By Megan Martin
Sunday 6th April saw The Llandaff North Hornets welcomed at Llanishen Park to take on the Llanishen U8s (apparently). There is clearly something in the water in Llanishen and many of our spectators (jokingly) called to see player’s identity cards as possibly the largest U8’s side in the league took to the field. However our plucky nine weren’t intimidated and were keen to play some exciting rugby on this cold, damp morning.
Captain for the day Ed Maguire had obviously put on his running boots for the day making his presence felt all over the pitch. Impressively Ed could be seen chasing down players right to the bitter end, never giving up on the chance to grab that tag! This is something Coach Dominic Scoble is infamous for (tackling not tagging though), and I’m sure Ed notched up plenty of brownie points from his Coach for this show of steely determination!
Top tagging was definitely the order of the day, with the Hornets showing some awesome defensive skills. Niall Moore continued to concentrate on his defensive game this week resulting in another notable tagging performance. Niall also crossed the line to score in the first game showing what a utility player he can be. Daniel McCallum enthralled the crowd with some tremendous side stepping, he also showed fantastic skill with some calm and focused passing to team mates. Fraser Britton decided to make a real nuisance of himself to the Llanishen players too with some brilliant tagging, utilising his favourite rush defensive move from every kick off. Freddie Blackmore, fresh from a week off, had a great game all round. Freddie was also on top defensive form grabbing as many tags as he can. He also offered his team mates plenty of options with his superb supportive play which allowed him touch the ball down for the Hornets only try in the second game. Darragh Healy again excelled in his supportive play, making his way around the pitch Ninja style always there when his team mates need him. Caleb Richards had another magnificent game as well. Is there anything he can’t do? Taking his defensive duties seriously and showing great support to all his team mates and being the Hornets leading try scorer for a second week in a row, scoring 5 of the 6 first game tries.
Special mentions also go to William Greenaway-Parry for playing a full two games with an arm injury sustained whilst cartwheeling the day before. William showed real team spirit with his running and supportive play despite the swelling in his arm. The Hornets also welcomed back Morgan Thompson with open arms and numerous high fives! After a rest period Morgan got stuck straight back into the game and presented the team some exhilarating running options.
The Hornets, most of whom are playing up a year group, all put in an impressive performance against two suspiciously over-developed Llanishen sides ☺. The team showed real commitment and team work and the end score line did not reflect the effort that was displayed. The Coaches were really proud of the team who conducted themselves in a very sportsman like way throughout the whole match and, most importantly, all came off with smiles on their faces. Player of the Day went to Fraser Britton.
Final Score
Match 1 = LN 6 – L 9
Match 2 = LN 1 – L 6
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