U11 News Archives

A few facts and figures plus pen pictures for all the squad members and award winners of the season.

Some solid performances got us through to the quarter-finals where we met our most frequent rival of the season - St Neots - for one last time as we finished the season almost as we began, only with the result reversed. But at least we had played our part in contributing to Hitchin winning the overall festival trophy.

A respectable outcome for the day coming second in the Cup group stage (a first for this team since tag) and thus qualifying for the Bowl competition. Sadly we went no further: our would be rivals-in-chief of this season scored a convincing win in the semi with over-eagerness on our part coupled with some bad luck contributing.

After weathering the hurricane which came in the human form of the Dunstablians' fly-half, we gradually gained some form of equality and were denied a thoroughly deserved draw in the second match by a conversion on the final kick of the day. It was especially creditable to see the squad pick itself up in such a fashion after having seen one of its members carried away by ambulance.

To repeat the recent understatement of the year - this was not our finest hour. For much of the morning it looked as though the squad was still recovering from too many Easter eggs and the lost hour's sleep as we put up a show lacking in pretty much anything. And yet there were some bright moments and it says something if we can win two matches playing so far off our best.

We didn't get to play much rugby (though one half more than the U12s at least) but what the kids got was perhaps a once in a lifetime chance to play in perfect snow on a large expanse of flat ground; and better than that to share it with their mates. And those are memories which will be priceless in years to come. This was an outstanding tour.

Three disciplined performances. Three wins. Three clean sheets. Three Hitchin tries in each game with three forwards and three backs scoring. Need more be said? Job done – once, twice, three times.
NB Cambridge squad information is included at the end of the report.

The whole squad should be applauded for two excellent performances with an edge we've not seen for a while. We dominated Welwyn in the first game and Datchworth must have wondered what had happened compared with earlier in the season and why they did not score a hat full of points with the possession they had. We lost by a mere conversion but that didn't matter given how we played.

There are occasions when the scorelines really don't do justice to the matches played and both the matches were examples in different ways. After a couple minutes of madness in the first match we got progressively better and though the second match was officially a draw, morally - and with some real justification - it was a clear victory.

After a bright start, building on the work done at the previous week's indoor training session, we finished off with nothing to show results-wise but a sense of quiet encouragement with the forwards especially. In the first game especially we were on top in virtually every discipline so we were left bemused at the scorelines (especially the second halves!).

A day for learning - some hard lessons and some useful pointers regarding players and positions and technical things to work on in the next weeks' training. We came across a Luton side who simply played tougher in all senses and ultimately the results were just, although a couple of significant absentees may have had some impact too.

After the Christmas and New Year break we were straight back into a match notching a highly commendable brace of victories. This improved on the results against the same opposition earlier in the season giving further indication of the steady improvement the squad is making (and vindication of the extra training session fitted in on the eve of Christmas Eve).

How prophetic Alex's cheery morning greeting was: "We won't know how to function if it's not raining!!" After the hardships of the previous two weeks, we had almost perfect conditions. Unfortunately our players seemed to be suckered by this and took their foot off the pedal, going down twice to a very evenly matched Datchworth team.

Another week, another truly dreadful storm but just like the weather our first team carried on from the previous week with some enterprising play against our hosts. But after another long cold, wet morning, and despite a brief rally against Bedford, the fire was doused and so we disappointingly lost the second match.

In spite of the most atrocious weather of the winter so far, the team seemed intent on playing summer rugby – passing and running on to the ball at speed and with some fair degree of precision. In the first half at least this was on the back of total domination of the contact area backed up by determined tackling by the whole team.

We have always had close matches with Cambridge so the convincing manner of our performance suggests that Hitchin U11’s really have made good progress this season. Also on such a bitterly cold day it became clear why tackling hard is so important in rugby not only because passing and catching was so hard but also to keep yourself warm!

A really satisfying day all round and excellent preparation for the rest of the season, where against perhaps one of the best organised and certainly the biggest opposition we have ever faced, we won two and drew the third. We also took the bonus chance to experiment with team positions, and to top it all the weather was glorious (with free cups of tea laid on by our generous hosts.....

Another hard day at the office for the forward pack, which over a series of three matches broke down the St Neots game and convincingly won the contact area. The backs organised themselves well too with some good passing and running which on another day might have resulted in a set of scorelines more reflective of the actual performance. The squad deserves credit for maintaining discipline throughout the day.

One of those strange triangulars, when each team comprehensively won one and then lost one. On the back of some really well built team matchplay - rucking, mauling, driving through the phases, passing - basically, the whole team thing, the first Hitchin U11 win of the season came giving us the upper hand for the day.

One of those days that proved the adage that the stats don't tell the whole story. Our original plans to experiment with the positions in the side were confounded somewhat by Stevenage not turning up. This also meant inevitably that some players would get less of an opportunity to play than hoped, but it's only the start of what should be a long season.

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