Garstang

After our last outing to Littleborough, we had planned to retreat to Fleetwood, regroup, lick some wounds and put in some serious training before our next meeting with Vale of Lune the following week. This was not to be however, as Tuesday evening brought with it an invitation to play away against a side form Garstang. It didn’t take long to assemble the usual suspects who, after a week of stormy weather took on the trip down the road to our neighbours. Such was the grandeur of the occasion that our team manager put aside her yule time activities for the day to join us.
What had somehow been lost in the translation was that Garstang don’t actually have an under 10 team, but a bunch of under 11’s with an under 9 player thrown in. Our lads had overheard a bit of the conversation, but with the sort of parental conviction that assures them all of the existence of Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny, we told them that the Garstang lads were just ‘big for their age’.

Game one - awakening.
Whether or not they believed me that they ‘breed them big here’, twelve enthusiastic under tens took to the field like they meant business. Garstang won the toss and started the match, swiftly taking the game to our boys. But then the tackling started. They were up to it, the entire team! Some telling tackles, including Marcus bringing down the biggest lad on their team, in spectacular fashion that even earned the admiration of the opposition coach.
The wayward running of last week was gone, and replaced with some determined forward progression, keeping the ball, and breaking through and evading tackles like pro’s. The presenting of the ball in the breakdown has also come on in leaps and bounds.
Archie managed to score a breakaway try from the halfway line just before half time, in answer to the two scored by Garstang. Unbeknown to us, the Garstang crew had been told to hang back as they were older than our lads. This instruction was rescinded at half time, and Garstang were instructed to ‘fill their boots’.
The second half brought more of the same with some excellent defending, starting to use the touchline and bundling the opposition players into touch, stopping a certain try. Max and Bailey shone in this half with some excellent ripping of the ball, and a couple of good, determined runs, with Max going over to score Fleetwood’s only try of this half. Full time score 5-2 to the hosts.

Game two - tiring
Having earned the respect and praise of all around, including the opposition coaches, our under tens took to the field for the second match. Here our lads started flagging, but we still saw flashes of brilliance, some big tackles by almost the entire squad, good rucking, some quite brilliant ripping of the ball. Marcus went over to score the only Fleetwood try of this game having received the ball at kick off. Robert and Garrick both impressed with their rucking and presentation of the ball in the breakdown. The final score for this game was 12-1.

Player of the day.
The player of the day decision was made that much more difficult by having a number of players that could equally deserved the medal, but in the end, for his try in the first game, some excellent tackling and some good runs up the line, Max was the eventual choice.

Although this next sentence was included in my last match report, I do believe it is relevant this time around. Our next match is to be played away against the Vale of Lune on 15 December.
Also, please keep eye and ears open for a party on 22 December. Sarah will be in touch.
We only have praise for these lads. Taking on a team a year above them and performing the way they did today shows that they do have it in them to stand their ground. Well done boys.