Presentation Day

The Under 7s celebrated a great season at the Presentation Day on Sunday (3rd May).

First of all, I would like to thank all the players for such an enjoyable season. It has been great to see so many kids having a great time. I would also like to thank the parents for bringing their kids along week in, week out throughout the season, standing on the side lines in all sorts of weather. I would particularly like to thank my fellow coaches, Jason Storey, Peter Richards, James Maguire and Ali Kelly for all their help. Finally, to all the parents who have helped out, be it with car parking for home games, or score keeping, or any of the other myriad small jobs that contribute to the successful smooth running of the team. As I always say: if everyone does a little bit then no one needs to do a lot.

We did not have a "100 Club" (players who scored over 100 tries) this season, with the obvious exception of Freddie. This is simply down to the fact that we played fewer games this season than last: 128 as opposed to 195. Partly this was due to having less players (so less squads) but mostly due to opposition teams not wishing to play matches. I do not see the point of bringing a team to an away fixture, play two matches then take them off to play bulldog. Top marks to Biggleswade, Shelford and particularly Olney where we got lots of rugby. A big shout out to Gethin (93), Marcus (91), Sammy (85) and Harrison (83) who all came close. I am sure that with a couple of more games, all would have joined the 100 Club, alongside Ben and probably Joe.

As said, Freddie definitely joined the 100 Club. Thanks to the 1st Team scoring a try in the East Midlands Cup Final on Wednesday (29th April at Goldington Road), the senior teams - 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Vets - between them scored 228 tries this season. Freddie also scored 228 tries. A remarkable achievement! With thanks to Mick Geraghty, we now have a new perpetual trophy for the "Under 7s Top Try Scorer" of the season.
2009/10 Oliver Trott 41
2010/11 Jake Allen 135
2011/12 Callum Corley-Doyle 73
2012/13 Callum Corley-Doyle 182
2013/14 Harrison Yang 179
2014/15 Freddie Findlay 228
I hope that in years to come these players will look back at the trophy with a real sense of pride. The Under 7s are the future of the Club.

So to the stats for the season. We played 128 games, winning 75, drawing 18 and losing just 35. We scored 933 tries and conceded 783. This was an absolutely excellent return (though the Under 8s and Under 9s might disagree. Grins). More remarkable was our match day record: other than at Shelford (won two, lost two) and Worthing (won two, drew three, lost three) we won more games than we lost on every other match day. How bad?

I am supposed to talk about the highs and lows of the season, but in fairness, there were no lows. We had the disappointment of losing the Bedfordshire Cup semi-final to Bedford (18-15 on aggregate) but the kids were great. They gave it their all and we could not have asked any more of them. Every one of them gave 100%, none of them took a step backwards, and none of them made the same mistake twice (e.g. running into touch). A great effort and I am immensely proud of them.

Our South Coast Tour to Worthing was another great day. Despite losing more than we won, the kids were brilliant. With just 8 tourists (so, half our players were unavailable) we had a bare two squads without any subs. On a hot day they did not have any break playing 4 games each, back to back. Again, we could not ask any more of them. Great to see.

So, to our prize winners. As always, this was a very hard job. We play a team sport, so every one of them deserved to win a prize.
Under 7s Player's Player of the Season: Sammy
Under 7s Coaches' Player of the Season: Harrison
Under 7s Most Improved Player of the Season: Gethin
Diddy Ones Player's Player of the Season: Archie
Diddy Ones Coaches' Player of the Season: Joe
Diddy Ones Most Improved Player of the Season: Callum
Congratulations to our winners.

Jimmy
Under 7s Coach, Luton RFC
jimmy@lutonrugby.com
07806 716312