On a very wet and soggy Sunday morning we had a drive over to Bury for their annual festival. Even though the weather wasn’t great this didn’t dampen any of the team’s spirit which was great.

St. Neots Cardinals U8’s

Todays Cardinals consisted of Charlie Strong, Freddie Cox, Oscar Muston, Charlie Dibben, Stanley Newbold, Zeren Mustafa and Zac Fisk.

Match 1
St.Neots Cardinals 3 – 3 Bury Gold
This was a very close game against a very tough home team. All the team played great with some strong attacks and brilliant tagging. We held our defence making it hard for Bury to break us down. A couple of our plays took some heavy knocks but both got up and carried on which was brilliant.

Match 2
St. Neots Cardinals 5 – 2 Newmarket
After no break from the first game the Cardinals flew straight out from the whistle and pressed Newmarket hard. We showed some great teamwork and was in full support of our attacking players ready if needed which helped us score some great Try’s! Newmarket didn’t give in and put a lot of pressure on our defensive line and made it hard for tagging.

Match 3
Woodbridge 7 – 4 St. Neots Cardinals
After a long break between matches we came face to face with a very good team in nearly identical colours. This made it difficult to start. Woodbridge were on the attack straight away but the Cardinals didn’t give up still trying hard to score and keep us in the running. Unfortunally for the Cardinals Woodbridge were very strong team and held there defence well making it very hard for us to breakthrough and score.

Match 4
Ipswich 3 – 3 St. Neots Cardinals
This was a well matched game. Both teams had, had a busy day of matches but the Cardinals still showed a lot of passion and great teamwork. They all worked together to put in some great trys. They also held there defence and made it hard for Ipswich to score. Ipswich were pressing hard in the second half but some great tagging by all the team ment they couldn’t get through and started to tire allowing us to get the last try in to draw the game.

Overall
Today showed to us all how far the whole team has come over the last couple of months. I was blown away with their team work, respect and great sportsmanship. Not only this but there Rugby was the best I have seen them play which was fantastic. I was very proud of them all and they should be very proud of themselves.
A big thanks to everyone who braved the weather and big thanks to Andy for helping me out today.

Well done to Zac for scoring his 1st try today. Many more to come!!
Also a huge well done to our 3 players of the day, Zac, Stanley and William.

WELL DONE ST.NEOTS U8’s!!!!!!!

BURY ST EDMUNDS FESTIVAL
14/10/18
Introduction
Before leaving St Neots the weather looked terrible and I was absolutely soaked just loading up the car with all of the kit. It did not look like it was going to be fun but luckily the rain relented for most of the day and only hit us with a few heavy showers.
The mood was lifted even more when I was able to drive straight into the car park (rather than walking miles up the hill) and also Michael Bonnick had already put up the welcoming gazebo to provide shelter. GOOD MAN!!
Everybody arrived that had confirmed they were playing which is also a bonus. There was some minor drama when Charlie Pirrie decided that he was so fast on the rugby pitch he was going to give the other teams a chance by playing in his wellyboots. Cue his dad frantically trying to buy a pair of boots from a local Sports direct.
SAINTS
Freddie Wilson, William Hassouneh, EvieAmiss Smith, Jack Bonnick, Charlie Pirrie, Harry Noonan
MATCH 1 – ST NEOTS SAINTS 5 COLCHESTER 5trysEvie 2, Freddie 1, William 1, Charlie 1
St Neots started the match well and Evie finished off a couple of fantastic runs from both Harry and Charlie. Some great running aided by some fantastic support play.
William was captaining the team for the first time this season and he commanded the team brilliantly. His shouting when organising the defensive line was impressive to the point that I was able to shut up for once. (Positive for everybody.)
Harry and Jacks defensive play was awesome and they were great at disrupting the Colchester attacks. The tagging was good on its own but the speed in which the team re organised the defensive line is better than its been all season.
The highlight of a great match was Freddie Wilsons 360 spin to avoid a tackle and then a speedy diagonal run into the corner. A little bit proud as we were discussing this tactic on the way to the festival and Freddie actually listened rather than the normal ignoring everything his annoying dad has to say.
MATCH 2 – ST NEOTS SAINTS 4 IPSWICH 6trysEvie 2, Freddie 1, William 1
St Neots gave it their all but with no break between games and this game coupled with no substitutes fatigue soon set in. Each player played their hearts out but even the Ref commented on how tired the players looked.
Jack was great in the middle of the field and made a nuisance of himself disrupting every attack made by Ipswich. Under 9s cant come fast enough for Jack. The one player we will have no concerns with when the team learn tackling, his stopping of the Ipswich attacks were “robust” to say the least.
Harry Noonan captained and organised the team a little more quietly than William had previously but equally as good.
Charlie, whose speed is something to behold once he gets going was frustrated by the good defensive work of Ipswich and he struggled to get out of the crowd and onto the wings to use his speed.
Evie, Freddie and William were able to score break away tries but 2 games in a row had taken its toll.
MATCH 3 ST NEOTS SAINTS 5 WISBECH 5trysEvie 2, Stanley 2, Freddie 1
It was Jacks turn to captain the team. Fantastic organising and another reason I might still have a voice at the end of each festival this season.
St Neots flew out of the starting blocks and scored 3 unanswered trys through Evie and Freddie. All 3 trys were fantastic because they all involved runs from Charlie, Harry and William to gain field position before great off loads to evie and Freddie who just had to finish the moves off.
Wisbechs speedster was making a mazy run across the field and it looked like he had got through running down the line until Freddie launched himself and came out the other side with the tag firmly in his hand. Unfortunately whilst making the flying tackle William, who was chasing back, managed to catch Freddie with his boot just above the eye. Freddie was okay but going to have a lovely black eye tomorrow. Great teamwork was shown when Jack Bonnick ran across the field to help Freddie back to his feet.
With no subs and myself tending to Freddie we had to make a coach and player substitution with Stu Newbold and Stanley Newbold stepping in to help out.
Saints now had a speedster of our own and Stanley managed to run through the whole of the Wisbech team to run in 2 trys to help the team out in the second half.
MATCH 4 ST NEOTS SAINTS 7 BURY ST EDMUNDS 5 trysevie 4, Freddie 1, Harry 1, Charlie 1
The last game allowed St Neots to play by far their best rugby of the day. The saints have always been a team that can score plenty of tries but the defence has required work. This game showed how far the team has advanced with regards to defence.
Everybody played their part when defending. Just before half time St Neots put up their best defensive display all day. 8 tags in a row (each St Neots player getting at least 1 tag each) stopped Bury from scoring and left the field scattered with bury players tags. Both Burys coach and the referee commented that it was the best defensive display they had seen all day.
The attacking and offloading was brilliant and while Evie scored 4 great trys the team didn’t have to rely on Evies normal runs from our own try line. Freddie, Harry, William, Jack and Charlie made runs that allowed them to offload and Evie to finish off the hard work.
Harry Noonan finished the match with a try in the corner which was more than deserved based on his hard work in all four matches.
The big smiles on everybody’s faces while the medals were handed out showed that parents and players had all had an enjoyable day. More impressive was the fantastic sportsmanship shown by the Saints and Cardinals applauding all teams until each player had a medal around their neck.

Match details

Match date

Sun 14 Oct 2018

Kickoff

10:00

Team overview