The mighty Rugger Rats continued their training at home introducing the pass backwards rule for the Y1’s. Beeder, Team manager for the Rats, describes the morning ‘After 15 minutes of utter chaos the children started to realise what this meant and by the end of the morning seemed quite comfortable’. Buoyed by the success of passing backwards the Rats coaches will introduce the offside rule next Sunday. Good luck!

The Minis all played Sutton Coldfield this weekend with the U7/8/9’s playing at home and the U10/11/12’s travelling to Sutton Coldfield. Sutton were quick to send feedback on how well all the fixtures had gone. This shows the core values all Nuns players and coaches adhere to and is a great endorsement for everyone at Nuneaton RFC.

The U7’s fielded four teams with Jackie McDevitt, Team Manager, commenting on ‘improved skills across the board and fantastic tries being scored’. The U7’s coaches awarded five star player medals.

U8’s Coach Tim Whitehouse was pleased with the ‘attacking pressure’ on display from the U8’s, ‘which forced turnovers and forward passes form the opposition’. The U8’s are developing their understanding of the principles of attack and defence over the coming months as well as maintaining key skills.

Peter Walton, Head Coach for the U9’s, was really happy with the high standard of rugby played by both teams and has asked Chris Taylor, M&J Fixture Secretary, to make sure we play Sutton Coldfield next season. Pete went on to say ‘If we had 29 medals every player would have received one. To say we looked and played the part is a proud coaching and parent moment for all of us’.

Jason Etherton, Head Coach for the U10’s, said ‘Our teams were awesome yesterday, playing some strong, physical rugby with great tackling in defence and some awesome offloading in attack’.

Phil Sumner, Team Manager for the U14’s, also watched the U10’s games and was so impressed with the squad's improvement since the last time he watched that he congratulated the players and coaching team! Well done U10’s – great praise indeed!

The U11’s travelled to two separate locations – Sutton Coldfield and Aston Old Eds. The Spartans took on Sutton conceding only one try in the three games played. The centurions showed ‘great grit and determination’ according to U11’s team Manager Paul Darlington. Paul went onto say ‘All in all, both the Spartans and Centurions sides had a great weekend of rugby with all the lads playing brilliantly and upheld the enthusiastic, strong and disciplined play expected as a Nuns Player’.

U12’s received praise from the Sutton coaches, drawing the first game and winning the second.

Juniors
U13s – Played Derby RFC and despite suffering a loss team manager Claire Harrison praised the entire team for ‘Playing well and score didn’t reflect how hard the lads played’.

U14s – Derby unfortunately cancelled what was supposed to be a Saturday curtain raiser on pitch 1 ahead of the 1st XV game. Huw Thomas, Nuns Director of Rugby, stepped in to put on a well-received training session for the U14’s. All credit to Huw for running this session immediately before the 1st XV game where he played at number 10. Steve Bird, Nuns Chairman, gave Huw his grateful thanks and personal commendation.

U15s – Won 15-0 at home against Old Laurentians. Graham Preedy, Team Manager, said the ‘performance was fantastic and well deserved. Each and every one put in a shift. Blood sweat and tears. The hard work in training is paying dividends in games’. It was also Graham’s 21st Birthday (again). Apparently, the win was the ‘best birthday present ever’ for Graham.

U16s – took a well-deserved away win against Derby. With only 16 players available the 26-10 win is impressive. Rich Evans, Team Manager, was proud of all the lads and described it as a ‘great win’.

Seniors

The 1st XV narrowly lost 28 - 33 at home to Luctonians, in what was a great match to watch from the Di’s Diner terrace. Steve Bird, Nuns Club Chair, commented on the number of spectators who were impressed with the quality of rugby played from both teams. Videos showing two of the try conversions are available on the Nuneaton RFC Facebook page. The match report is also available on the Nuneaton RFC website and Facebook page.

The Saxons (2nd XV) travelled to Herefordshire to play Luctonians 2nd XV with a depleted squad of only 16 players. The Saxons showed grit and determination leading 7-5 at half time. Unfortunately, due to injury and a yellow card the Saxons found themselves with only 13 men on the field during the second half. Ultimately a strong home side ran in a further 3 tries to secure a 31-7 victory.

The Colts Played Leamington at home on pitch 2. Squad rotation and a debut saw a changed Nuns team from the last time the two sides met at the start of the season. The game was well fought by both sides, and although Nuneaton took and maintained an early lead, Leamington never gave up, playing hard to the bitter end and scoring the game's last try. The result was 49-20, celebrated by all in the clubhouse as a great day's rugby.