U7 News Archives

For those of you who attended the final session of the season on Sunday, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. We had a good turnout of players and well done to Naomh and Milly who were part of the "Shillington Team" who won the Founders Cup festival.

After the festival we had the end of season awards, where all players received a momento from the club for playing this year and the following awards were presented.

Last weekend we had an action packed Sunday as we took one team to the St. Neots Festival (Panthers) and had two teams hosting Letchworth at the club (Jaguars & Leopards). Both squads put in some good performances and did themselves proud. The Panthers narrowly missed out on the final at St. Neots and the Jaguars & Leopards competed well against the County Champions! It was an excellent way to round off the season.

It was an excellent morning on Sunday as we held our own mini U7 festival. We separated the players into six teams and each team played five matches as they played each other in a round robin basis. All the players participated, even the younger U6 players and it was a thoroughly enjoyable morning. Well done to all the players for their commitment and effort during the morning and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Congratulations go to the TIGERS who came out on top – they were unbeaten during the morning, winning 4 and drawing 1 of their five matches, although the CHEETAHS pushed them close. Thanks to Adrian and Rob for refereeing the matches with me and also thanks to Jez, Brian, Gordon, Martin, Andy & Helen who helped run the teams.

We took two teams to the Herts County Festival this Sunday and had a very long, tiring but enjoyable morning. Competing against the best teams in the county was always going to be tough, but both teams performed well and the players did themselves proud.

Hitchin Panthers v Tring Won 6-3

The Panthers started the tournament really well and played some excellent rugby in beating the host team. Tring had already played a game and I was concerned this may have given them an advantage, but I did not need to worry. Confidence was high in the team and this was evident when Ethan won the toss and decided Tring could have the ball first, very generous of him and I think it confused the ref as he had to check with me to make sure that was correct. This decision was vindicated as we stopped them scoring with the first move of the match and then went down the other end to score ourselves and set the tone for the game. Our attacking play was excellent and we scored some fine tries through Ethan B, Ciaran (3) and Connor (2), but I was most impressed with our defence and there was some excellent tagging by all players. In total Tring had the ball seven times during the game and we only let them score only three times, which was a great effort. A good start to the morning.

A big well done to all the players, parents and coaches that braved the snow on Sunday at training, it was a good session and very worthwhile as we worked on final preparations for the County Festival. We had a number of short duration training matches between the Panthers & Jaguars and I was pleased with the all the players performance and efforts through the morning. The matches were close and both teams improved as the morning went on, although the Jaguars tired slightly in the last match. We even found a way of stopping the players running backwards!! The remaining members of the squad worked on some passing & support play and had some small sided matches.

Sunday 6th April

There is training at the club this week, Sunday 6th April. IMPORTANT NOTE: Can I ask that all players selected for the County festival attend this session (please see teams below). This will be our last chance to prepare before the festival so it is important all players are present. If you are unable to attend please let me know.

At last the rain & snow stopped and we played some rugby !!! We hosted Royston on Sunday it what was an enjoyable morning. Both teams had two sides, so our Panthers played their A team and our Jaguars played their B team. We played a total of 6 matches during the morning; won 2, drew 3 and lost only once against a good Royston team, which was an excellent achievement especially as we had a few players away and we also fielded some of our younger U6 players.

The U7's and U8's teamed up on tour and had a great time in the snow !!! Well done to all the players. Match report below courtesy of Helen.

Kesteven were truly wonderful hosts on a very snowy Easter Sunday. Everyone made us feel extremely welcome and our U7s & U8s were delighted to have a fixture. A bulldog game started the proceedings to warm the children up and clear away some of the snow; adults were entertained by the comical comments made by the Kesteven coach. The game commenced and it was a fantastic team effort from all individuals; great passing, tagging, defence & support play in difficult conditions. Particular mention goes to George, as the youngest player, an U6, who was all over the pitch and threw his body on the line.

Well I hope you all enjoyed your Easter weekend, a Sunday without rugby for most of us except for the small few, who braved the rain, wind and snow on the tour. By all accounts you all had a great time even considering the weather. Thanks to Tom and Helen for looking after you in my absence.

It was a strange and disappointing Sunday this week with no rugby following the washout of the Cambridge Festival. Rather frustrating as it would have been a good experience for us prior to the County Festival, but never mind, what can we do about the great British weather! Anyway back to team matters.

Sunday 16th March

This week we have a festival at Cambridge. We are only able to take one team to this festival and the following players have been selected: -

Alex Baber-Norris, Ethan Brace, Connor Dudley, Rory Fookes, Sam Henshaw, Guy Honnywill, Milly Reece-Jones, Ciaran Sale and Naomh Taylor.

We entertained Leighton Buzzard this Sunday, in what was a slightly disjointed morning. The plan was for Leighton Buzzard to bring two teams, but they could only field the one side, so as we had three teams the plans we had for the morning unfortunately went out the window! In the end we decided to play a triangular fixture with our Panthers and Jaguars sides, but it meant unfortunately that our young less experienced side the Leopards had to make do with training matches. Not ideal, but I hope the experience of playing some training matches with the more experienced players was beneficial. In the main matches with Leighton Buzzard we came out unbeaten, with the Panthers winning their match and the Jaguars drawing a match they could have won.

A good training session on Sunday as we focused on playing some small sided games and worked on some specific areas throughout the morning. The more experienced players concentrated on defence and stopping teams scoring, whilst the less experienced players developed their passing and support play. It was a very good morning and I was pleased with the improvement in the groups during the session.

Sunday 2nd March

This week we have training at the club usual time 10.30am

Sunday 9th March & Sunday 30th March

We have two remaining home fixtures left this season against Leighton Buzzard on 9th March and Royston on 30th March. As we do not have many remaining training sessions I would like to select three teams for these fixtures, so that we can involve more players. This would give an opportunity for some of our players who do not play regularly to play some more matches. Could all players advise me of their availability for these two fixtures.

This Sunday we played at Datchworth in a triangular fixture with Welwyn, and competed as a club for the Charles Morris Memorial Trophy. Unsure of the exact set up for the morning, we still took two teams and hoped we would have enough rugby for all the players. We were not disappointed as Datchworth proved to be excellent hosts and with Welwyn also entering into the spirit of things we managed to play a total of six matches during the morning. There were two main matches that counted towards the Trophy and we had another four training matches. We decided to mix the teams up this week and I was very impressed with the performances by the teams as we won all the games and came away with a 100% record.

This week, Sunday 24th February we have an away fixture at Datchworth. This is a triangular fixture with Welwyn also attending, but we have made arrangements for two teams to still attend. I do not know the exact set up for the morning, but hopefully we should get enough rugby for both teams.

On Sunday, we competed against one of the best clubs in Hertfordshire, Old Albanians (OAs), and we acquitted ourselves very well. We thought we had a lot of players; however they have over 100 children, 6 teams, 12 coaches and 3 pitches just for the U7 age group!! Nonetheless we turned up with two teams and gave them four good games in a thoroughly enjoyable morning which, with a bit of luck and a few ref decisions going our way, might have been even better.

A good training session on Sunday and another very good turnout especially considering it was half term with over 40 players attending. The first part of the session we continued to work on the 1 v 1 & 2 v 1 situations from last week and I was pleased to see the players improvement as the session went on. The last part we split the group, with the older experienced players having a match to prepare for this weeks fixture and the younger less experienced players having some 3 v 3 or 4 v 4 small sided games. It was an excellent morning and I was really pleased with all the players efforts. Thanks to Tom, Rob, Brian, Jez and Gordon for their help during the session.

We had our first training session of the New Year on Sunday and it was great to see such a good turnout, especially from the younger U6 players. It was bright and breezy, but all the players put in a lot of effort and it was a good session. Thanks to Adrian, Brian, Jez, Rob, Martin and Glyn for their help during the morning.

A 100% record on Sunday, as we played 4 and won 4 !!!! We hosted Chess Valley in what was a really good morning. The weather was good, the opposition had enough for two teams, the pitch held up under all the rain and the rugby both our teams played was excellent. A big well done to all the players, I was really pleased with all your efforts and standard of play, I could not have asked for more.

Due to the excessive rain and waterlogged pitches training was unfortunately cancelled last week. This was a shame as it was our first training session since the Christmas break and it would have been good to have got all the squad together (U6’s & U7’s), but these things happen. I understand some of the younger players in the squad are itching to get back to rugby, which is great to hear. We have two training sessions planned for the 3rd & 10th February, so this will allow all the players to get back into it!!!!!!

An excellent morning at Luton this Sunday and in my opinion the best we have played all season. Well done to all the players!! Also a big thank you to Tom for referring some matches and to Brian for running the Jaguars. We travelled to Luton with two teams and played in a triangular fixture with Luton and Northampton Casuals. Luton and Northampton had one side each, therefore we rotated things so all teams played each other, which meant each team played three matches during the morning. We also had the luxury of playing on two pitches, so this meant not too much waiting around!!

We reconvened on Sunday with a tough away fixture at St. Neots. Having already played them earlier in the season we expected a similar close match and this was the case. The two week break unfortunately did us no favours and we were slow to get going, but we improved as the morning went on which was good to see. We took two teams, mixed up the players and each team played two matches.

Well I hope you have all enjoyed the two week break and have had a good Christmas and New Year. Its is back to rugby this Sunday !!!!!

Sunday 6th January

We reconvene this Sunday with an away fixture at St. Neots. The following players have been selected for this fixture: -

Ethan Brace, Alfie Canon, Dylan Crofton, Connor Dudley, Rory Fookes, Sam Henshaw, Laurence Hidle, Daniel Hill, Chris Holes, Guy Honnywill, Harry Hughes, George Lanyon, Ethan Lavaille, Gregory Oram-Brown, Kai Prpa, Holly Pomfret, Milly Reece-Jones, Naomh Taylor and Henry Tucker.

An excellent final training session on Sunday and thankfully the weather was considerably better than the last few weeks. We put together our own little U7’s festival with six teams playing each other in a round robin basis. All the players participated even the younger U6 players and it was a thoroughly enjoyable morning. Well done to all the players for their commitment and effort during the morning and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Congratulations go to the CHEETAHS who came out on top – they were unbeaten during the morning, winning 3 and drawing 2 of their five matches, although the PANTHERS pushed them close and only missed out in the last match. Thanks to Adrian and Tom for referring the matches with me and also thanks to Jez, Brian, Gordon, Martin, Glyn & Andy who helped run the teams. It was a great way to round off the first half of the season!!!!

What a morning!!!! The Leighton Buzzard game was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch, so we took two teams over to Stockwood Park. The rain from the week continued and the pitch became virtually unplayable, but we battled on. Joining us at Stockwood Park were also Bedford so it meant each of our teams would get two matches, however things never go according to plan……. Half way through the morning Stockwood Park decided they only wanted to play one match against our teams, but we managed to get another match arranged for the Panthers against Bedford. Considering the conditions we played some excellent rugby, won three matches and narrowly lost the other.

SUNDAY 9TH DECEMBER

This week, Sunday 9th December we have two fixtures at Stockwood Park and Leighton Buzzard. The teams for these fixtures are listed below; Adrian Pomfret (Holly’s dad) will be taking the team to Leighton Buzzard and I will be taking a team to Stockwood Park.

Can all players please meet at Stockwood Park and Leighton Buzzard at 10.00am. For those players who have not played matches before, players will need to be in full Hitchin kit (Hitchin jersey, black shorts & maroon socks), gum shields and shin guards are also recommended.

Well, I hope you have all dried out! What a morning, the wind, the rain, the muddy pitches, but two excellent performances by the Panthers and Jaguars. Hemel visited this Sunday with the hope of bringing two teams but unfortunately they only had enough players for the one side. Therefore each team had a game against Hemel and we then had a small training game after Hemel had left before the novelty of the rain ran off!!!

A good training session on Sunday, and an excellent turnout for a late November morning. We continued to work on tagging and support play for the first part of the session and I was pleased with how the players performed. We then developed this further in some game situations and it was good to see some of the younger players playing some small-sided matches. The more experienced players finished the session with a training match, which ended 3-3 and there were some good skills shown during the match. Well done to all the players. Again a big thank you to all the parents that helped out during the session.

Training
This week, Sunday 25th November there is training at the club at the usual time 10.30am.

Fixtures
The following two weeks we have fixtures against Hemel on Sunday 2nd December (Home) and Leighton Buzzard on Sunday 9th December (Away). Due to the large size of our squad the club have been trying to find some additional fixtures for us and I am pleased to confirm we have a second fixture arranged on Sunday 9th December at Stockwood Park.

I am now planning for the forthcoming fixtures and need to know by Monday 26th November about players availability for these fixtures. Please advise me as soon as possible.

Sunday we hosted Cambridge on a cold, windy November morning, thankfully there was no rain !!!! We had a successful morning, playing 3 matches, winning 2 and drawing the other. As Cambridge only had the one team we had a triangular event, with our two teams playing Cambridge twice (well that was the plan !!!). Unfortunately, Cambridge had to leave early so the Jaguars did not get to play their second game, instead we had a training match to finish the morning.

It was back to training on Sunday after the last two weekends of fixtures and it was great to see the continued high turnout with over 40 players again. We looked at some specific areas in the session, which were tagging and support play and I was pleased with how the morning progressed. A big thank you to Adrian, Rob, Jez, Gordon and Martin, who helped out during the session.

A long, but enjoyable morning this Sunday for players, coaches and parents. We travelled to Ampthill with two teams, played a total of 7 matches and did not finish until 12.30pm – I don’t know about the players but I was exhausted!!! Ampthill had enough players to field three teams so the Panthers played three matches against their experienced team and the Jaguars played a small triangular tournament of four matches against their two remaining teams.

This week, Sunday 4th November we have a fixture away at Ampthill and we are able to take two teams. The teams have been selected as below:-

HITCHIN PANTHERS – Alex Baber-Norris, Ethan Brace, Connor Dudley, Rory Fookes, Sam Henshaw, Guy Honnywill, Holly Pomfret and Naomh Taylor.

HITCHIN JAGUARS – Dylan Crofton, Laurence Hidle, Chris Holes, Harry Hughes, George Lanyon, Ben Lowes, Jamie Naylor, Gregory Orman-Brown, Henry Tucker and Emilia Reece-Jones.

Sunday 28th October – St. Neots

Today we played our first home fixture against a very good St. Neots team. We were able to field two teams which allowed us to introduce a number of our new players to their first games. St. Neots only brought one team so we initially played a three team triangular tournament and then finished with two further games.

I understand there was another good training session on Sunday. A big thank you to Tom for running the session and thank you to all the parents who helped.

Player of the week
This week’s award goes to one of our new younger players called Michael. The reason Michael was chosen was that he showed great enthusiasm, improved his skill levels throughout the session and performed well in the different tasks especially against some of the older players.

We had a good training session this week, so well done to all the players. A big thank you to Rob, Andy, Jez and the other parents who helped out during the session.

Congratulations go to George Lanyon who won the ‘Player of the Week’ award. George showed good evasion and tagging skills in the Rugby IT and Scarecrow Tag sessions and also performed really well in the game situation, especially as he is one of the younger members of the squad. He also paid attention and listened throughout the session, which is helping him improve as a player.

Another fine performance at Milton Keynes this week and the standard of play for only our second fixture of the season was excellent – well done to all the players. We won both our main matches against Milton Keynes and Kettering and then also played another two shorter duration games which we drew and won. So in total for our mornings work we had a played 4, won 3 and drew 1 record.

This Sunday we have a fixture at Milton Keynes and the following players have been selected for this fixture: Alex Baber-Norris, Ethan Brace, Dylan Crofton, Connor Dudley, Sam Henshaw, Guy Honnywill, George Lanyon, Holly Pomfret and Naomh Taylor

A big well done to all the players involved at Letchworth. The team did really well during the day and surpassed my expectations. We played 4 matches, won 2, drew 1 and lost 1, but the most pleasing aspect was how the team improved throughout the festival to a point where in our last game we played some excellent attacking and defensive rugby. All the players contributed and it is a great starting point for the rest of the season.

Another fantastic turnout this week with even more new players. Thank you again to all the parents that helped out during the session.

Player of the Week

Well done to Naomh Taylor who was awarded ‘Player of the Week’. Naomh showed excellent skills in the initial session and then performed well in the U7’s support drill and match.

Dear Parents,

Another great turnout this week and a big thank you to Adrian, Tim, Mel, Tom and all the others who helped run the session on Sunday. I hear it was another great success and the children enjoyed themselves again.

I was astounded by the turnout on Sunday (not sure if you noticed!) and I really hope that your children enjoyed themselves. It is wonderful to see so many smiling faces having fun and learning a new skill. Long may it continue!

Player of the Week
As mentioned the previous week, I will be awarding a ‘Player of the Week’ award to the child who has made the biggest contribution to the session. This week, I chose Sam Henshaw to receive the trophy for several reasons. In the last two weeks he has listened well and always paid attention to whatever is being said as well as showing good passing, catching and tagging skills. This week he also played really well when he was mixed with the more experienced U7s and U8s in a game situation. Well done Sam!

Dear Parents of Hitchin U7's

I hope you are all well and enjoying the 'wet' summer.

I know that you will not believe this but the rugby season is nearly upon us so I thought I would let you all know of the plans for the first few weeks.

Back to main archives »