Joint training with Ruislip RFC and Chiswick RFC U11s @ Ruislip

This week saw Quins U11s venturing as far afield as Ruislip RFC, for a joint training session with Ruislip and Chiswick RFCs. Slightly down on our usual attendance numbers, a wet and muddy session began with a warm-up with over 60 players from all teams.

The warmup was closely followed by four practise drills, each in rotation. The first drill focussed on passing and quick movement, first with a rugby ball, then with a tennis ball; dropped passes resulted in penalty press-ups! The second drill was a ‘2 attackers versus 1 defender’, drawing the defender and making a clean pass to the second attacker to score.

The third and fourth drills involved moving left or right and driving into a pad. A simple practice with the idea being to work on body positioning, nice and low and driving in the ruck. Development for this drill involved a second player following into the pad, looking for the space, focussing on positioning of the head and driving over the ball. A good drill, one which Quins could take away with and work on.

Three games in rotation followed with each Ruislip team playing a Quins team, a Chiswick team and a Barbarians Chiswick/Quins team for 15 minutes each. It was notable that Ruislip were very strong in the ruck, often driving over the ball to secure good possession. However, Quins battled back really well to defend strongly. When Quins then secured ball, there was some good strong running. All Quins U11s showed great effort on a heavy pitch against a team that had some strong carriers of the ball.

As is the benefit of joint training such as these, Quins can take away a few training tips and some areas of the game to practice on. With thanks to Ruislip RFC, a great mornings rugby was rounded off with some well-deserved hot dogs! Well done all – good luck cleaning your boots!