Junior Rugby Archive ~ 2009 / 2010

The items below are from the very successful 2009 / 2010 season.

We're planning to build on our experiences and to have an even better 2010 / 2011...

Junior Rugby Presentations ~ The 2009/2010 Season

We had a great season , with 3 teams entering the Cheshire Festival and all getting into the quarter finals. We are always looking for new players so if anyone has interested friends bring them along.

The following presentations were made for the Players' Player in our Junior Teams - click on a picture to see the detail:

Under 7s Players Player ~ Jack Cameron
Under 7s Players Player ~ Jack Cameron		 Under 8s Players Player ~ Jensen Mackie
 Under 8s Players Player ~ Jensen Mackie
Under 9s Players Player ~ Jack Harrison
Under 9s Players Player ~ Jack Harrison		 Under 11s Players Player ~ Callum McLoughlin
Under 11s Players Player ~ Callum McLoughlin

Cheshire Festival 2010

The Under 8s, 9s and 11s all took part in the Cheshire Festival on Sunday April 18th...

Under 8s Festival ~ Macclesfield

For most of the under 8’s it was the first tournament the side had played in. An instant learning for all!

First match was versus Hoylake.

Starting seven: - Jenson Mackie, Sam Grundy , Matt Hassall, Luke Mitchell, Matthew Burton, Snake hips France and Nathan Green.

We started on the back foot with quick tries scored from Hoylake. Missed tags and too adventurous passing resulting in lost possession meant Hoylake built a 3-0 lead. Midway through the first half we got into a stride and started a comeback. Finally it was Game on!

Coach talk and a change in team resulted in the Parkonians dominating the second half . Sub on Max Wharrie, Nathan Bradshaw ,Will Hassall and Will Shaw .

We witnessed great individual runs from Mathew Burton, and our first sub Will Shaw. Sound passing from all players. Better support play and team work. Two more minutes and the comeback would have been complete.

We lost 4-5
Tries from Jenson x2, Nathan Bradshaw and Nathan Green.

Second game we played Marple

Starting Jenson , Sam , Snake hips, will Hassall, Will shaw , Mathew Burton and Max

It was positive from the off with great runs from all players, Great pass from Will Hassall put Jenson through to score. Support play was fantastic from Jenson and Matt Burton on Will Shaws shoulder as he broke free.

Subs played Luke Mitchell, Matt Hassall ,Nathan Green and Nathan Bradshaw
Ran out the winners 4-2 Well done Parks!
Tries Jenson x 2 , Sam x 1 and Matthew Burton x1

Third Game saw us play Congleton

Starting seven was Will Hassall, Nathan Bradshaw, Matthew Burton, Nathan Green, Luke Mitchell and Matt Hassall.
Powerfull runs from all players were observed with tries resulting following runs from Nathan Green and Matt Hassall. Great off loading passes from Luke Mitchell and Will Hassall resulting in our other two tries.

Tag, Tag Tag, Tag Tag tag tag went Jenson! Awesome chasing. Well done !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congleton ran out the winners 6-4.

Final pool game was against Macclesfield

Starting was Jenson, Sam, Mathew Burton, Will Shaw, Snake hips, Max and Will Hassall.
A game that was frustrating for both teams with some really strange referee decisions! Play the whistle was sometimes a tough one to call!

Great tagging kept them out even on our own try line. 3 saved tries without a doubt. Well done boys! Defence is as important as scoring . Now do you believe us?

Parkonians won 4-3.
Tries Jenson and Snake hips with 2 each

Qualified!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Draw was to play Chester 1

We started after a long break from playing. Starting Jenson, Mathew Burton, Sam Grundy, Snake hips, Matt Hassall, Nathan Green and Will Shaw.

This was our swan song. It was ten minutes of great rugby from Chester and stoic determination from our boys. They were simply the better team.

Tries from Jenson saw us post a result of 2-6 to Chester.
The under 8s can be very proud of the team spirit, game play and gentlemanly conduct. All played their heart and souls out. Living for the team!

A fabulous day of tag rugby for all.

Well done boys and thanks for the support throughout the day.

Tim Hassall

Under 9s Festival ~ Chester

On a warm and sunny day the Parkonians U9s ventured out to Chester to play in this years county finals day. Drawn in a pool consisting three larger well established clubs we started against the exceptional Macclesfield Pirates. A hint of what we should aspire to here as they run away 6-0 with some scintillating rugby that could put some of our senior players to shame.

They went on to beat our other pool teams by the same score and if they didn't win the main trophy I would be very surprised. Caldy next …a draw 2-2 with some great running and support from all.

Our last pool game against Kersal Knights needed a draw or to lose by less than 3 trys so as we can stay in our location and not have to move our Gazebo and wine to another pitch, Caldy were beaten 5-2 by Kersal in their pool game and so the game began, Kersals monster of a prop running straight into a brick wall of Luke Ben and Josh.

The tackling was ferocious as we stopped them in there tracks time and again, our support play in attack had them beat with some excellent finishing by Ben Jack and Alex. 4-2 victors and we finished 2nd in the group to face Anselms in the quarters.

After being beat twice by these in the season we were unsure how we would cope with their strong runners but it was them who struggled with ours. With an excellent performance we finished the game losing 4-3 but I can honestly say we deserved to win with some dodgy touch keeping by the officials.
Congratulations to all involved in the day, you all contributed and you all deserve player of the tournament awards.

Team: Luke Hillan, Josh Cairns, Lewis Roper, Ethan Kirby, Callum France, Ross Hegarty, Jack Harrison, Thomas Williams, Alex Fay, Ben Grundy & Sean Davis.

Mark Hillan/Derek Prescott

Under 11s Festival ~ Winnington Park

Game 1 v Chester ~ Lost 0 - 25

In the first game of group six Parkonians took on a well drilled Chester outfit. Early exchanges saw Parkonians put pressure on the Chester line but there defence held firm. As the half progressed Chester stronger scrum ensured that they dominated possession and crossed the Parkonians line twice. Despite a determined effort in the second half Chester ran out winners 25 -0

Game 2 v Limslow Kersal ~ Won 5 - 0

Unfortunately the planned barbarians side from Lymm, Wilmslow and Altrincham did not emerge and Parkonians received a bye and a 5-0 win. We were off the mark!

Game 3 v Old Anselmians ~ Drew 5-5

After seeing Anselmians suffer a similar defeat to Chester 0-20 . Parkonians were optimistic of a close game and so it proved to be. Early exchanges again saw Parkonians go close but the scores remained level 0-0 at half time. Anselmians pressed early in the second half only to be stunned by a superb long range try from Callum McLaughlin. Parkonians then pressed strongly through some good runs from Nathan Harrison and Will Kelly and were looking set for victory until disaster, a kick out of defence by the Old Anselmians stand off was re-gathered by him and a well taken try levelled the scores in the last play of the game.

Plate Quarter Final v Old Anselmians ~ Lost 5 - 15

The draw with Anselmians in the group stages ensured that Parkonians qualified for the plate competition as one of the best third placed team. By a quirk of the draw they were again drawn against the Old Anselmians. An early score by Callum raised Parkoinans hopes of a victory but 2 scores from Anselmians just before half time saw Parkonians trialling 5-10. Parkionians tackled bravely in the second half but a further try the Anselmians saw them run out winners 5-15.

A great effort by the lads that came down to play,. who despite the final result still enjoyed the day and can take pride on how they have improved individually and as a team over the last season . Well done !

Team: Callum McLaughlin,Matthew Williams,Nathan Harrison,David Flynn,Matthew Varley, Liam Westwater,Max Birss,Joseph Allen,Jack Davies,William Kelly,Callum Ellis, Ben Mitchell,Sean Griffiths

Martin Varley

Junior Match Report ~ Sunday 28th February 2010

Under 8’s Match Report by Tim Hassall.

Sunday 28th February saw Parkonians play away at  Waterloo. 

Our team consisted of Nathan Bradshaw, Sam Grundy, Nathan Green, Max Wharrie, William Hassall, Matthew Hassall, Jenson Mackie,  Luke Mitchell, Snake hips France , Matthew Burton, William Shaw.

Waterloo had 6 players so it was decided to play eight aside with Parks having  a sub and two wearing a Waterloo shirt!

I need to mention the effort William Shaw, Matthew Burton (1st half ), Nathan Bradshaw and Nathan Green(2nd half)  gave whilst playing for Waterloo, Tries scored by them and bursting runs through Parks defence. I will forgive the tries against us. Well done boys!!

Much Improved  handling skills from all players were seen today . Catching and passing  more swiftly allowed Parks to get momentum in attack.  Jenson had great vision to find players in space with two wonderful long passes  Safe hands received these long passes and ran in for tries.

Waterloo  put up a great fight in the second half with Charlie scoring several tries at pace,  It was nip and tuck all the way to the end.

Final whistle Waterloo 12 Parks 14   Fantastic!

Must mention Jo Hillan had a great game, boundless enthausiam and even got mud on her shiney new boots.  And also congratulations to Jimmy for passing his level one today.  So all in all a great day!
Things to work on:-

Junior Match Report ~ Sunday 6th December 2009

Under 8’s Match Report by Tim Hassall.

Sunday 6th December saw Parkonians play at home to Waterloo and Hoylake.  Parks played two teams from Waterloo and 1 team from Hoylake. 

Our team consisted of Nathan Bradshaw, Sam Grundy, Nathan Green, Max Wharrie, William Hassall, Matthew Hassall, Jenson Mackie, Tom Mcsherry, Luke Mitchell, Timmy , Snake hips France , Matthew Burton

Twelve players in total meaning five rotated in and out each half, allowing all players fair and equal time on the pitch.  Two more players would have allowed 2 teams!

Fantastic support play and off loading quickly in the tackle saw Waterloo race to victory.   Inspiration to watch.

Parks had this game in the bag at half time leading 3-2.  But alas the final swap of players dropped concentration levels and resulted in too many missed tackles.

Having not lost a game this season, today hit home with a BUMP!…………..burst our bubble, although lessons and inspiration can be taken from the day.

 Parks will regroup and get back to winning ways……..look out Helsby !

Junior Match Report ~ Sunday 22nd November 2009 v Anselmian's Saints

Under 8’s Match Report by Tim Hassall.

22nd Nov 2009 saw us away to the Anselmians Saints.

Due to numbers the Saints fronted a team of mixed under 8’s+ 7’s so the standard seven a side could be played. Subs then rolled in and out to give all an equal game.

Parkonians squad:- Matthew Burton (TTT), Jenson Mackie(TTT), Kyron France(T), Sam Grundy, Matthew (TT) and William Hassall, William Shaw, Max Wharrie (T), Luke Mitchell , Nathan Bradshaw (TT), Nathan Green (T), coaches Tim and Jimmy
(T) = try scored

It took a while for both sides to discover the width of the pitch with several boys running straight in to touch. Even the players thought this was frustrating!

First points went to the Saints after sloppy defending from the Parks. Wakey Wakey from the whistle boys!
Jenson Mackie then made it all square with a great individual run planting the ball down to rapturous applause!
From here on the Parks grew in confidence and started to really take control scoring three tries without a reply from the Saints. Strong runs improved in frequency from Mathew Burton and Mathew Hassall which saw both players not only making good yardage but also scoring solid tries.

Half time and the Parks were ahead 6 tries to 3.

 The second half started well with snake hips France dazzling the Saints defence with a fearless run in to score.
William Hassall tried emulating snake hips but got tagged just before the try line, No fear though a perfect pop pass to Max meant another Parks try. 
Saints scored twice with some good running although continual turnover ball allowed the parks to dominate.
Nathan Green and Nathan Bradshaw both danced through a packed defence and managed to dodge being tagged. With a bit of encouragement from the sideline they kept pumping those legs all the way to score.

Full time saw the Parks win 12 tries to 5

Things to work on:

Best Bit

Junior Match Report ~ Sunday 18th October 2009 v Wirral

Under 8’s Match Report by Tim Hassall.

Sunday 18th Oct saw Parkonians play away at Wirral. The squad was split into two as numbers allowed two simultaneous games to be played.

One team consisted of Nathan Bradshaw, Sam Grundy, Nathan Green, Sam and Kieran Walsh, Jack Harrison and Max Wharrie. With Tim Hassall as coach

Game one saw Parkonians Win 6-4 (Captain Max)

Game two saw Parkonians win 6-5 (Captain Nathan B)

I award the man of the match to Sam Grundy, for his triplet of tries and his desire to tackle Again and again .    

Things to work on:-

Report written by Tim Hassall

Wirral Away Under 8 Other String

Match Report by Jimmy Mackie

Players: Matthew Burton, Matthew Hassell, Joe Wakefield, Kieran France, William Shaw, Jenson Mackie, Adam 

Firstly we would like to thank Wirral for lending us a player in our hour of need. Well 15 minutes anyway. So a big thanks to you Adam for playing for us, “and what a player”. Not only did he annoy his team mates by playing for the opposition but scored 3 tries as well. We had our usual table football defence which worked well, but also our fantastic attacking spirit.

Our first game took us by surprise with the speed of 2 of the Wirral players. They opened up the scoring with a fantastic run from Edward but we held fast and replied with Adams try. We were right back at “em”. They scored again with Lotte who was quick on her toes. We came back again with a fantastic run of play lots of support runners and calling for the ball when in space. Matthew Burton looped round the ever stretching defence of Wirral to score. The game ended Wirral 9 Parks 6.

Our second game was much improved with tries from our secret weapon “snake hips” France. We had blistering runs from Mathew Hassell and big off loads from Joe “my hands are too cold” Wakefield to his team mates. Good passing. Jenson Mackie did his usual shimmy shammy and scored a couple of tries. Matthew Burton sent the defence the wrong way and scored in the corner. Matthew Shaw left people standing when he out paced two players and passed the ball to Adam who scored. Matthew Hassell intercepted the ball on our try line and legged it like a cheetah up the pitch only to be tagged just short of the line, but placed it into the arms of his support player Matthew Burton (there is too many Matthews in this team). Some excellent drifting defence and some super sonic support play. We won this game Parks 8 Wirral 5

Another Fab game. Well done…..My man of the match for his sportsmanship and brace of tries goes to Adam from Wirral. But for Our Team It goes to Matthew Burton for his quick thinking and running.  

Junior Match Report ~ Sunday 11th October 2009 v Caldy

On Sunday 11th Oct, the under 7’s, 8’s, 9’s and under 11 junior squads arrived at Caldy for the first game of the season. The prospect of tackling, playing in front of large crowds and the nervous buzz of excitement that ran through every individual, boy and girl (Phoebe Clarke) was not diminished by the heavy grey skies lingering on the horizon.

Under 7's Match Report by Carl Handley & Peter Bradshaw

The boys were very excited to be at Caldy for their first match. The first game went to the home side, with our boys not really knowing what was expected from them, but all credit to our boys they soon realised what they needed to do. With a little practice between games they came on really well.

The boys passed well, and some good runs were made with the ball, with four tries from Ben Evans and two from Oskar Wharrie, we ran out comfortable winners, well done . Peter and I are very pleased with the effort of the boys and their supporters on the day.

Many Thanks,
Carl Handley and Peter Bradshaw

Under 8’s Match Report by Tim Hassall.

After passing my level 1 coaching certificate, I was asked to take on the role of under 8 coach ably assisted by Jimmy Mackie. This game was to be a number of firsts!

It was game on!

Fifteen players made up the squad (T = try scorer)
Matthew Burton (T), Jenson Mackie(T), William(T) and Matthew Hassall, Nathan Bradshaw(T), Joe Wakefield, Sam Grundy(T), Nathan Green, William Shaw, Sam and Kieran Walsh, Kyron France(T), Jack Harrison, Luke Mitchell and Max Wharrie(T).

Seven aside for seven minutes each way was agreed for our match’s. At half time Parkonians swapped the seven to ensure all players got equal opportunity. Player 15 was substituted in so all could play.

Matthew was made captain due to Tony Burton getting yet another year older. Matthew did well losing the toss. It simply put fear into the Caldy hearts as they faced a Parkonians table football defensive line.  Strong, fired up, parks shirts stretched from touch line to touchline, Caldy had no where to go, Turnover ball!

Throughout the games we witnessed fantastic running when in attack and wonderful defensive play from all players. At our best we were unstoppable with fluid forward movement, keeping the ball alive with swift accurate passing that delivered tries so effectively. At our worst we became a headless mass of chickens all clucking for the ball. Bunching, even stepping over each other to be passed to. Passing to our friends rather than our team mate, even if it meant forward! No one said coaching could be this frustrating!

Spoils turned out equal with one loss one draw and one win to both sides. 

Caldy had Tom who injected pace down the left wing scoring lightening tries. We need to work on dealing with this form of attack. Parkonians had a great mix of speed, agility, power and courage witnessed in many players.  

I need to mention a few players though...

Special Mention and my Man of the match go to try scorer Max Wharrie. He is in my view most improved player and just oozed confidence today.  No dropped balls, no poor passes and even points scored through great running all with a smile on his face!

Favourite bits!

Tim Hassall

Under 11’s Match Report by Martin Varley

Parkonians U11’s began season with a very entertaining game against Caldy Development U11’s. Two evenly matched teams competed in a game of ten minute thirds giving plenty of opportunity for everyone to have a run out.

Captained by Callum McLaughlin, Parkonians kicked off into a strong breeze and were soon having to defend their line after some determined running by Caldy. Although some good tackling was on show from Parkonians some good off loading from Caldy saw them cross the line for the first try.

Parkonians were not to be deterred by this and an excellent break from Callum got them get their first try of the season. The first 10 minutes ended with some excellent running from fullback Will Kelly and tackling from Ben Mitchell.     

The second ten minutes began with the scores locked 1 try apiece. Caldy showed some clever handling to get the ball to their wing who went over for a good score. Parkonians were soon back on level terms after a break and pass out of tackle from Matthew Williams saw great support from Nathan Harrison to go in for their second try.

The third ten minutes proved just as entertaining as the first twenty, with Caldy eventually running out winners 5 tries to 2.
Thanks go to Caldy for hosting us on a fantastic morning for the under 11’s .

Parkonians
Will Kelly , Fletcher Handley , Iwan Roberts ,Ben Grundy, Adam Godfrey, Matthew Varley , Matthew Williams, Callum McLaughlin, David Flynn, Ben Mitchell, Miles Cook-Scowen, Callum Ellis, Nathan Harrison Nick Hayden, Joe Allen, Liam Westwater, Ross Clark, Joe Salisbury, Matthew Daly, Andrew Williams

Martin Varley

 


Old Parkonians Association - HM Curphey Memorial Ground, Holm Lane, Birkenhead