Malvern RFC

This week we must all give credit to our fixtures secretary Dave Blinston. Sorting the logistics of so many of our teams having home fixtures against Upton (due to Upton’s pitches being somewhat boggy!) and training must have taken hours. Our pitch inspector, Joe Wilks, also deserves significant credit for his work in getting the pitches ready on Sunday morning after last week’s rain so that the fixtures could go ahead.

U16s
Cancellations seem to be a feature of the rugby landscape at the moment. Weather. Fixture double-booking. Waterlogged pitches. Club bonfire night. Teams folding. Enough players. Competing demands.
Actually, ‘enough players’ is proving not to be a problem for MRFC U16s at the moment.
Contrary to the experience of some clubs, there are as many 30 players (including the injured, the occasional and the inexperienced) for coaches Stuart, Darrel, Simon and Justin to draw upon, not only on match-day Sundays, but also on Wednesdays when 20-or-so will turn out under the floodlights for an hour. As if to prove the point, an additional possibly-interested new player joined in today, just as did another one three or so weeks ago.
In rugby at this age-group, the right players covering the right positions is pretty much essential. Specialisation is being developed, and whilst flexibility is definitely still encouraged, sometimes the effectiveness of a specific coaching intervention can be undermined by not having the right player skills available.
Today, happily, the eleven forwards involved covered most key roles and so allowed for some useful scrum technique coaching, along with practising lineout moves - both items that have already translated positively into competitive matches this season.
For the ten backs present, the focus was on defensive organisation - sometimes not the most exciting work, but something again though that pays off by increasing match competitiveness.
Backs and forwards latterly came together for initially unopposed drills - but it’s the 20 minutes of full-contact opposed game-time that’s really what this group would rip into all session if they had the chance… But there are competing demands on the training time.
Just as there are competing demands on these U16s’ time outside of rugby. Remembrance Day parades for Services cadets. Family priorities. Real-life demands on coaches’ time. Imminent GCSE mocks.
The next few weeks might be difficult - but it’s pretty sure that there should be decent enough numbers on Sundays (and Wednesdays) to provide worthwhile training sessions as these players continue to develop.
Dai M

U14
Who Cares Wins!
Malvern U14s v Upton U14s,
17 - 27
Always great to host Upton at Spring Lane. Malvern were prepared with a new squad and ready to play heads-up rugby against a respected opposition. Malvern’s new players turned up in force to represent our great club and there was an air of expectation.

After a solid and professional warm up; Upton commented that Malvern looked in shape and were apprehensive about the outcome!
The first 20 minutes saw Malvern hold Upton in the opposition half with no letting up in both attack and defence. Malvern’s relentless tackling forced Upton errors to an eventual penalty which MRFC kicked from the 10 metre line to put us 3 - 0 ahead. The Gods were truly shining on us as a crowd of 200+ were witness to a fine open game of rugby!
Upton responded as expected by gifting ball to their huge runners up front whom finally managed to break the Malvern defence. Tackle after tackle saw Malvern eventually gift a penalty to Upton which was also successful from the 10 metre line to the delight of the Upton support. U14s kicking is certainly at a high level and a bar raiser at both clubs.
The second half saw a determined Upton side step up after a very vocal half time talk from the coaches. Their open flowing game finally came to the fray with some good line speed and hand speed out on display to run a few tries past Malvern whose awareness and alertness appeared somewhat diminished. However MRFC were not finished and a relentless assault on the Upton 22 saw a penalty awarded to Malvern and a panic attack try awarded against any drill practised on the training park. Sometimes we take what we can!
Upton ended deserved winners. The crowd were treated to a good game with a lot of positive reports received from both sides.
Mention in Despatches to the Malvern Front Row Committee who put in a great shift in a fast open game but also to the Back Row Club who were dynamic creating a menace all over for Upton.
The future is bright and the future is Maroon and Gold - so ‘look in’ for a ‘look out’ next fixture Upton!
One Vern!
John Penney

U8
On a beautiful morning at Spring Lane the U8s entertained both Upton and Droitwitch, in a tri series of games. With around 60 players it was great to see the game played with the values we work so hard on.
Massive credit for all coaches and parents for supporting the morning.
Also a big shout out to Joe Wilks and Dave Blinston for organising and making sure the morning went ahead.
Rob Cook

U7
Upton came to Malvern today due to pitch issues at their end, they were busy as they also brought Pershore so we hosted 2x fixtures today.
Malvern played two games against Upton and all players were motivated to do well. We were concentrating on pushing forward this week and our sidestepping and dodging against a good Upton side.
All the U7s ball-carrying and passing skills have improved due to the recent training sessions and brought this to the day’s games.
Excellent effort from all, and nice to see two brand new faces joining us this week. The team is growing and all players are having a lot of fun with it too!
Alex Simons

Girls
The girls team took part in the next training session with Three Counties Thunder (3CT), hosted by Evesham RFC. 3C Thunder are a combined Malvern, Upton, Ledbury Tewkesbury, Bredon and Evesham initiative to offer our players the opportunity to take part in age grade rugby matches by coming together to increase numbers, but still also representing our home clubs too. The high tempo training sessions focused on rucking skills, scrummaging, tackling and attacking lines. Players really enjoyed the sessions led by the coaches from each individual club. The morning finished off with a game to put the rucking practice into action. The girls are on track to play competitive contact rugby this season against established teams which is a fantastic goal we are working towards.
Scott Hughes

The whole of Malvern RFC is thriving at the moment which is exciting. Make sure you head on down to Spring Lane at weekends to watch whichever of our teams are in action!

#OneVern