Under 9’s
U9s had 5 games at Ilkeston festival today. Continuing with their Jekyll and Hyde season we played really well in a couple of games and not so well in a couple.
There wasn't any lack of effort and all the kids enjoyed themselves but are probably a little windy burnt now as Ilkeston was super windy today!!

Under 11’s
U11 travelled to the Ilkeston festival today in brilliant sunshine if a little windy at times. 5 instalments of excellent rugby against a wide range of playing styles and abilities. With all teams finding Matlock on form. A notable game against Stratford brought probably the days best game for us with Matlock closing down the touring teams' slick handling that had been so impressive in previous games. Today's results:
MATLOCK 5 - 3 PAVIORS
MATLOCK 6 - 3 ILKESTON
MATLOCK 3 -1 STRATFORD
MATLOCK 8 - 2 BINGHAM
MATLOCK 9- 2 CHESTERFIELD

Under 13’s
U13’s had 2 games this morning, welcoming our friendly local rivals Belper and a touring team, Guisborough.
All 3 games were great to watch with the teams well matched.
Matlock played Belper first and despite 2 brilliant well worked team tries and much improved tackling from Matlock we narrowly lost 10-15.
After a short break Matlock went on to play Guisborough and our boys upped their game again. Plenty of strong defensive play against some big runners and lovely attacking runs resulted in a Matlock victory 20-10.
Scores aside, rugby was the winner today with 3 brilliant teams of lads playing good rugby in the right spirit. Top morning and a fitting Mother’s Day gift for the mums that brave the sidelines every week through the winter. I’m sure they appreciated the rugby much more than Prosecco and Chocolates on the sideline.

Under 14’s
U14s played against Hoylake, a touring team from the Wirral. Matlock started bright putting pressure on Hoylake and pinning them down for 10-15 minutes, but not converting any of the opportunities they had. Hoylake managed to use the wind, their fast backs and a very powerful prop to find themselves in Matlock's 22 with quick counterattacks, which allowed them to score several tries in the middle part of the first half. Matlock scored with the last play going to the break 20-5.
In the second half and with the wind behind Matlock both teams went toe to toe, but again Hoylake were better at converting their chances into tries whenever Matlock spurned their chances. The final score was 30-5 to Hoylake.

Under 16’s
U16s 31 - 21 Sheffield -
after conceding 2 early tries Matlock started to string together some rugby and returned a couple of scores. Spirited play through the second half saw Matlock come out on top against a determined Sheffield side.
Very pleased with the determination across the whole squad and some excellent passages of play. 5 tries to 3 was a fair result. More pleasing was the result with a few experienced players missing, a testament to the commitment of the squad as a whole.

SEND
Great session with SEND Taggers this morning
8 turned out so with coaches we were able to focus on some game play