Northwich
   Rugby Union Football Club
   -the community rugby club for Mid Cheshire

Formed in 1965

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Under 13’s Page
Welcome to the Under 13’s team page. This is the part of the new Northwich RUFC club site dedicated to news, views and information about the Under 13’s team.
Like the rest of this site, the information included here will change and improve in time. I hope soon for example to include team photographs, match results and match reports. For the moment though we’re concentrating on accurate fixture details and for away matches, directions to the opposition club (click on the directions label name in the Result & report column or look at their web site - see link in the Opponents column).
Like you all I’m looking forward to the start of the new season, to playing again and training to improve the teams’ skills and to help everyone enjoy their rugby more. Don’t forget to tell your friends about your team as well, you can give them this web site address and better still, encourage them to come down on Sunday mornings at 10.30am for training. Like last season all ‘newcomers’ can come along during September for free, all they need is some boots. Also look out this year for joint activities with Sale Sharks and Sport Cheshire. We are one of Sale’s partner clubs this season and can expect regular visits by our adopted Sale player, by Sharkie their mascot and special offers on tickets.
 
The new season will start with Registration Day on Sunday September 1st. Come down in your kit for training with your parents and after we’ll be organising a barbeque. You should receive a registration for by post late in August, please bring it along on the day and of course if you have any questions beforehand or during the season, please feel free to contact me as always using my details below.

U13’s Coach Malcolm Griffiths
Tel:01606 851866
Email: mgriffiths@northwichrufc.co.uk

End of Season report
Coached by Malcolm Griffiths & Trevor Rawling

With the season drawing to a close firstly I would like to thank all the lads for their efforts throughout this season, and also thank all the parents for their support .
Thinking all the way back to September last year, the season started with some very close games. We won some and lost some but we played well, especially considering that the team had been somewhat weakened by the loss of some of our players to football. At this age group, some of our children have a hard choice as football (soccer) kindly moves their games to a Sunday, which then clashes with the Rugby. However, I am hopeful that most of them will return to us next season as football reverts back to Saturday.
By November we were joined by Trevor Rawling to help coach the side and by the remnants of the U14’s squad as their numbers had dropped too low to field a team. The adding of these players made a quite a difference to the squad and improved our all round game. It also benefited some of our weaker players who, buoyed by the confidence borne in an improving team, rapidly improved their own skills. 

The season has not always been a winning one, but through hard work the lads have done themselves proud. A crowning moment to the season for me would be going away to Ormskirk with 5 of our regular first choice players missing and only losing by two points at the end of the game. Every player that day put their heart and soul into the game and suddenly they had belief in themselves and their team mates. That day they discovered that its all about the fifteen players on the park, doing it for yourself and your mates. It’s moments like those that makes coaching so worthwhile.
I am looking forward to next season, hoping that we can continue from where we have left off. That is, improving week by week and enjoying the game. I would also like to say good luck to the members of the squad who have been selected to the Vale Royal Development team, from which will be drawn the 10 a side team to represent Vale Royal in the Cheshire Youth Games later in the summer.
I am planning to have some skills training throughout the summer and I will be in touch about that nearer the time .
Meanwhile, have a good summer and once again thank you to all the parents that helped with transport.
Malc

Under 13’s Fixture list 2002-3

Last Season’s Report (as U12’s)
One of the most common problems locally is when lads leave Junior School and start High School because the local Football League play their matches on Sunday mornings. Last year's Under 11's were reasonably successful, but a lot of the lads played football. When those lads were given a choice, they selected football and as a consequence, our Under 12's were decimated. Only a handful of lads remained loyal to their rugby. Meanwhile, the Under 11's were fulfilling their fixtures this season against sides which all appeared to have recruited big lads during the summer, or were they Under 12's looking for a game because we didn't have a team!?! Anyway, I decided to take over the Under 12's in February, and after a coupe of weeks, managed to raise a team. Our first match was against Wilmslow, and we got hammered! I told the lads afterwards, we would beat Wilmslow one day, but somehow in the cold, wet of that day, I don't think any of our lads believed me. As the weeks passed, we recruited more players, succeeded in bringing back some of the lads who had lost interest, and we even had some footballers returning to the fold. We entered the Cheshire Tournament, and despite losing all three group games, we didn't disgrace ourselves against sides who had played together since they were Under 7's. We travelled to Wrexham who were previously unbeaten this season. We beat them 28-24. We were good enough to win the Hoylake Sevens, but got off to a disastrous start, and were never in a position to recover. The following week, I was away, but Malcolm Griffiths took the lads to the Rochdale Tournament, where we reached the final. En route, we thrashed...Wilmslow!!! What did I tell the lads previously?!! Sadly, we were caught cold and tired, and were well beaten in the final. However, I am proud of what the lads achieved in such a short space of time, and hopefully, the lads too will be proud of what they achieved. I believe the squad has great potential to achieve big things. A lot of commitment and hard work, and we could win a few trophies in the next few years. Finally, a big thanks to Malc, the players and their parents for all their support.

Chris Hart