Sunday 24th of September the entire Blyth Mini section descended on Consett RFC. We were greeted by a great set up, big club house with glass balcony overlooking 1st team pitch and the second pitch as well as 3G training area and 4G pitch available for us to play on.

The might U11 team were on one of the main pitches we had 11 players turn up for the game vs Consett's 18 players. We decided to play 11 v 11 rather to ensure more kids got time on the pitch rather than on the side lines.

We began by playing one 40 mins match and in that time period we had circa 80% of the ball but just unable to convert any of our many close chances. Consett on the other hand with the little ball that they got they managed to convert 100% of their chances and emerged victorious in the match. There was some clear learnings for us as a team our strength has always been our passing and running game but there is also a need for us to develop a Plan B. Normally we are the smallest team around and we rely on handling and running to beat other teams. But versus Consett we were the big team and they had some lightening fast wingers that kept going wide and around us. In training we will work on developing Plan B with the kids, ie clear phase play, Go forward, present, ruck, Go forward, present, ruck and Go Forward. Giving us options to add a very different way of playing to our normal handling game.

You learn more in defeat than you will ever learn in victory and there was some great things that came to light both from what we struggled with and what Consett did really well such as;
1. Protecting the ball in the tackle, the importance of good presentation and the ruck support to be there very very quickly and coming in low not high to the ruck
2. When tackling get to feet immediately and go for the ball. Something Consett did very well and got a lot of turnover from it.
3. The importance of keeping our shape, keep spread out and also keep to your position, if you are covering the centre then don't get caught out on the wing. Leave the wing for the team mates that cover that area.
4. If things aren't working constantly look for different ways to solve the problem in front of you

For the last 15 mins we then decided to play two complete Barbarian sides for a very even balanced game. The kids came up with the forfeit for the loosing team which involved running around the pitch and singing "Let It go" from the top of their voices.

Finished the session with lots of smiles, laughs, craziness and some delicious hot dogs back in the club house.

Roll on next week and our home fixture vs Ashington