Wednesday 29 April 2009

Parents Night Out and Richmond

This Sunday, the Crusaders parents are having their big night out. Meet at the Salt Bar at 8:00 then it is on to the Yacht club for a night of Pub Rock with The Contenders. I think there's going to be a good turn out for this - so not to be missed.

Don't forget Richmond RFC are visiting on Saturday. Meet at 10:30 Underhill for a 11:00 kick off. This is a big event with for the junior section, with BBQ and drinks (tea, coffee, Strongbow) available during and after. All help with raffle and selling food and drink etc. will be greatly appreciated. Richmond are bringing down a very big contingent so we must give them a great welcome and keep them well fed and watered and looked after.

Sunday 26 April 2009

Delighted, proud and looking forward to next year


Team Crusaders should be extremely proud of what they achieved today.

Everyone played equal time.

We didn't lose.

A number of players played their best ever games of rugby, in their lives.

We scored some great tries.

We made some amazing tackles.

I could easily pick out four or five players for a special mention, but then I could do that every week, and the great thing is, it would be a different set of players.

In the end, the boys' behaviour, positive attitude and team spirit was outstanding. The two Mikes, Lyndon and I are honoured to work with this group and hence we are looking forward to next season.

One more game to go, so training on Wednesday at 4.30pm and everyone is required for SATURDAY in the morning against Richmond.

And finally, many thanks to Penclawdd for an excellent tournament, and well done to Swansea Uplands on winning the cup this year.

Saturday 25 April 2009

9.30 meet please

At Penclawdd on Sunday. See you then!

Dan

Tuesday 21 April 2009

Some notes to read

Training is on Wednesday at 4.30pm in the park.

If anyone has any photos or footage from this season, could they send it over to me at dan4rugby at the yahoo account which .co.uk (anti spam attempt there!)

And finally, ALL the players are invited to the Penclawdd tournament. Having spoken to South Gower, Swansea Ups and Penclawdd, they are happy with having more than 18 there.

Dan

Sunday 19 April 2009

Luctonians Tournament

Played four, drew two, lost two at the tournament today. Everyone got about equal time (I think), so it was good to see good rugby and enjoy the sunshine.

Looking forward to seeing a few pictures, which will be posted in due course.

Training on Wednesday at 4.30pm.

Champagne breakfast anyone? Luctonians in the April Sun

Saturday 18 April 2009

Luctonians Details

When: Sunday 19th April
What time: Meet at rugby club 06:30. Journey time 2 hours plus stops. Expect to arrive back by 20:00.
How much: £20 per player to be paid now. Pay Donna Marsden on Wednesday training or Sunday mornings. Includes up to 2 accompanying supporters. Supporters only will also need to pay £3:50 entry each to enter the tournament on the day.
Food: Bring plenty of supplies, packed lunch etc. Coach will make a short stop on both journeys.

Lucton Squad:
Ben Marsden       Rhys Cottrell
Cian Lewis           Keiran Morgan
Nathan Cartright   Liam Saunders
Tom Gravenor       Aled Midha
Dominic Marquis     Alex Ibrahim
Lloyd John             Ben Hinds
Connor Watson       Tom Langford
Rhys Davies         Cameron Lewis

If traveling separately, registration for tournament is 9:00. Tournament starts at 10:00. Directions to the Luctonians ground can be found here.

Lastly, we do have a reserve list, so if you have a change of plan and cannot make the tour, please let us know asap.

Thursday 16 April 2009

Well done and thanks

Thanks go to everyone involved in the DVD shoot today.

First to Mike M. and Lyndon whose support meant the boys not directly involved were still training.

Second to Grange School for the use of the facilities.

And last and not least to the boys and the parents for their good humour and efforts.

Apart from being able to shoot a video it was lovely to see the boys together enjoying each other's company.

Dan

Monday 13 April 2009

Match v South Gower

Here is the report from the South Gower.

South Gower 2 Mumbles Crusaders 9

On a glorious Easter Sunday the Crusaders Roadshow and its Eastertime Extravaganza made the short trip to Pwll Du Lane for the final test in their Triangular Series against our nearest rivals South Gower.

With the matrix machine cunningly avoiding the elementary schoolboy blunder that befell Police Chief Bob Quick earlier in the week, the team for today was not posted on the blog for the all seeing paparazzi and was, up until kick off, a closely guarded secret.

For today's game, the 11 players on parade were Rhys D, Rhys C, Ben M, Cameron, Lloyd, Dom, Jack P, Tom P, Aled, Keiran and Cian. The responsibility of selecting a captain for the day was given to John "Voice of the Balls" Marsden who, after two attempts and plenty of encouragement, correctly identified the number 6 as being a random number between 1 and 11. Captain for the day was then bestowed upon Dominic.

With the pitch widened and lengthened to allow Mike M to referee and to safely comply with his regulatory minimal stopping distance, and with both sides able to use the 11 players at their disposal, the game was split into 3 x 10 minute periods.

A fantastic game of rugby ensued with both sides playing with a Gallic flair and abandonment that was befitting of the weather and the occasion. Both sides, with the encouragement of their coaches, treated their supporters to a rugby spectacle which was played with some real pace, width and vision. The game itself was played in an exemplary spirit from both sets of players and this is to the credit of all associated with these teams.

For the Mumbles it was particularly pleasing to see all the players make significant contributions whether it was with ball in hand or the nitty gritty "nuts and bolts" stuff that stops your opponents in their tracks, thus allowing for flowing movements and prolonged passages of play. It was also good to see the players gelling as a team and their game awareness increasing. This encouraged the players to give out the extra pass (even if it didn't always stick, this is still to be applauded) and to clear out at the breakdown rather than standing off or trying to put to many hands on the ball.

Try scorers today were Rhys C, Dominic, Lloyd, Jack P and Ben Marsden who probably had his best game for Mumbles. Yet again, Cameron, Keiran, Cian and Aled made their presence felt in all facets of the game, while Rhys D and Tom P played with great endeavour and made telling contributions in attack and defence - Well done to all for an outstanding performance.

Our thanks go Nils and Stuart and to the South Gower team who, despite being shorn of their regular coaches and a number of players agreed for this fixture to be honoured. Despite the seemingly top heavy final score this in no way reflects the efforts of the South Gower team who played their part in a magnificent game of rugby.

Luctonians Update

Despite the best efforts of Donna M and Kay M, apparently there is still some monies to be collected for this trip. Having sought legal advice, they have now sold on any outstanding finance to reputable debt recovery agency and harbingers of Inquisitional Law and Cuban Justice, namely Ratchett, Hatchett and Pincers. The current rate of interest lies somewhere between the inflationary economies of Zimbabwe and Uganda. Those who fail to part with the readies in due time for the trip may incur an unearthly hour visit from the partners in the firm, Everard Filchuss QC and "Big Ronnie" Grabbuss.

NOTE: No training Wednesday, lots of training on Thursday!

Thursday 9 April 2009

Game on - South Gower (away)

There is a match against South Gower on Sunday.

The matrix has whirred around and got slightly stuck because it can't remember who said they were not around on Sunday!

So please turn up at 10.30am one and all.

Dan

Wednesday 8 April 2009

DVD players

Could the following boys be at Grange from 11.00am next Thursday:

Rhys C
Cam
Keiran
Dom
Tom G
Jack P
Tom P
Ben M
Aled
Lloyd
Max

And can the rest come from 1pm.

I hope this minimises the standing around and keeps the boys active.

Each boy will get a shirt on arrival, but should come with their Mumbles kit as well.

Dan

Monday 6 April 2009

DVD Update

I am back from viewing the Paris summer collection of shorts and preparing for the DVD.

Here is a letter explaining what is happening. In short I will use about 10 players from 11-1 and then rest from then on, so we don't have too much hanging around. I have the shirts!

The first years of contact rugby DVD
Dear Parent
Your son is invited to take part in the making of a rugby coaching DVD that focuses on how to coach children in their first few years of contact rugby.


The film is being made by BetterRugbyCoaching.com and RugbyCoachingVideos.com. I will be leading the coaching and your son will be filmed being coached.

The filming will take place at Grange School, West Cross on Thursday 16th April 2009. We are going to film in two sections, with ten boys for the first part and then the whole group for the second part. The first part will start at 11.00am and the second at 1 pm. I will write to you again stating which one to come for as I don’t want the boys waiting around for too long.
For all those boys taking part, I envisage we will finish around 4 pm, if not before.

The boys will receive a shirt and a copy of the DVD when it is produced. On the day they should come with their Mumbles kit and a packed lunch and plenty of drinks.

In terms of the day itself, it will be like a normal training session, just with a few more breaks. Because I am going to be fully involved in the filming itself, I cannot take full responsibility for each child. However we will be in a closed school environment. When your son arrives, I will check him in, take contact numbers and if you need to pop off, then I will be able to contact you (like a child’s party).

Overall we want to create a similar atmosphere to a normal training session, so you might even appear in the video yourselves!

Please feel free to drop me a line on any points.
Dan

Friday 3 April 2009

Weekly Update

Training Sunday 5th 10:00 Underhill Park

Training on Wednesday 8th 10:00 at Underhill.

Wednesday 1 April 2009

Girls Night Out: Postponed

We are looking for a better night to suit everyone, so this Saturday's evening out is postponed until after Easter. The Girl's will return...

Luctonians Tournament

The team for Luctonians is below. Remember that unfortunately we can only take 16 players. Those that are missing out are guaranteed places in the Penclawdd Tournament squad (26th April). If it is a successful trip, then we'll go again next year, so there are plenty of tournaments and trips ahead (including the start of next season) which will allow us to continue to rotate the squad and give everyone a taste of tournament action.

Ben Marsden       Rhys Cottrell
Cian Lewis           Keiran Morgan
Nathan Cartright   Liam Saunders
Tom Gravenor       Aled Midha
Dominic Marquis     Alex Ibrahim
Lloyd John             Ben Hinds
Sam Bramhall       Tom Langford
Rhys Davies         Cameron Lewis

When: Sunday 19th April
What time: Meet at rugby club 06:30. Journey time 2 hours plus stops. Expect to arrive back by 20:00.
How much: £20 per player to be paid now. Pay Donna Marsden on Wednesday training or Sunday mornings. Includes up to 2 accompanying supporters. Supporters only will also need to pay £3:50 entry each to enter the tournament on the day.
Food: Bring plenty of supplies, packed lunch etc. Coach will make a short stop on both journeys.

If traveling separately, registration for tournament is 9:00. Tournament starts at 10:00. Directions to the Luctonians ground can be found here.

Lastly, we do have a reserve list, so if you have a change of plan and cannot make the tour, please let us know asap.