Sunday 2nd November - Match vs Gowerton RFC NOW AT BISHOPSTON

EDIT: The 'home' match against Gowerton has been moved to Bishopston School Playing fields, due to Underhill being very busy with cup matches this Sunday. To get there, drive over the common past the garage and turn left into The Glebe, just before the hill goes down to Bishopston Valley. The School and Playing Fields are at the bottom of the Glebe. Gowerton have been informed, and the arrangements for timings remain as before....Please note for any sibling arrangements that the 8s, 9s, 10s, 11s and 13s will all be at Bishopston this week.

Our next match is this Sunday at HOME to Gowerton RFC. Gowerton will arrive at 10:30 with kick-off shortly afterwards. Please can we meet at 9:30 for a full training session before the match. Sorry about the late notice of the fixture, Gowerton have just returned my call.

The coaches (Rob, Ceri, Will and Alex) recently had a meeting and discussed, amongst other things, training or the lack of it due to so many fixtures. It was decided that in order to develop rugby skills, a full training session would be held before each home fixture, hence, the 9:30 start.

Match Report 19 October - Skewen

Great photos from Tony for the Skewen game - showing excellent two handed ball control (Elias to note!!). Hopefully this makes up for the poor commentary, as I missed most of the game.... The first half ended without score, but in the second half Skewen pulled way to finish 2-0. A small pitch with lots of players meant it was difficult to find space, but highlights the need for the team to drive forward with good support and accurate passing.

Will took away this week's player of the week award for an inspired and consistent contribution to this team this season. Could he and Liam both bring the trophies back next week!!

Sunday 26th October - Match vs Penclawdd RFC

Our next match is on Sunday 26th October away at Penclawdd. We will meet at their ground at 10:30 for a run around before the game kicks off at 11:00. Directions to the ground can be found here.

It's the first weekend of half-term and Ceri, Alex and Will are away so Rob will be looking after the team on his own. If there are any parents who could help out next weekend, I'm sure that Rob would greatly appreciate it.

Next Sunday - Skewen

We have been invited to Skewen for a match next Sunday. They have a thriving junior section so it should be a great morning out.

It is a bit of a trek, but if we could aim to get there for about 10:00 they have promised an early kick off (10:30) so we'll be back in good time. The Mumbles 7s, 8, 9, 10, and 11s are going, so there should be plenty of opportunity for car share and lifts.

It takes about 25 minutes to get there from Mumbles. Directions to Skewen rugby club can be found by clicking here. The ground is at Tennant Park (SA10 6HU) on the way to Neath. I think the best way to is all the way along Oystermouth Road and cross the river turning up towards Llansamlet (A217). Carry on to Llansamlet and turn right onto the A48 (towards the M4). When you get to the roundabout for the M4, take the exit to Skewen (4th exit A4230), after about a mile, take a right turn into Christopher Road, take the second right into Coombes road and then straightish on towards Charles Street. The club and playing fields will be in front of you. The club website is here.

Match Report 12 Oct - South Gower

Thanks to all the parents who got 20 boys (and Meg) down to South Gower on Sunday, despite a last minute cancellation by Bonymaen (apologies also for the last minute cancellation of the previous week's game against Fall Bay -we'll have to put some thought into how we communicate better in the future).

Another lovely day meant we got a good training session in before half the squad took on Swansea Uplands. Will and Freddie (first try of the season - well done) scored for the Pirates, good runs from Rhydian, Max, Connor and a great interception from Liam. Despite some great tagging the final score was 5-2 to Swansea Uplands.

The second squad met South Gower and were unable this time to cross the line. Thomas had a great run early in the game and Elias and Dylan both showed good speed down the pitch. The team all tagged well, with Josh picking up the Player of the Week award for crucial tags leading to turnovers for Mumbles.

Both sets of opposition showed excellent defence, which we found very difficult to penetrate. This is a good lesson for us in maintaining the defensive line throughout the game, not just at the start of a play. We also lost possession a number of times, so we need to to think about our passing and picking up loose ball.

See you all on Sunday to work on this!

Sunday 12th October - Match vs Bonymaen

The match against Bonymaen tommorrow has been CANCELLED. We received a telephone call on Saturday evening saying that they do not have an U8's team ...... why they left it until so late to tell us is anybody's guess!!

We have a match tomorrow against South Gower RFC. Could the whole U8 squad (in other words: Bonymaen squad to South Gower) meet at the South Gower ground at 10:00 for a 10:30 kick-off. Directions can be found here: South Gower RFC .

Subs and Registration Due

All Players - please make sure you have completed the standing order form for the team subs. If you haven't got a form, ask one of the coaches. You can take the form directly to your bank. Or bring it to Mike down the park. Better still, if you have internet banking you can set it up at home using our details from the form.

New Players - please make sure you have filled in the Registration form. Return it to your coach asap.

Sunday 12th October

There are two matches this Sunday against Bonymaen and South Gower both away from home. Bonymaen only have a small squad of U8's which would have meant only a few minutes game time for each of the players, so we've decided to split the squad to give everybody a full match.

Bonymaen Squad
The match is away at Bonymaen, meet at their ground at 10:30 for an 11:00 kick-off. Directions to their ground can be found towards the bottom of this link. The squad is:
Max Bowyer
Cai Beynon-Lloyd
Connor Mort
Connor O'Shea
Elias Ash
Ethan Bippus
Freddie Bull
Joshua Bottomley
Max Phillips
Rhydian Davies
Sean Morgan
Tomasz Bielak


South Gower squad
The match is away at South Gower, meet at their ground at 10:00 for a 10:30 kick-off. Directions to South Gower can be found on their website South Gower RFC. The squad is:
Alex Dunstan
Dylan Taylor
Ioan House
James Fender
Liam Taylor
Matthew Gully
Megan Ferguson
Ryan Cole
Tal Edwards
Thomas Truscot
Tomos Alderman
Will Mellowship

My apologies if I have left anybody out. Give me a call if I have left you out or if there any problems or queries.