Penclawdd vs Mumbles Pirates 30 September

Kick-off on Sunday is at 10.30am, so meet at 10.00am (let's see if we can all start warming up then).  The match is on the rec (main pitch next to Penclawdd clubhouse and you can find directions http://www.penclawddrfc.org.uk/location/location.html).  Starting team for Sunday:

1  Josh    2  Matt S  3  Connor
  4  Matt G    5 Tom T
6 Tal     8  Luke   7 Jake C
9 Liam   10 Rhydd
12   Tommy  13 Rory
11 Will L   15  Will M   14  Owen

It was a good effort at training on Tuesday, particularly in the committed mini-games at the end of the session. This week we are trying to spread around the starts and we will rotate the players on to get everyone as much game time as possible.  So anyone not listed above turn up ready to play, as last week.  There are a few players who haven't started a game yet and you'll be first in the pecking order for the next game.   It's difficult to spread out the playing time as we have more backs than forwards so if anyone wants to play some games in the forwards you're likely to get some more game time.  For the game we will need to stop their no. 10 who has scored a lot against us in previous years, so 7, 10, 12, 13 in particular will really have to work hard closing down his space from the start, but we can talk about that during warm up on Sunday.  Warm up starts at 10am.

Training Tuesday 6pm

As it's forecast to be raining heavily tonight we will meet at the changing rooms at Underhill so we can do our  team talks inside.  Ready to start at 6pm, see you there.

Mumbles Pirates v South Gower

The visitors to Underhill Park this Sunday were the ever combative team from South Gower.  Another hard fought local derby was fought out in the rain on the slopes of the junior pitch.  The Pirates fought hard, but a few lapses in concentration allowed the visitors some easy tries to gain a lead of 21-0 with a few minutes to play.  At that's where it finished. There was an animated conversation with the South Gower coaching team and the match finished with a few minutes to play [let me know if the official record is something different to this].

Anyway after being on the wrong end of 8 and 10 try thrashings last year this match was a huge step up by the team, including a very committed physical performance. It bodes well for the return fixture and the rest of the season.  Player of the week was Connor with a very committed performance.

Training on Tuesday at 6pm at Underhill park.  Let's have some focus and see if we can build on the week-end's performance.

Team for Sunday

The starting team for Sunday will be:

1 Josh     2 Sean M    3 Cian
4  Connor    5  Tom B
6  Matt S   8 Tom T  7 Tal
9  Morgan  10 Jake S
12 Jake C  13 Tommy
11 Jon  15 Will  14 Sean A

Everyone else will be subbed on as normal so everyone gets a game.

Pirates vs South Gower, Underhill Park, Sunday 23 September 10.30am

The match on Sunday (23 September 2012) is against South Gower.  We are at home at Underhill Park on the junior pitch.  Meet at 10.00am for a 10.30am kick-off (remember the car park gets busy with all the tiny footballers).

Switch pass

Here's a note on the switch pass we practiced at training.

Base (or scrum half) pass

Here's what we did on Sunday with the base (or scrum half) pass.  A few more key points to practice and check the body shape from the photos.

Training tonight, Tuesday starting at 6

Training tonight, starting at 6, finishing at 7.  Junior pitch (nearest car park) Underhill Park.  The match on Sunday will be versus South Gower and will be at home at Underhill Park.

Training Sunday and practice match, Underhill Park 10.30

No opponents for Sunday so we will train at Underhill at 10.30am, same pitch as Tuesday training.  Start at 10.30, work through some techniques and finish with a practice match on the full pitch.

Training Tuesday 11 September, 6pm

The Pirates lost a close contest against Dunvant on Sunday, losing by 17-10 after a very entertaining encounter.  The team showed a much improved performance.

Training on Tuesday is a 6pm start with the first team coach, so be ready to start at 6.  Training finishes at 7pm, but after training we will have a short kicking contest 15-20 minutes for anyone who wants to take part.

Dunvant vs Mumbles Pirates, Sunday 10.30am

The match on Sunday is at Dunvant.  Kick-off is 10:30 so we meet at 10:00.  We beat them twice last year and we'll need to start well if we are to beat them again.

Training tonight at 6pm

Try and get there before to get your boots on so we can make a quick start.

Pirates v Loughor

A quick start to the season for the Pirates with a visit from Loughor.  It was a case of in at the deep end with limited practice before the season.  Some good sections of play undermined by the usual culprit of poor tackling gifting simple tries to the visitors.  A better second half saw the Pirates in the Loughor half for much of the time culminating in the final try fromWill and a scoreline of 7-27.  Much to work on against a physically similar Loughor team who were more focussed.

Training on Tuesday at 6pm.

Match vs Loughor is on