Old Wimbledonians Mini Rugby - Every Sunday Morning From 9:30

Why Not Come Along This Sunday?

Mini rugby at the Old Wimbledonians takes place each Sunday morning from 9:30am

Boys and girls of all shapes, sizes and abilities are invited to join one of four teams: U10, U9, U8 (incl U7) and U6.

All coaches are fully RFU qualified and CRB screened and all players are fully insured through the RFU.

Coaching sessions and matches take place on the Old Wimbledonian's fantastic pitches and the clubhouse will be open for refreshments.

Over 50 children are currently attending Sunday morning sessions at the club and the the under 10s had their first competitive fixture early in October at the Guildfordian Festival, performing with courage and commitment to register two wins from four games - a fantastic result for all involved!

How To Get Involved

Getting involved couldn't be simpler - either come on down to the Old Wimbledonians on a Sunday morning from 9:30am or email the Minis team at minis@owrugbyclub.co.uk with any questions or queries that you may have.

Latest News From The Old Wimbledonian Warriors

Minis Report of 14th December from Roger Brosch:
What a terrific weekend of rugby, topped off by a fabulous Warriors Christmas Lunch attended by over 90 Warriors players and parent. The morning saw the Warriors U6, U7, U8 and U9/10 teams take on the development squads of Rosslyn Park who boast over 40 players in each of their age categories making this a terrific challenge and an excellent benchmark of the progress that the boys have made.

The afternoon saw a wonderful Christmas dinner excellently prepared and served by Gill and her crew. The food was delicious and the day was topped off by a surprise appearance of Santa himself bearing gifts for all the conquering Warriors! Please see the coaches' reports below:

U9/U10 - Terry Baxter:
Another committed performance from the U9/10 squad against a Rosslyn Park development squad. As coach it was a nervous morning, as Park have a very large mini section and even a developmental squad could have been a real challenge. However, the Warriors showed great team spirit to win their match by 8 tries to 2. The tackling by the Warriors was fearsome and well done especially to Joe Brosch, Alex Line, Shaun McCarville and Thomas Baxter in this regard.

However, the whole team seems to be tackling much better, which is great to see. At times Park were unable to deal with the pace and power of the Warriors in open play and the "streetwise techniques" used at the breakdowns meant we had plenty of possession. Louis Dunne played the game of his life scoring 4 tries with the opposition unable to halt his powerful runs. Well done, Louis.

Our forwards were dominant and scrumhalf Thomas Baxter helped himself to 3 tries with some strong and fast running. Paddy Jeffries scored another well-taken try following some good team support play. Again the under 9s in the squad played above themselves with Alex Line producing the hardest tackle of the game and was outstanding in defence. Well done to all the boys and thanks to all the parents for their help and support.

U8 - Pete Fokes:
Sunday saw the U8 Warriors host the mighty Rosslyn Park at Coombe Lane. The Reputation of the opposition gave the match an extra dimension and as both teams met before the Joint training session it was clear there were a few nerves in the Warriors camp as they eyed up the quality of their opposite numbers. Once again the joint training session set the scene for the matchthat followed and the competitive streaks of both sides began to come to the fore.

Having run through a number of running and passing drills to warm up the sides split to prepare for the game. Park won the toss and started the game but it took the Warriors time to settle and, as they showed Park a little too much respect, they allowed them to take an early lead. From the restart though the Warriors began to show their quality and with some strong running and passing their confidence began to grow.

Good running from Edward, Samuel, Rory and George took play deep into the opposition half and with the boys moving the ball wide it came to Finley to scamper over to open the Warriors account and level the scores. From the restart the Warriors defence began to take a stranglehold on the opposition, one which they wouldn't relinquish for the remainder of the game.

Led brilliantly by captain for the day, Ben, and ably assisted by Finley, the "blitz" defence system began to ask questions of the opposition and time and again the Warriors began to benefit from enforced errors. The first of which gave Finley a long-range run for the line. As the defence gave chase he made a final surge for the corner, however a last ditch "tackle" saw him fall over the line and resulted unfortunately in the try being disallowed. Not to be disillusioned Matthew, Max and our "on loan" guest player from Park, Austin, combined well and soon the Warriors took the lead with a well-deserved score on the stroke of halftime.

It was clear the Warriors were on the verge of something special despite the cold and wet conditions and straight after the break the boys began to terrorise the opposition. Either in attack or defence they took the upper hand and began to score at will with Edward, Rory and Ben all crossing the whitewash.

The moment of the match came as Park knocked on just inside the Warriors half. The ball was moved swiftly through several sets of hands from Ben, Matthew and Samuel to find Edward on the left wing who pinned his ears back and went for the line. As defence scrambled back he quickly moved the ball inside to find the support runners of Rory and George who, with a neat pop pass, found Max running from deep dissecting the defence for the score that almost looked professional!!

The final 6-1 result was thoroughly deserved and the terrier-like defence showed by all the boys, particularly in the second half, gave the Warriors the platform to build their attacks and finish 2008 undefeated. Congratulations to all the boys involved.

U7 - Richard Travers:
The U7s hosted their first session of the season at home against an established Rosslyn Park side. We trained hard in yet more cold conditions before moving on to another mixed game. Our boys performed well and the Rosslyn Park coaches were very impressed with the overall standard.

They also picked out Felix Jefferies, Jack Burke, Paul Wilkinson and Joseph Waymouth for special praise, so well done in particular to those boys. Big Rich and I have thoroughly enjoyed this first term and hope the boys have too! There has been much improvement and we are both looking forward to them developing further in the New Year.

U6 - Frank McGarry:
We got off to a good start holding our defensive line and forcing Park to make a number of passes with outstanding tagging from Ben and Johnny, but the Warriors' defence could not hold out and Park broke through to score. Then Charlie firstly evened the score with a break down the left and then moved the U6s ahead with another score.

Some outstanding passing and tagging from the whole team with Ewan covering a lot of ground and driving to take tags left, right and centre. Despite this commitment, Park managed to even the score again to bring us into halftime at 2 all.

The second half the Warriors regained the lead with a jinking run from James and then following another score, extended the lead to 4-2. A number of tactical substitutions to bring

on fresh legs increased the pace of attack and defence but following 2 tries from the visitors the game ended at 4 a piece.

The second match started less well with Park running in 2 quick tries before the Warriors' defence managed to get settled. It was noticeable that the teams weren't evenly matched and the visitors managed to extend their lead with another score before halftime.

A number of tactical substitutions needed to be made and in the second half we held the Park side at bay with the half remaining scoreless. Park won the second match 3-0. Again the commitment and energy we showed during their match was noteworthy. There was also great encouragement from the parents on the touchline.

Very well done to all the boys who showed great commitment, team spirit and lots of skill in achieving some great results against very strong opposition who were very complimentary about all our players, particularly how sporting they were.

This Sunday (21st December 2008) we have training as normal and the U9/10s host a Wimbledon squad for joint training and a match.