COOLMINE U12 AT DLSP BLITZ
Sunday March 22nd when they came away from the DLSP Blitz with their heads held high.. The players arrived in DLSP just before 10:00am and played their last match just before 2:00pm, on a beautiful Spring day. Coolmine Mini Rugby has a long and successful history in this competition. Thirty two players from the under twelve age group made the trip to DLSP There were sixteen teams in total at the U12 age level taking part on the day, from clubs such as the hosts (DLSP) Barnhall, Blackrock, Old Wesley, Wicklow Enniscorthy. Terenure and of course London Irish. . Games were twenty minutes long and were refereed by representatives from clubs other than those involved in the individual games. Coolmine fielded two teams and both started brightly defending their line with vigor and scored some wonderful tries on the day. All games were played in great sprit and were keenly contested by the players . Coolmine knew from the outset they had the measure of the very well coached sides from a variety of Leinster finest Clubs. Each of the two Coolmine teams played four games each over the day with pitch and weather conditions ideal for fast flowing Rugby.DLSP President David Lillis spoke to us afterwards and was keen to bring to our attention that the Coolmine game versus London Irish was the best game they had seen all day. London Irish had played St Mary's U13s the previous day and had won. In our opinion they were lucky to escape with a draw from the Coolmine game. For the coaching group that was result of the weekend despite impressive results for the Irish National team in the Six nations on the previous day . Both teams made the coaching group and their parents really proud at the effort they made to play pure rugby and it really was great to watch them move the ball so well and support their team mates at every break, ruck and tackle. What came across to the coaching group from both teams, that even faced with a more fancied opponent, the guys stuck to playing rugby they way it should be played. Their passing game at this level is great to watch when in full flight. While we a have alot of work to do yet (starting slowly and tackling chief among them), we have come a long way since our first blitz in Blackrock at the start of the season. The two Coolmine teams had minimal subs which were rotated during the games, every player made a big contribution to the Coolmine cause. It would be unfair to name individuals but suffice to say everyone gave their all, scoring an impressive number of tries and conceding the minimum. The Coolmine U12 players can feel rightly proud of their achievements on a very successful days rugby in DLSP.
A special word of thanks goes to the DLSP Club who hosted the event and provided refreshments for parents and kids on the day . A particular word of thanks to DLSP. Mini Coaches who organised an enjoyable day’s Rugby and ran the matches of in quick succession was a great day in the young Rugby lives of Coolmine U12’s Next up for the the U12 Team is a Tour to Limerick where the players will travel to Thomond on Saturday eving for the Munster V Connacht game. On Sunday they will play in a Blitz at Gary Owen RFC.
Written by PJ McGovern March 24th 2015
