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Under 16 news you may have missed

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Droitwich's Under 16 side were invited to attend the inaugural London Premiership day to represent NEC Harlequins in a shortened, curtain-raiser game against London Irish.

The lads were then paraded around Twickenham and, along with the under 16 squads of London Irish, London Wasps and Saracens, were introduced to the 50,000 strong crowd. 23 players and 4 coaches attended the event and thoroughly enjoyed their day.

The game against London Irish (the current Surrey County Champions) was, unfortunately, a disappointment. From the kick off it was obvious that the boys' minds were not on this shortened (half-hour) appearance but on the day as a whole. A simple restart catch was dropped and this set the tone as knock-ons and a lack of intensity became the order of play.

Droitwich had the mass of possession, but the boot of the London Irish fly-half kept them at bay. Droitwich led 5-3 at half-time from a try by winger Pitt.

Changes were made at half-time to ensure that everyone got a game. However, this resulted in an even more error strewn second half. Droitwich made the mistake of trying to play running rugby from their own 22. Predictably this led to an Irish 5-metre scrum from which their No.8 scored a simple pick-and-go try. The try was converted - final score Irish 10, Droitwich 5.

22 players from the Droitwich U16 squad made the final Worcestershire Trial held on Tuesday, 21st September.

Droitwich U16 drew 5-5 with Leicestershire side Syston in a training match on 12th September. The game was arranged to enable the new coaching structure to see their new charges. 28 players were taken from the squad of 40.

Syston were very committed and worked incredibly hard, with considerable strength in their forward pack. They fielded six Leicestershire county players. It was a very useful exercise for both teams and Syston were keen to play our Gold side after Christmas in Droitwich.

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