alexander H and Lewis.

All three sessions followed a similar pattern, indeed this really was ‘backs to the wall’ pressure rugby that Marr faced again (not the first time this season), the many spectators on the sidelines peering through their fingers would have noticed that it was the basics which made the difference: organisation; support; effective rucking; the ability to keep the ball; make space and score tries. Outpointed by GHK, Marr unfortunately failed to score any tries, although we went close a couple of times only to lose the ball at the last moment, and the ability to create space also deserted us at crucial times. However, given the relatively inactive recent past in terms of games and plethora of sleepovers the night before there were positives to be gleaned from the Marr’s performance, and again the boys kept going where others might have folded. A special mention goes to Lewis who failed to give up and had the mental fortitude to keep encouraging his teammates to the end. It also showed that the areas we have been working on during indoor training will require further development, namely organisation, support running from deep and offloading successfully. There were also some moments of beauty; some rampaging runs; and the scrum won good ball - but apart from the usual fine exponents of the art, we were ‘a bit rusty’ on the tackling and rucking fronts.

There are, as ever, areas to develop to make sure the boys continue to enjoy their rugby, the coaches remain aware of this and will use Saturday mornings to make sure every boy is given the chance to improve, both personally and collectively as a team.

Thanks to all the parents who turned up to support the boys in purple & gold as your encouragement, as ever, is much appreciated… and the pasta was yummy.

P7 Report
The boys have been itching for some competitive rugby for 6 weeks, so it was with some disappointment that they found out that West were not turning up. However GHK arrived with a good squad.
Matches were played over 3 periods of 20 minutes.
The scorelines were not great, losing all three matches by 6-3, 6-5 and 6-1.
The boys were given a lesson in direct running, hitting the ball at pace and support play. On many occasions GHK has 2 or 3 men overlaps and were worthy winners.
Only in the second game did our boys show some real desire to make it a contest.
Far too often the ball carrier ran into the defensive brick wall, went to ground, lost the ball in the ruck (as there was no urgency to help out), GHK picked up, two quick passes and off down the pitch to score after evading the 'tackles'.
Unfortunately one of our poorest performances of the season, but as the boys are finding out, Rugby is a team game therefore team spirit and playing for one another are key ingredients in a successful performance.
Some hard work at training coming up me thinks. Lets hope all the bumps and bruises are gone by the weekend.

Regards Gregor

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