Rugby on the centre stage

Some big news for the Wildcats. We have organised two half time tag appearances in the coming weeks. The first is at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday 4th October to play at half time of the Ospreys-Edinburgh match, and the second to play at half time at St Helens during the Swansea vs Neath fixture on Saturday October 17th. Both will be very short games, and are more about the occasion and atmosphere than the game itself.

We have taken teams to both these venues before and they have been tremendous fun. Games are 7 - a side and only 7 minutes long so we can only take teams of around 9 players at a time. The coaches have split the squad in the same way as we always do every week, ie to keep everyone involved and to keep an even balance of players in both sides. To help matters, because we have got in early in the season we have been told by both the Ospreys and Swansea that we will be able to do it again this season and therefore reverse the teams at the two venues. Those who play at St Helens this time will play at the Liberty next time and vice versa. We will pin these dates down as soon as we can. For St Helens, free tickets will be provided for all players and 1 parent per player. For the Liberty, the boys go in free but parents will have to buy all their tickets (at £16).

These are great opportunities for the boys to show off their developing skills! We play Morriston at the Liberty, and who else but Skewen for the Neath-Swansea derby. Please don't be surprised by the late notice, it's all been organised this weekend, and it is more time to plan than we had last year!

Teams are as follows. If you are included in the first match, but are unable to play, please let us know asap. Further details will follow when we know the full arrangements. Any question we can deal with them at training on Wednesday.

SUNDAY 4th October
Mumbles vs Morriston
Meet outside Liberty Stadium at 3:00. Ospreys KO at 4:00, half time tag at 4:45.
Sam
Dylan
Lloyd
Ike
Arthur
Eddie
Owen
Tom R
Myles

SATURDAY 17th October
Mumbles vs Skewen
Park at the rec, meet at Mumbles end of the St Helens at 2:00. Swansea KO at 2:30, half time tag at 3:15.
Josh
Tom Ch
Luca
Connor
Duncan
Ethan
Cam
Jamie
Jacob

Dunvant Match Report

As usual we were warmly welcomed by all at Dunvant, who once more posed a big challenge on the pitch for the WildCats. Our numbers were depleted due to some of the boys running in the 1k race on the prom.

We were lead by Jamie, who experienced his first time as "scrum half". Once more we proved a great team going forward with the ball in hand with tries coming from several players. It was noticeable when we were all concentrating and focused on the opposition how we were able to get 6 tags and cause a turnover. This has to be one of main areas for development, remaining "switched on" and eager to cause the ball to be turned over in our favour.

Although everyone had some great moments during the game, whether tagging, scoring, passing or running I would like to single out Ethan and Tom C for their contributions today. Ethan scored some great tries and general balanced running and Tom C for his tagging and some great runs.

Well done to all players today - good progress is being made!

Sunday Plans: Dunvant Match!

The match at Vardre has been cancelled, because their u8s aren't fully up and running yet. Luckily, Dunvant have stepped in and invited us up to the Broadacre for a match. So we will have a welcome change from the lads beating lumps out of each other at training.

Meet there at 10:30 for 11:00 kick off.

Directions to Dunvant RFC. Click here. Drive up through Sketty and onto Gower Road towards Killay. At Killay, take the right turn (at roundabout) onto Goetre Fawr Road, towards Dunvant on the B4296. Take the second left onto Broadmead, and the Broadacre Ground is at the end of the road.

Sunday - training at underhill

The match this weekend has been postponed, so it is training at Underhill Park.

We are going for an early start to get a spot, as it will be busy later. Be there for a 9:30 session. We hope we can keep building on the excellent performance from all the boys on Wednesday.

International Rugby Tickets

All parents of registered Mumbles Junior Players enjoy 'Family Membership' of the club. This entitles you to, amongst other things, apply for International Tickets from the club's allocation. The procedure is simple. The club buys tickets in advance (around August for the Autumn Internationals and a bit later for the 6 Nations). If you want to buy a ticket, you must write your name and "Under 8s" (or whatever junior team you are involved with) and your phone number on the list that is put up on the message board wall of the downstairs bar in the clubhouse. The message board is found on the wall just facing the bar itself (in between the main room and the small adjoining room on the left). There is a list for each match. If the game is not over subscribed, you will then be allocated a ticket and can pay for it at the bar. If the list is over subscribed you will be entered in a lottery.

From recent experience, many Autumn International tickets are not highly subscribed so you would stand a very good chance of getting one. For the 6 nations of course there is much more demand.

Lists are up NOW for New Zealand (7th November), Australia (28th November) and Argentina (21st November, the cheaper option this Autumn).

Morriston and Aberavon

Thanks go first to our visitors for making the trip to Bishopston and providing a sunny morning of good rugby for everyone. Two teams we are more than happy to cross swords with again later in the season. All the coaches are very pleased with the boys' continued development and total commitment. Special praise to the defensive effort keeping Morriston out for so long, and to the all round performance against a very strong Aberavon Green Stars side. We want all the boys to get involved and contribute and it speaks for the effort across the whole squad that we can field two teams that are able to compete so well.

There was a Mumbles debut today for Josh, following in his Dad's formidable Mumbles Rugby footsteps, and we welcome back Connor after his moonlighting as the Wales football mascot! Lloyd and Tom R took scrum half duties today and again the tries were shared out between lots of players, with Tom R and Tom C crossing the line in some style. Play of the day goes to Jacob and Duncan for a lovely move that rewarded their support work and quick passing into space out of the tag.

Thanks to John for being dragged into action running behind the team. You may have seen that Matthew has been helping with the 7s on match days, so we will be calling on the parents for a little help during the matches when Mike and Ian are busy. Volunteers welcome.

Off to a Flyer!

It's been quiet at pre-season over the summer but we found an almost full squad raring to go this morning. After a brief early defensive debacle the Wildcats organised themselves and gradually pulled away from our Skewen hosts, with pace out wide being the difference between the teams. We are experimenting with letting the boys make more decisions on the pitch with the aim of increasing their awareness of the game. Well done to Ike who ran the show from scrum half for the first time. Pass of the day goes to Cam for putting Dylan away. Also mentioned in dispatches is Ethan who scored twice on his debut and more importantly put in a great tagging effort. All the boys contributed and were eager to get their hands on the ball. Once again it is fantastic to see the tries shared among so many players, something that is quite rare in tag rugby (9 different scorers today!) and for everyone to put in a tag.

Wednesday training at Underhill 4:30. Next week Morriston and the mighty Aberavon. Meet Underhill 9:30.

Skewen Match Directions

First match of the season (assuming it stops raining) is at our old friends Skewen.

Meet at the ground at 10:30 for an 11:00 start.

It takes about 25 minutes to get there from Mumbles. Directions to Skewen rugby club can be found by clicking here. The ground is at Tennant Park (SA10 6HU) on the way to Neath. I think the best way to is all the way along Oystermouth Road and cross the river turning up towards Llansamlet (A217). Carry on to Llansamlet and turn right onto the A48 (towards the M4). When you get to the roundabout for the M4, take the exit to Skewen (4th exit A4230), after about a mile, take a right turn into Christopher Road, take the second right into Coombes road and then straightish on towards Charles Street. The club and playing fields will be in front of you. (Assuming you negotiate the one-way system successfully). The club website is here.