U8s v Aretians

With special thanks to Sarah Howard

Kingswood Knights under 8's put in a sterling performance when they welcomed Aretians to their home turf. The teams were evenly matched and play went from end to end right from the start. Both teams struggled at first to keep hold of the mud covered ball and play became one of attrition, with each team resorting to methodical passing to minimise mistakes. As the match wore on, both teams began to play more expansively.

After a neat Aretians try early in the first half , Kingswood struck back instantly with a move involving just two players. Charlie Cooke took the free pass restart and passed out to Vinnie Bush (who the Aretian's players had already learnt to watch closely), running straight towards the opposition, he managed to suck in four defenders, leaving plenty of room outside him. Charlie meanwhile had looped around outside of Vinnie, catching the opposition by complete suprise. With a simple pop pass from Vinnie, Charlie was free to run into the corner for a well worked try.

Whilst Kingswood were making mistakes (particularly with regards to the boundaries of the pitch), so were Aretians. In one moment of confusion, Aretians placed the ball down for a try, only to realise that they had come up short of the line by about a foot. Caspian Broome was first to react, collecting the ball and racing the length of the pitch for a great solo try.

Callum Ball and Joe Howard also had a great match, dazzling their opponents with their quick feet and eventually ran in thirteen tries between them in a superb display of running rugby.

It isn't all about tries though, tries come from both supporting players and even before that, from hard work in defence. The single minded defensive display of Aaron Bratchel, Liam Jones and Fraser Cox ensured that Kingswood kept the visitors at bay for long periods of the match and helped secure a lot of possession.

The U8's strength undoubtedly comes from their supporting play and today was no exception. Oliver Gabriel, Mason Howells and Liam Hibbs all showed great awareness and unselfishness throughout the match to make breaks and to offload the ball to better placed players to run in the tries. Well done lads.

At the end of the day, Kingswood ran out victors by two tries, although it was a near run thing that could easily have gone either way.

Player of the match (x2) went to Aaron Bratchel and Kira Brown, both whom played superbly and produced what were undoubtedly match winning performances.

A special note also goes out to Willem Artus and Adam Surridge. In his first match back following a lengthy absence due to injury, Willem's return was a welcome one and his great team minded play reminded the U8s of what they have been missing over the last few months. Welcome back Willem. Adam meanwhile has just begun his rugby journey with the team and was playing in his first match. His willingness to get involved was great to see, especially in defence and we are looking forward to seeing him develop his skills further.