King’s St Alban’s Hosts Spectacular U9 Rugby Festival at Slingpool Walk

U9 Festival at Slingpool – Mr Williams 

It was a fantastic day of rugby at Slingpool Walk as we welcomed 15 teams to our home venue for an U9 rugby festival. The atmosphere was buzzing, and the standard of rugby on display was exceptional, with all the young players demonstrating skill, teamwork, and great sportsmanship. Our team performed brilliantly throughout the afternoon. Harvey M and Haadi F were true stars with the ball in hand, showcasing remarkable speed and agility. Their ability to spot and exploit gaps in the opposition’s defence was a joy to watch, creating scoring opportunities out of seemingly impossible situations. In defence, Jack C and Matthew B were rock solid. Both demonstrated excellent tackling technique, keeping the opposition at bay with determination and precision. Their defensive efforts were crucial in maintaining our strong team shape and giving us a platform to counter-attack. Monty R also had an impressive afternoon, using his strength to carry the ball effectively and showing great awareness when to pass. His ability to draw in defenders before offloading to a teammate helped to create space and set up numerous scoring opportunities for the rest of the team. A special mention must go to Dylan M, who was absolutely brilliant all afternoon. He was quite literally everywhere, making tackles, chasing down the opposition, and using his speed to score several tries.  

The boys were fortunate to be taken by our director of rugby at the senior school, Mr. Williams. His expertise and encouragement had a big impact on the team, and he commented afterward on how much he enjoyed working with the boys. He was particularly impressed by the quality of rugby on display, highlighting the boys teamwork and skills. 

U9B Festival at Slingpool – Mr Jenkinson 

The Under 9 boys had a great time taking part in their first ‘home’ rugby festival of the term on Tuesday afternoon (1st October). It was a brave call to go ahead with the tournament, due to the unpredictable weather. However, it proved the right decision as 14 teams from The Elms, RGS The Grange, Winterfold, Bluecoat, Hereford Cathedral, Moor Park, along with King’s Hawford and King’s St. Alban’s, took part in a fantastic afternoon of contact rugby, over 7 pitches. 

With four matches to play, the Under 9 boys’ B team got off to a great start against Blue Coat School, with plenty of tries scored by a number of different players from both teams. Further tries followed in the next match against RGS The Grange, before the match was adapted slightly to allow the players to practice their tackle technique and ball presentation skills in match conditions, which proved to be quite beneficial in the following matches. Two more very close games followed, against Winterfold and Blue Coat, with Bertie, George, Daniel, Jeremiah and Max all scoring tries through strong running and ball carrying. Rudy also showed an improved understanding of the game, and although there is still some work to do on our tackling, the boys all showed fantastic effort, teamwork and perseverance to finish the afternoon with four very respectable results and performances from all four of their matches! 

Well done to all of the boys who played and thank you very much to the parents who came along to cheer the boys on, your support is always very much appreciated.