Playing Squad Reports – AGM 2016 Lutterworth RFC

Contents – Team reports o 1st XV – Steve Russell o Ladies – Adam Lawrence o 3rd XV – Del Marsh o Colts – Leon Brown o U16 – Mike White o U15 – Kevin Jones o U14 – Nick Hutt o U12 – Helen Scutt o U10 – Daniel Siddons o U8 – Craig Dyke o U13/U15 Girls – Debbie Bucknall

1st XV (Manager; Steve Russell)

Pre-season seems to come round quickly. Overall numbers attending were good and the lads seemed to enjoy it. Sadly we'd lost a couple of players to other clubs in the closed season but on the plus side, we'd also gained players, some returning to the club having played at a higher level and several making the successful transition from Colts to Seniors. We'd further swell the ranks recruiting throughout the season, all of these players being key to the performance of the 1st XV in the League.

2 pre-season games were arranged, Leamington at home and Daventry away with both fixtures resulting in a win for Lutterworth.

On to the season properly now and the obligatory first and last games of the season against Olney. In previous years we'd played away in September and at home in April but this had been changed in favour of a home fixture to kick the season off. We'd lost to Olney twice last season and were keen to make an impression, comfortable winners in the end, 32 - 16. A bonus point win and a great start to the league.

Off to Peterborough next in reasonably confident mood. We played all the rugby in the first half but at the break, found ourselves down 19 - 7. The 2nd half started badly and with 55 minutes played we were 45 - 7 down. The lads then dug in and started to play with flair against a tiring Peterborough side. Our fitness proved key and helped us to score 31 unanswered points in the final 5 minutes, final score 45 - 38. Relief on the faces of the home side players and supporters alike. If the game had continued, I'm sure Lutterworth would have won. We snuck 2 all important bonus points helping to keep us towards the top of the league table.

Back to Ashby Lane the following week against Rushden & Higham, a side promoted to South at the end of last season. A delight for the home support saw Lutts score 11 tries to 1 with Nick Southern scoring a hat trick, resulting in a 73 - 10 rout and helping to consolidate our league position.

A week off then Belgrave away! Never an easy place to go and having been relegated at the end of last season they were obviously going to provide some stiff opposition. The lads played a clinical game, were

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fitter and faster than Belgrave, scored 6 tries to Belgrave's 2 and were comfortable winners 15 - 39. Biggleswade next, a team that lost to Lutts at home but just beat us away last season. Lutterworth bagged 8 tries and dominated their opposition to win 46 - 8.

Into November now and a visit to Leicester Forest, a team that always proves to have a dominant pack but this season they seemed unable to perform like the Forest of old, or perhaps is was just Lutts were so much better. Another 6 tries scored and easy victors 10 - 38. We seemed to be scoring tries for fun now as Vipers were next on the receiving end, Lutterworth 39, Viper 0!

The League was starting to take shape now. A 3 horse race between Lutterworth, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough with Melton top of the table and unbeaten, Lutterworth and Harborough swapping between 2nd and 3rd on a weekly basis and with Harborough the next opponents to visit Ashby Lane. Without a doubt the best side we'd played to date. Lutts started well with a try after concerted pressure from the kick off but Harborough were quick to reply and were 5 - 15 up at the break. I will say, and it is only my opinion, but the Harborough pack were in no way a match for the Lutterworth 8. Instead it was the visitor's backs that had given them the lead and kept them in the game. The 2nd half was a tight affair. Harborough unable to score again and when the visitors infringed in the dying moments of the game, up stepped Robin Eager to convert the penalty and gift Lutterworth the win 16 -15.

December now and an away trip to Melton Mowbray on an unbelievably blustery day. Lutterworth started well and had the home side on the ropes but Melton eventually gathered their composer and fought back to win 36 - 17. Our 2nd defeat of the League so far.

Oadby Wyggs then made the short journey to Ashby Lane. A side who were currently sat 4th in Mids 2 East South, waiting for the top 3 sides to slip up. Wyggs is never an easy fixture but we snuck the win 22 - 11 and scored 4 tries giving us another all important bonus point. The last game of 2015 and with confidence running high, an away trip to Oakham, a side who we dominated 12 - 47 away the previous season. From the off Lutterworth played with flair and pace and the home side were truly floundering with both home and away supporters predicting a cricket score! What went wrong I don't know and it was truly against the script but in the end Lutterworth found themselves beaten 24 - 21 after a pretty poor performance against a side that dug deep to get the win. The only consolation was the losing bonus point but perhaps not the best result to finish the year on. At least we were still in the league running, comfortably holding 3rd position, although we'd dropped back a little from the league leaders.

Christmas out the way and a home draw against Market Harborough in the County Cup, it wasn't the best of performances to be fair and we went down 20 - 39 and out of the competition. A point worth mentioning is this is the only time we'd lose at home all season, unbeaten at Ashby Lane in the League. Normal service resumed the following week at home versus Peterborough and a point to prove losing away in the first half of the season. A dominant Lutts performance resulted in an easy 38 - 5 win with 5 tries scored helping to add to the bonus points.

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A week off and then another home fixture, this one against Belgrave who certainly came to prove a point playing their usual physical game, with Lutterworth picking up 3 early injuries in the first 15 minutes and all replacements used things weren't looking great. Fortunately, despite the early set backs, the lads dug in, scored another 5 tries and grabbed the spoils 25 - 17.

End of January and we needed nothing less than a win away from home against Biggleswade to keep league hopes alive. Well, another 11 tries scored and total domination of the home side saw Lutts thrash Biggleswade away from home 0 - 61! Credit to Biggleswade who didn't give up until the final whistle.

Another away fixture the following week against Rushden & Higham who had started to find form of late and according to their coach, were reasonably confident they'd win on home turf.. Playing with the slope and in difficult conditions the visitors started well and at half time were up 5 - 26. We'd scored 4 tries in the first 40 so the bonus point win looked safe but the 2nd half was certainly a different affair. Rushden now playing with the gradient, launched wave after wave of attack with sterling defence being the only thing to keep the home side at bay. Lutts worthy winners 15 - 26 after an incredibly physical encounter.

Leicester Forest at home was next on the agenda and although they were floundering at the bottom of the league table they'd had some mixed results to date. The visitors started well scoring a try perhaps against the run of play but it definitely was a wake up call for the lads. The opposition failed to score again for the rest of the afternoon and Lutts scored an impressive 10 tries to the visitors 1, Olly Jempson bagging a hat trick to finish the game 69 - 7.

A short trip down the A426 to Vipers next who were probably still licking their wounds from the 39 - 0 drubbing they received at Ashby Lane in November of last year. The home side didn't allow Lutterworth to play their normal game and although Vipers didn't score a single point they made it incredibly difficult for Lutts to get the 4 tries and the bonus point win needed to keep League hopes alive. Stand up 1st XV Captain Joe Sullivan who really did put his body on the line and show a bit of magic to touch down in the corner in the last play of the game to give Lutterworth the 4 tries needed and the win 0 - 24.

The eagerly awaited trip to face Market Harborough was the next fixture on the cards and as Melton Mowbray were still unbeaten this game was likely to be the decider for the league runners up spot. Again, the home side were unable to live with the Lutterworth pack and were lucky on numerous occasions not to lose players for repeated infringements and cynical play. As before Harborough's backs looked dangerous and scored more often than not out wide from Lutterworth's defensive errors. The boot of Number 10 Dave Lote had helped to keep us in the game scoring 5 penalties before he was replaced, injured. With Harborough ahead 17 - 15, the clock ticking down and the final moments of the game the home side had repelled wave after wave of Lutterworth attack. A penalty awarded directly in front of the posts, 25 yards out and de ja vue from the earlier league encounter with Harborough. This time it just wasn't meant to be though and the ball sailed wide of the uprights to give Harborough the spoils with the score remaining the same, cementing their position in the league. The lads never gave up all afternoon and the look of bitter disappointment on all their faces after the game said it all.

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A week off gave a welcome break and a time for the lads to move on and focus on the job in hand before facing unbeaten Melton Mowbray the following week. Well what a game that was! I'm obviously biased but the 16 - 7 win is truly no indication of who the better side was on the day and certainly doesn't reflect how well Lutterworth played for the full 80. It also put an end to Melton Mowbray's 22 month unbeaten run! YES!! This victory helped rekindle league aspirations but it wasn't just down to us, we needed Melton to beat Harborough after the Easter break.

April now and the season is fast drawing to a close. Only 3 league games left to play, 1 at home and 2 away. The lads realised they needed 3 bonus point wins out of the remaining 3 games to stand any chance of that all important play-off place. Lutterworth were definitely playing with a confidence, with a belief in themselves and in each other and looked able to sweep all aside. First on the agenda were Oadby Wyggs away. Never an easy fixture and with it all hanging in the balance the lads played some superb rugby on a hot and sunny afternoon which probably helped our cause, scoring 6 tries to run out worthy winners 24 - 41. Even more good news that afternoon, Melton had beaten Harborough comfortably 37 - 7 so we now found ourselves back up to 2nd in the league.

Oakham at home next and I for one wanted retribution from a poor performance away from home just before Christmas. Well what an afternoon of rugby for the Lutterworth supporters! 10 home tries to the opposition's 1. Worthy 62 - 5 winners with Mark Barber and Captain Joe Sullivan both scoring hat tricks. Mark Barber even trying to emulate Chris Ashton's swallow dive with one of his tries!

It was still going down to the wire with Lutts needing an away win in the last game of the season against Olney. The usually vocal Olney supporters were silenced by a text book performance from Lutterworth. another 10 tries to the visitors, Ben Stone scoring 4 helping to seal the victory 15 - 63 and secure the runners up spot in Midlands 2 East South.

League Play off

Lutterworth had the advantage of a home playoff as we'd amassed 14 more points in the league than opponents West Bridgford. Lutterworth 92 West Bridgford 78

A large crowd gathered to cheer both sides on to possible promotion. Lutterworth started the game playing at a phenomenal rate with the opposition looking totally shell shocked. 21 - 5 at half time. The second half started as we'd left off, another 6 tries scored in total and more than worthy winners 43 - 17.

Overall

Congratulations to everyone on a hugely successful season all in all. We've had tears and we've had joy on occasions but this result means promotion for the coming season and work in the background has already begun to allow us to hopefully consolidate our position in , this being the highest level the 1st XV has ever competed at to date.

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I'd like to wish all the players every success in the future.

1st XV coaches

Head Coach...... Dave Johnson Forwards Coach...... Marcus Stevens Backs Coach...... Ivan Bills Fitness & conditioning coach...... Steve Lamb

Statistics

Total (League & Cup) P W D L 23 18 0 5 Points for = 841 Points against = 341

League only (Midlands 2 East South) P W D L 22 18 0 4 Points for = 821 Points against = 302

- We scored 347 more points and conceded 71 less points than last season - Finished the season 2nd in the league qualify for home playoff v's West Bridgeford. - Unbeaten in the league at home. - Most points scored in the league 40 more than league leaders Melton. - 2nd best defense in the league behind Melton. We actually finished the season on exactly the same points difference. - Scored 212 points more and conceded 68 points less than Market Harborough who finished 3rd. - Accumulated a total of 20 bonus points - highest in the league. - 17 try bonus points and 3 losing bonus points awarded - Broke Melton Mowbrays 22 month unbeaten record beating them 16 – 7 at home

Midlands 2 East playoff: Lutterworth 43 - 17 West Bridgford Promotion to Midlands 1 East for season 2016/17

Leicestershire County Cup Lost at home to Market Harborough 20 - 39 this was the only home defeat all season

The Season - In total 41 different players represented the 1st XV this season - 7 players have played between 15 to 19 games - 7 players have played in 20 or more games

Games Played

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- All 23 games: Joe Sullivan, John Oates & Josh Connor - 22: James Thomas & Charlie Turner - 21: Joe Benjamin & Brad Pell - 19: Adam Welsh, Ed Garner & Olly Jempson

WELL DONE LADS

Points scored - Total 135 tries scored throughout the season (72 we scored last season)

Top try scorers Points scored - Nick Southern – 20 - Nick Southern – 100 - Joe Sullivan – 16 - Brad Pell – 86 - Olly Jempson – 14 - Joe Sullivan – 80 - Joe Benjamin - 12 - Olly Jempson - 70

Man of the match - 16 different players were awarded M.O.M with 5 players receiving it on more than 1 occasion - 2: Adam Welsh, Charlie Turner, James Thomas, Nick Southern & Olly Jempson - 4: Ben Stone (having only played 8 games)

1st XV debuts (11 players) - Joe Benjamin - 21 games played (Colt last season) - Ed Garner - !9 games played - Nick Southern - 17 games played - Ross Wheatley - 14 games played (Colt last season) - Paul Walsh - 11 games played - Dave Lote - 6 games played - Rob Graham - 4 games played - Joe Green - 3 games played - James Smith - 2 games played (Colt) - Robbie Spencer - 1 game Played (Colt last season) - Josh Johnson - 1 game played

50 Ties awarded - James Thomas, Tom Kilburn & John Oates

1st XV Individual awards - Most improved player...... John Oates - Young player...... Joe Benjamin

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- Coaches player...... James Thomas - Captains player...... Adam Welsh - Players player...... Olly Jempson The most coveted award - Luke Evans...... Club Twat

Ladies (Head Coach; Adam Lawrence)

Women’s NC Midlands 1 W D L 3 0 11 - Finished 7th out of 8th – Maintained League Status for 2016/17 - All Fixtures fulfilled W3 D0 L11

Women’s Junior Cup - First Round – Bye - 2nd Round – Win vs Mellish 41 – 12 - 3rd Round – Win vs Old Newts (HWO) - 4th Round – Loss vs Doncaster 0-26

Other - Played more games than previous seasons; including friendlies against Sutton Coldfield RFC, Coventry Welsh RFC, Old Northamptians, BBOB’s and HM Prison Service. - Competed in the Old Leamingtonians Help 4 Heroes 10’s Tournament - Tour to Wales (Llanidloes RFC)

Representation - Ladies (Deaf): Amy Whittaker - East Midlands: Steph Cannell - Leiceestershire: Nicola Crick, Margaret Gallaghan, Emily Powell, Emma Bliss, Carla Jones, Natalie Fern-Lyons, Amy Whittaker, Caroline Hincks

Playing Numbers - Over 35 player’s playing and training regularly, with over 10 new player’s this season. - Had a full XV for every game we have played. - Last 2 games of the season we had 24 player’s available even though we can only field a squad of 22.

Special mentions for Caroline Hincks, Abi Kirk, Emily Powell, and Lucy Henderson all new players who have become regulars in the starting XV.

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3rd XV (Manager; Del Marsh)

I will be captain for the 3rd team next season so all those players out there who want to just play social rugby every week or occasionally please contact me with your details, everybody welcome. Let's start where we finished last season with a big squad of players keeping the 3rd team running, thanks Del.

Colts (Manager; Leon Brown)

A season of historic success for the Colts. Headline being, our Lutterworth Colts are Leicestershire League U18 Champions for the first time ever. This no doubt is the headline but the season was more than just a league win. As always, it was a journey for many from junior rugby towards seniors and for some even further. Of the 26 played games only 5 were lost, giving the team an 80.77% win rate. Two claimed victories and a cancelled game saw the Colts playing most weekends scoring 706 points with 109 tries and only conceding 312 points. 5 times in the season opposition was held to 0, and a further 8 games where only 1 try was let in. Defence was the key but scoring wasn't a problem either. Top try scorers were Reece Jones (11), Jacob Tivey (12) and Sam Read (20). Setting up the tries were Billy Walkinshaw (7), George Finch (10) and Sam Read (13). Top points scorers were Reece Jones (94), Sam Read (100) and Billy Walkinshaw (145). Commitment from the squad too with Jacob Tivey, Will Roberts and George Finch all with 23 games, Ross Burgoine with 25 and Sam Read with all 26. With 12 yellows and 1 red discipline was addressed but certainly improved with officials reputing what a joy it was to officiate the team. Throughout the season friendlies were played with teams where good relationships were built or built on, but it was competition rugby where the team focussed. The County Cup didn't go to plan after defeat by LFE saw exit in round 1, however on the National stage more success was found. In the Cup, after beating Hinckley, the side fell at home to season rivals Syston and were moved to the Plate competition, it was here that wins against Wellingborough and Bedford Athletic Blues pushed the team to the final 16 with a Sunday trip to Malvern. Defeat in that round by a solid side in front of a well- travelled crowd showcased a big trait of the side which was heart. It was this heart that sustained performances throughout the year in the Leicestershire league. Only 1 defeat on the opening day to again Syston meant Lutterworth had to wait until the final game to secure the points to win the league away at Vipers. Beating Syston, Market Harborough and Market Bosworth all along the way as well as the other teams in the league. The Colts clinched the league on the final day, in what was the final game for some of the players it was a fitting way to to close the season as champions. As a team success was found and comradeship was all around the squad with high squad numbers all year both at training and on match days. But there were some individual awards to hand out too. For receiving most Man of the Matches ahead of Will Roberts (3) and Jacob Tivey (4), Ross Burgoine (7) had excelled at openside flanker all year and received Players' Player. The vast size of the squad saw healthy completion for places and improvement of individuals was seen regularly all around, from this though Matty Heales and Dan Hyslop received Most Improved Player awards. For a player who had shown how to work hard by example and had really earned all his applause all season, Will Roberts was the coaches player. Introduced this season, James Smith presented the first Captain's award to the pack leader Joe Johnson for his leadership and unmatched work ethic. Not only in awards but captain James Smith made his first team debut and added more caps throughout the season. Reece Jones, Jacob Tivey, George West all made appearances in the seniors. The squad was represented at the Rugby & District U17 tournament by Ross Burgoine, Jacob Tivey, John Kenward and Reece Jones. At County level there were lots of trials but John Kenward, Jacob Tivey, Ross Burgoine, Sam Read and Will Roberts were all officially added to

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the Leicestershire U18 squad with eyes on Will to captain for the new season. Will Roberts furthered from this to trial and then play for the U18 Midlands team where he missed out by a small margin on the chance to train and play towards the England U18 squad and tour to Ireland. Adding to this Will also receive the Young Male Player of the Year award for Leicestershire. But all personal achievements aside the players would no doubt tell you that the biggest achievement was having success as a team, driven by the committed coaches Ian Johnson, Nobby Robbins and Sid Lenton as well as the help from all the others in the set up throughout the year, the success was their performances and wins, as well as the large trophy they have to remember the year by. U16 (Coach; Mike White)

The under 16’s have had what might be described as an interesting season.

Statistics

Played Won Lost Drawn Pts For Pts Ag Tries Conv Pen

26 17 8 1 834 506 137 70 3

It’s not a bad record but when you consider 5 of the 8 games we lost, we only lost by 5 points or less, it shows we were not that far from an excellent year.

Highlights for the season - Victory against Fullerians in the Kowalski-Curtis Cup at Allianz Park by 34 points to 31 having been 24 – 5 down at half time and playing and winning on that first class pitch will be a great memory for the lads for many years. - A good Cup run which saw us reach the Semi Final with an excellent 50 points to nil win at Oadby Wyggestonians. - The 1st half performance in the Semi Final against Market Harborough was some of the most controlled rugby we have played, as recognised by Harborough in their match report, but unfortunately we ended up on the losing side. - A very successful tour to Gloucester, where we beat local champions Old Richians 29 -27 with a Joe Horne penalty with the last kick of the match on Saturday, and we beat Old Cryptians 48-19 on the Sunday.

Individually Josh Faulds, Jack Ketteringham, Joe Latham, Charlie Read, Luke Tallis, Tom Westbury and Dan White, were all selected for the Tigers Developing Players Programme, Joe Latham and Tom Westbury went on to represent Tigers U16’s and Joe Latham has now been selected for the Tigers Academy. Very many congratulations.

- Most Appearances: Joe Horne & Dan White played all 26 Games, Charlie Read 25 & George Thomas 24 (remarkable for 2 front row players) and Archie Cook also 24.

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- Top Try and Points Scorer was Dan White with 35 Tries in 26 Games and 175 points - Luke Wright was most successful kicker with 31 conversions, 1 penalty and 65 points from the boot.

Awards - Team Player – Charlie Read & George Thomas - Coaches Most Improved Player – Dan Shore & Jacob Hill - Parents Player – Jack Ketteringham - Players Player – Dan White

I’d also like to thank our sponsors Glynn & Lucy and Westbury Control Systems. It is impossible to over emphasise how much the Westbury’s kind sponsorship has enabled us to do, and how much easier it has made it for us to help the lads to perform and run the section without worrying about the cost.

U15 (Coach; Kevin Jones)

This seasons under 15’s had a squad total of about 30 players. - Coaching team; Kevin Jones, Stu Watson, Henry Scutt & Graham Fuller - Team Manager; John Martini

Playing statistics

Before Christmas; 15 games 11 Won, 4 Lost (win ratio 73%)

Overall playing statistics; 25 games played (3 postponed due to weather) 14 Won, 11 Lost (win ratio of 56%)

Most appearances; 25; Ethan Swan 22; Will Hooseman & Brendon Watson

Most points scored; 256; Rory Lewis 136; Justin Trombas

Top try scorers; 28; Rory Lewis. 24; Justin Trombas 17; Ethan Swan

We put 5 players forward to the Tigers development programme: - Brendon Watson, Rory Lewis, Justin Trombas, Charlie Floyd, Scott McVea

We wait to see what next season brings them. Player’s player award; Luke Nelsey.

“A great season for the lads who have secured a top 4 place in Leicestershire”

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U14 (Coach; Nick Hutt)

The squad played 21 games, winning 12 and losing 9. Mirroring the past two seasons, the results post Christmas were significantly better with 11 games played, 10 wins and only a single loss.

Many of the games won in the second half of the season would possibly have been lost if played in the first half which emphasises the improvement in all of the players abilities as the season progressed.

The most notable performances came in the county plate semi final against Oakham in January (a commanding 34-0 win) and the subsequent win against Hinckley in the final (27-20) which really should have been much more comfortable. A superb day out with a first bus trip and associated ‘entertainment’ made all the sweeter by the result.

26 players have been involved throughout the season with a nucleus of around 20 and several early season injuries probably influenced some of the results in the first half of the season.

Top points scorer was Olly Hutt (22 tries and 44 cons).

Top try scorer was Harry Smith with a remarkable 25 tries in only 10 games (only joining after Christmas but what an impact).

Only one player appeared in every game: Devon Coulson with a further 4 players appearing in 20 games (Olly Hutt, Henry Clews, Nathan Holmes and George Garnett).

The end of season awards went to: Players Player of the Year – Nathan Holmes Parents Player of the Year – Olly Hutt Coaches Award – Harry Kennedy and Arthur Kennedy Most Improved Player – George Haberfield

U12 (Manager; Helen Scutt)

Another good season. We had one or two players who did not come back to the team after the summer break. This left us with a smaller squad that we would have liked but those still with us include many who started in the U6 squad as well as quite a few who have joined in the various years since so we were cautiously optimistic. Whilst our players are in their last season in the minis section of the club, they have all started new secondary schools, we were therefore hopeful that friendships made at school would encourage new players along. Also many secondary schools have rugby as part of the PE curriculum and extra curricular school rugby training + matches which primary schools usually do not. Fortunately this proved to be the case and we had a number of new players join over the course of the

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season giving us a slightly healthier squad size. As always the weather hit us after Christmas with some cancellations due to frozen ground (not too much this year), and water logged ground.

We played all the fixtures possible despite reduced numbers during half term holiday weekends. Booking matches for these weekends needs to be reviewed as although we could usually field sufficient players for a team, occasionally numbers were a barest minimum. Some opposition teams did cancel at the last minute due to reduced numbers during holiday periods. Festival play was unfortunately limited this season due to late notification of dates and clashes with other fixtures.

We toured to Norfolk during April, staying at Kingswood West Runton. We travelled in family cars, arriving for lunch on Saturday. We (children and some parents) took part in outdoor activities on Saturday afternoon (in the rain), had tea, evening activity, overnight accommodation , breakfast and entry to the Holt Festival at Holt RFC, about 5 miles down the road from our accommodation. The weekend cost £55 per head. The weather on Sunday was fabulous and we took part in a very well organised convivial festival of rugby. This I believe was the previous season’s price as I booked early. I would advocate other age groups in the minis section to seriously consider this as a tour option. Some families went with both parents and siblings, some as one parent and the player, financially manageable for most (no second mortgage needed) and nearly every player in our squad attended.

The U12 players are looking forward to moving up to the junior section. We have one girl in the squad who has played since her 6th birthday who will not be able to play with the U13 boys’ squad next year.

In anticipation of this in addition to training and playing with the U12, she has trained with the U13 + U15 girls section this year which has worked really well during the transition. Thank you to all those volunteers involved in the girls section for making this possible. RFU rules 2016 onwards mean U12 girls will no longer be able to play mixed matches. This change in rules will allow U13 girls to form larger squads and play more U13 girls matches. It has been difficult this season to play many U13 girls matches because the girls were committed to U12 mixed matches on Sundays.

The U12 end of season awards this year, were presented to; Players player of the season - HENRY PIERCE Parent player of the year - EVIE SCUTT Coaches most improved player - EDWARD HOPKINS Team player - JAMES PHILLIPS

Winners of U12 Leicestershire County Shield

Lastly, I would like to put in writing and in to the club archives, my thanks to our fabulous coaches for all their time, energy and enthusiasm during the last 6 years. It has been a pleasure to be part of the squad due to their inclusive and positive approach. Thanks also to Kerry Hubbard for allowing me to persuade her to manage the squad (and the coaches!) in the junior section.

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U10 (Manager; Daniel Siddons)

Another good year for the under 10s biggest set of rule changes to date in this season. To which we adapted slowly too resulting in the team not progressing in the Prima Cup. Later in the season the team got back into their usual stride and went through to the cup finals winning the bowl. We also took the team on tour to the Tigers challenge where we qualified to the cup final but unfortunately lost the game. But the team displayed the best rugby of the season. A very proud moment for us all.

U8 (Manager; Craig Dyke)

Very encouraging season overall both on and off the pitch. Had 7 new registered players which took us to a squad size of 23. Unfortunately one player left once season had finished. However we already have 2 new players ready to come along for the 2016/17 season. Moving up to contact from tag rugby next season, so will be interesting to see how many stick with it. Many of the squad are attending the Tigers camp at the club in August so will get opportunity to practice contact before season starts. Every week we have managed to field two strong teams with subs and the player attendance has been fantastic this year, even on the really rubbish winter mornings. All the players have received player of the week at some stage and all the awards at end of season went to different players from last year.

On the pitch we won the cup at South Leics at start of the season, came 3rd in the Minehead cup (after winning all group games undefeated) and got to the semi final of the vase at county tag. The Minehead tour was a big success with the parents and players wanting to go back next year.

Off the pitch the parents have been fantastic in helping out in the kitchen and at matches with the children. We started to raise funds for the first time and raised over £300 which has allowed us to buy a gazebo for the kids. We’ll be looking to continue this next year

We now have four coaches (including me) and will be encouraging a few other parents to get involved as well this year. Dominic as head coach has done a great job of getting some structure round the training and getting the kids to make decisions themselves on the pitch. This was definitely apparent as we got towards the back end of the season.

U13/U15 Girls (Manager; Debbie Bucknall)

The girls section of Lutterworth RFC has continued to grow. We started the season as part of a cluster at U15 level, but finished the season playing fixtures as Lutterworth RFC. The squad have also been successful, especially in winning the match against our local rivals Market Harborough 63-5 and winning four out of six games played since February of this year. We have also had four new players take to the field for the U15s for the first time, and 5 new players attend training regularly for the U13. The girls have also been successful in representative rugby. We have had 8 of our U15 play matches for Leicestershire, and 2 of these go on to represent the club at Midlands level. The girls have made fantastic progress this year and we are looking forward to continuing to expand the girls section in the coming season.

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U13 awards: • Coach’s Player- Eden Fellon • Most improved- Shannon Parnell • The Spirit of Rugby Award- Adriann Peacock

U15 awards: • Player’s Player- Ellis Barnes • Coach’s Player- Sophie Jones • Most improved- Ellen Bucknall • The Spirit of Rugby Award- Erin Cameron

- END -

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