This weekend despite the 1st team’s disappointing result away to North Wales, there was still lots of good news coming out of New River, as our Minis & Junior sides produced some fantastic performances to keep club spirits high.
Our Minis Section, after weeks of building and training rallied together and made the long trip down to Elmbridge, to the home of the Eagles for their first competitive Festival of the 2017 season. Strongly represented at U9, and with a solid core of U11’s the Mini Skolars all performed superbly, with some great performances by many of our new players, most who are products of our Sky Try Primary RL School programmes. Head Coaches Huw Bevan and Dave Morgan were delighted with the dedication and commitment shown from our youngest players and wanted to thank the parents for their support on the morning, especially with sharing lifts and getting the boys down to Elmbridge.
Our newly formed U13’s also made their 2017 debut, as they travelled to Invicta for their first competitive action of the season. Our newly formed U13’s again are a product of our Sky Try Secondary RL School programme, and whilst there are a few players who have played for Skolars for a number of years, the majority of players are brand new to the sport and have been introduced to the club directly from our Secondary School coaching.
Community Development Manager Matt Cuss was delighted with both the Minis & U13’s this weekend ‘both these age groups are flourishing at the moment and it’s really pleasing to see. The teams are a direct result of the hard work of our Community Staff Dion Chapman and Aston Stephenson, their enthusiasm and promotion of the club within our partner schools has seen many players convert from school activity to regular club activity and as a result our Minis & U13’s are really pushing on this 2017 season.’
At New River our U16’s fielded 2 teams in the London Junior League Mid-Season 9’s. The concept aims to take the pressure off teams to field full squads across League fixtures in what can be a difficult time for this age group with exams taking precedence over extracurricular activities. Teams from Elmbridge, Oxford & Brentwood made the journey to New River and there was some outstanding rugby on show. Thanks must go to all parents, players and coaches for contributing to a great morning, and also to Christian Gale and Tom Hamer two of London Skolars U18’s players who gave up their morning to referee the matches and ensure that the coaches were free to concentrate on preparing their teams.
With our U14’s getting together for training, in total there was over 100 young players representing the Skolars this weekend, a fantastic effort by all involved.
