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16/11/2009
Oban Youth Rugby Gathering
Argyll and Bute Youth Rugby Gathering Sun 15th Nov Oban
Oban Lorne RFC hosted the latest Argyll and Bute Youth Gathering on Sunday with a total of 66 youth players taking part. The monthly gatherings have been set up to give the young players from all over the region the chance to come together and receive some additional coaching and more importantly the chance to play competitive games. Most of the clubs and schools involved do not have enough players at the moment to form a team of their own so the gatherings are an ideal way to join up on a regular basis and play proper games. The gatherings are also a great tool for player development allowing the coaches to mix, share ideas and see and compare players in action from the other clubs. The Argyll U16 team which competes in the Glasgow West Youth leagues is drawn from players who have come through the Gathering system and the National Pathway System which is a regional coaching programme looking to identify potentially talented players as early as possible. It is hoped that next season Argyll might be able to sustain more than just an u16 team and target the other age league age groups at u15 and u17 to enter teams. If this is to happen it will of course take more volunteers to help coach, and organise. The time and cost of the travel commitments involved in running these teams will also prove quite a challenge for the Argyll and Bute clubs, who need more help from parents and perhaps senior club members to put something back into the game through involvement with youth rugby at their clubs.
s1/2 Age Group
Mull, Oban, Mid Argyll and guest team Lochaber all brought s1/2 teams and after warming up and getting some final words of wisdom from their team coaches they played out a round robin tournament, with each team playing three games. All the games were played in great rugby spirit with good running, tackling and passing skills being shown and the bonus for the coaches was that every team was noticeably improving as the afternoon went on; showing the benefits of playing proper games to the players.
Lochaber and Oban proved too strong for Mull and Mid Argyll and their head to head decided who would win the round robin event. A very exciting game finished at 4 tries each and with lochaber scoring one more try than Oban during the afternoon they finished on top of the group with Oban in second place. the game between Mull and Mid Argyll was also a great game with Mid Argyll only pulling away late in the match with a few tries to finish in third place with Mull finishing in fourth. All the boys, coaches and helpers were then fed and watered in the clubhouse which rounded off a great afternoon of rugby for the s1/2 boys.
Much credit is due to the Coaches who are involved week in, week out training the S1/2 boys and regularly give up their weekends. From Mull: Alan Makeham, Oban: Ben Redfearn, Mid Argyll: Duncan Aitken and Lochaber: Stuart Sandison.
S3+ Age Group
The were far fewer s3+ boys than expected on Sunday but with eleven boys making the effort to travel form Campbeltown to get involved at a gathering for the first time there was enough to play an eleven-a-side game.
The older group received coaching sessions from Murray Hamilton from Oban and Tony Jones from Campbeltown, before splitting into two teams and playing a forty minute game. This was the first time the Campbeltown boys have had a chance to play anything like a proper game and they acquitted themselves very well. Their handling was good and their tackling excellent and they played a very direct game, taking on the Oban/Mull/Mid Argyll composite team head on at every opportuntiy, they also showed some glimpses near the end of being able to play a more structured and wider game. The composite team had players who were a bit younger but who crucially had much more experience. They were able to handle the contact situations better and then showed good game sense in how they used the ball when they had it, keeping their faster players wider out and getting the ball to them in space. The game ended with the Campbeltown boys going down by 2 tries to 6, a very credible result for their first outing.
The players were also being filmed training and playing by some local young people who want to get into film-making and they used this event as a means to learn more about using the camera and editing. Oban Communiy Learning worker Scott Douglas set this up and if successful the film material could be used as a useful training and development aid for the coaches.
It was disappointing that more of the older players from Mull, Oban, Mid Argyll and Cowal were not there, but great to have the Campbeltown boys involved. If all the older players support the next gathering then it should be possible to have a proper fifteen a-side game and it will also allow the coaches to work properly on the forward and backs unit skills and focus on positional play for individual players.
The next Youth gathering is planned for after the winter break, in Mull on Sunday Feb 7th, where a good turnout is essential to keep the momentum going for our youth players. Hopefully we can attract a couple of visiting teams to the Mull Gathering which will add to the event.
Thanks go to Oban Lorne RFC and all their volunteers for hosting the day, Lochaber for bringing their s1/2 team and to all the coaches and volunteers who organised their teams.
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