14 October is a day that will live long in my memory for a number of reasons. As Head Coach Rob and I tried to regain normal body temperature in the clubhouse bar afterwards, we both felt very moved by the fantastic support provided by the parents and coaches at the festival. Thanks to each and every one of you. Every child available and selected to play on Sunday turned up despite atrocious weather conditions and proudly represented A&C RFC. I think nearly all of them enjoyed it as well! This level of commitment sets our club aside from others and we are truly grateful to you all for your support. Whilst some other clubs failed to field the teams they entered, A&C fielded all five of ours and could have made six if we had reduced our substitutes.

The children have taken to competitive rugby like ducks to water (more so yesterday) and it has been so exciting to see them display their skills in real matches. This competitive challenge has really brought out the best in all of them and their play, individually and collectively has improved enormously. It is unfair on the group to pick out individual players for special praise but I have to recount to you one amazing example of instinctive skill I saw when refereeing the Sharks yesterday. Josh Hollins received the ball deep in the left field. He immediately attacked through the midfield and, with one simple step to the left, stopped the covering defence in its tracks. Josh then swept on to score, untouched, in the right corner. This was pure instinct (we definitely didn’t coach him to do that!) and, along with the other countless examples of “proper rugby” that I saw from all our teams, made me feel so proud of our young superstars and the progress they have made. I hope you feel the same too.

These last three weeks have given the coaching team a fascinating insight into the amazing strength of our squad. When we return to normal training (remember that?) we have lots of areas to address. Many of these include focussing on teamwork in both offensive and defensive situations. This will be very important and we increase the size of pitches and number of players in the coming years.