U10's vs Fall Bay (Home)

21.10.2007
South Gower 14 (2 tries : 2 conversions)
Fall Bay 52 (8 tries : 6 conversions)

The day started well with new shirts being issued to the players. Many thanks to Schaeffler (UK) Ltd ("INA") for the sponsorship - even though the company also sponsors the Scarlets!

The shirts were the highlight of the day

Again we had a good turnout of 17 players and opted to play 3 10 minute thirds. The boys however started apprehensively as this was probably the best team we will play all season. A few missed tackles and 7:0 to Fall Bay. This trend continued for the first ten minutes. It was not until the second third that we started to put together some phases - the best of which finished with Harry scoring in the corner.

Owen takes a great restart which we chased down

Some silly mistakes and another dropped ball over our line gave away an easy try. This has happened in each of the last three games and needs to be eliminated in practice.

A cracking tackle by Josh but again Fall Bay kept the ball alive by offloading in the tackle

The trend continued where we would exert a few minutes of pressure only to be pinned back by some very fast direct running by Fall Bay. Another try by Harry took the score to 5 tries to 2, however in the last 5 minutes, Fall Bay scored another few tries to earn a well deserved victory.

Harrison played his first game for the team and did well at second row - although this was not his preferred position.

Things to work on in practice / coaches comments are:

A position on the rugby pitch has a job associated with it. All forwards should follow the ball around the pitch and be in every ruck if possible - not watching the ball. All backs should run straight then pass and look to create space for the wingers who are usually the fastest in the team. If you are close to your own line - kick (until passing improves). Tackle the shorts with your eyes open and wrap your arms around like a ring of steel - not a gentle shove to the chest.

If we do all this we may beat them next time. Nice shirts though!

U10's vs Gowerton (Away)

14.10.07

Gowerton 20 (4 tries)

South Gower 10 (2 tries)

We had an amazing 22 players at practice and 18 players turn up for the game this week which was superb. Gowerton had 17 players so due to the large numbers, 3 10 minute thirds were played.

The game started much better than last week with pressure being exerted by South Gower and everyone driving over in the rucks.

Some good rucking initially gave us the advantage

This pressure paid off when Harry pushed over a defender, picked up the ball and sprinted to score. Gowerton came back with some strong running by some large boys however our tackling had significantly improved from last week and we stopped their attack. Unfortunately we just ran out of space and Gowerton tied the game at the first interval with a strong drive.

The whole team (with the exception of 2 players) was then switched. Gowerton started the second third very strongly and scored a push over try due to some high tackling. We did not really have much space to run and when we did, we chose not to pass and lost the ball in the tackle. Some sloppy defending led to a third try by Gowerton after we dropped the ball over our own line.

We did not look ready for the ball just before we dropped it and they scored

Just before the second whistle, Gowerton broke away and scored their fourth try which took the score to 4 tries to 1.

George just misses the tackle with a double pike dive but Tom and Dan were covering and took him down

In the final third, we tried to switch the players to ensure everyone played the same amount of time. Tackling and pressure improved which caused Gowerton to lose the ball near their line and Owen E was on hand to pick up and score. The South Gower coaches made their final substitutions however the ref did not stop play which meant we had 16 players on the pitch at once - interesting. Normality was almost restored and after some good breaks and crunching tackles, the final whistle blew.

A very good game which was again frustrating as it could easily have been won if all 18 players were awake. Final score 20 : 10 - although we drew, lost then won each of the thirds.

Win, lose or draw, the boys still sang at the end of the game : well done !

Under 9's V Felinfoel (Away) 07.10.07

07.10.07

Felinfoel 0
South Gower 3

Tries Scored : Tom Jenkins (2), Tom Mogridge.

Again this week we had a great turnout with 13 players. We played 9 a-side as Felinfoel only had 9. We started well with some good passing and running. Tom Jenkins received the ball wide and used his pace to accelerate away to the corner to score his, and South Gowers' first try of the match.


Tom Jenkins speeds down the touchline for his first try of the game

Felinfoel restarted but some excellent tackling from Gower, namely George Grammenos and captain George Heard ensured we turned over the ball. Again the ball was passed wide to our flyer Tom Jenkins who sped over for another good try.


Tom Jenkins reels away after scoring his second try of the match

Again, Felinfoel restarted and again the Gower tackles were flying in disrupting their play. We gained a turnover and took the ball in to contact. From the resulting maul, Tom Mogridge peeled off the back unchallenged and raced clear for a try just before half time.

We made substitutions at half time to ensure everybody played. Connor Holt made his debut for the All Blacks and made an immediate impact. He tackled everything that moved ensuring we kept Felinfoel on the backfoot. The 2nd half remained scoreless although we came extremely close on a few occasions.


Ethan Smith teases Felinfoel with his "Gareth Edwards" sidestepping

What was most impressive about our play in this game, but especially the 2nd half was our passing. We have been working on our passing a lot and it really paid of here. There was one occasion when we passed the ball through every set of hands down the line, cut back inside and one of the players even had the cheek to pull off an inside pass to Cameron. I sat back an admired with only thoughts of Fijian rugby coming to mind...Awesome.

This was by far our finest performance of the season, tackling and passing was spot on. Well done everyone. We look forward to our game away to Gowerton on Sunday.

U10's vs Felinfoel (A) & Uplands (H)

07.10.07 (Away)
South Gower 7 (1 try : 1 conversion)
Felinfoel 22 (4 tries : 1 conversion)

23.09.07 (Home)
South Gower 41 (7 tries : 3 conversions)
Uplands 17 (3 tries : 1 conversion)

Two very different games to report on this week.
The game against Uplands was a superb performance with everybody putting pressure on the opposition. Once again the running and passing game was very good however tackling could be improved by going for the legs as opposed to the chest.
Tom W was back on fine running form and notched up 4 excellent tries. Harry scored 2 tries and Tom R scored a very good opener on his first game of the season at scrum half. Uplands showed resolve and did not give up and scored 3 well deserved tries.
Joseph, Jesse and Tom all converted well.
An excellent game with teamwork and passing starting to improve.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The game against Felinfoel was a different affair. We turned up with 16 players against their 10 so played 10 a side. In line with the substitute rotational system, we had virtually two teams - 1 for each half which meant it was hard for the boys to get into the game. Felinfoel maintained possession well and scored two breakaway tries from ripping the ball out of the ruck. This was disappointing as it was one area that we did well in against Uplands.

This an example of 5 FF players in the ruck against 2 of ours. This was why we lost possession.

Good body position Owen turning to face our team.

After a good break from Jesse and fine offload, Harry scored a very well finished try using his strength and stretching to ground the ball. Owen E in his own unique style executed a very good conversion.
Some missed high tackles let Felinfoel drive over to score their third. We could have scored another try but the ball just went forward in the tackle. To round it off, Felinfoel scored again from another breakaway and sprint to the line.

Tom R nails his opposing scrum half which got us possession back

It was good to see Josh N back and playing well, as well as Markus on his first game for the club.

In summary this was a frustrating game to watch as we could easily have won if we had tackled low, kept the ball in the rucks and exerted pressure. Something to work on this week in practice.
The boys did not give up and tried hard right to the end which is all any coach can ask for - well done lads for the effort.

U12's 07/10/07 South Gower V Uplands RFC (Home)

South Gower V Swansea Uplands, always a mouth watering prospect, playing against one of our neighbouring clubs. Uplands undefeated last season, Gower Cup wiiners for two successive seasons and haven't conceded a try this season to date.
On kick off, the visitors certainly piled on the pressure, camped in the South Gower 22 with great ball retention, South Gowers focus to mark the man and make the tackles count certainly paid off with valient efforts from Max Adams & Dan Barker.
Gower made it back with some great attacking play by Elliot Owen and Sam Jones but with one South Gower disallowed try to Uplands two, The All Blacks were down 14 nil at half time.
The restart produced more gutsy rugby, backed up by good ball handling by both teams, but South Gower's Chay Smith had the early second half glory, to deliver a Gower 5 pointer and spoiling Uplands clean sheet. The Uplands forwards were powerful with ball in hand, that Gower couldn't keep out, with Uplands scoring a further 3 tries, ending the game 5, 31 to Uplands. South Gower man of the match was Jack Rosser who played admirably with good running lines and committed tackles.

Not the result we wanted, but good building work for the forthcoming Opsreys Cup. South Gower RFC V Birchgrove at home, 14th October.

Under 13s - We are still going and improving

After a couple of troubled weeks when Phil and Myself told the team that enough was enough and we could not carry on with a bare 10 players turning up each week, we are back.

Thanks to the comeradery and pure determination we played Waun today and had 19 players ready to play plus 2 regular players who couldn't play ! Phil and myself now need to go on a coaching course to learn what to do when we have substitutes.

An excellent game from the start with James Wild scoring from a 50 metre run down the side of the pitch, guts and willingless produced two more tires scored by Tom Gwyn (Gwynny) down the right wing after coming on at half time. Waun played welll but could only manage one try to our three and all three of our conversions were kicked. Final Score Wanarlydd 5 South Gower 21.

Keep it up boys, training starts at 6pm Tuesday and we have Swansea Uplands at home next Sunday in the cup.