Quick Hands
David Wilson (68)
Thanks QH for those results, they brighten up what is clearly a most disappointing 1st XV effort. I don't know what is going wrong with our firsts I thought they had the players and experience to make themselves a force in GPS Rugby for 2018. Clearly, something is lacking, I wonder what.
But the results from the younger teams is brilliant. Even, the 15As loss is a considerable improvement on the 2017 results as the 14As.Last year they loss 50-0 in the preseason and 35-7 in the GPS round to View. So a 26-14 loss is proof evident they are moving forward. They could even get a win in the 2018 GPS, based on their level of improvement.
14As result was a super effort as was 13As effort. Clearly, Newington supporters can obtain a sense of pride from these younger age groups and some hope for the future, despite the reality that other schools will improve in these age groups.
1st XV are quite young (plenty of Year 11 and a few Year 10 players). The number of errors in the basic skills of the game should be a concern, they created a number of try-scoring opportunities in the first half, only for he last past to go behind the player, or to nobody etc.
As you say, the work being put into the younger years is reaping rewards. Having someone of the calibre of Rob Egerton wanting to coach the 13As every year is fantastic. It really gives the whole age group a great start to GPS rugby. There has also been a lot of work put into the 15s, which has started to show. Still some losses, but they've closed the gap by working with the kids that they had and coaching them, which is something which I applaud and have long championed on these threads. The kids are responding and stepping up which is great. Last year Riverview defeated them by 50 or more, which has been reduced to 10 points.