Dear All,
Nick and myself thought it a good idea to put a few words together about the season so far, and the remainder of the season.
It will not have gone unnoticed I’m sure that this season we have found ourselves in a period of transition.
For those of you that do not know, Kieron & Wayne Kay have decided to follow a different rugby route and have departed Frampton for pastures new. We wish them both every success and our thanks goes to Wayne for all that he has done for this age group over the years.
We must however move on and prepare our lads for their next steps in their rugby journey. There are a few key areas where we intend to build on and to re-establish the following ethos:
Enjoyment, Encouragement, Participation, Inclusion, Teamwork & Respect.
The coaching team will continually work on these aspects with the boys which not only apply to sport, but life in general.
Moving to the matches this season so far, I think it’s fair to say that it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster season so far. With a few heavy defeats at the hands of Clifton & Cleve early on, the boys took these blows on the chin and recovered well with well-deserved victories against Avonvale & Dursley. They also showed great spirit with a win against Sodbury and tight defeat to Clevedon in a three way. We then played Old Bristolians in the ¼ final of the Bristol Junior Combination Cup. This was a great match played in great spirit with our boys eventual winners and into a semi-final against Chippenham. Whilst this match was little like one way traffic our boys kept at it and wore the Frampton jersey with pride in defeat. Getting to the cup semi-final is a huge achievement and should not be understated.
We then had our first match in the Gloucester County Cup, away to Cirencester. For those that were able to witness this game saw a highly entertaining match. It showed all the good things that our boys are capable of. Unfortunately the result didn’t go our way losing 32 to 28, but wow what a game.
A further creditable loss came at the hands of Bath in a friendly fixture where we were dominant up front but weren’t able to convert that into try’s. The result was 44 to 16, however there was a lot of positives to take from it, and also some very complimentary feedback from the Bath coaching team about our boys.
Our second County Cup was against Local rivals Thornbury on a foggy Sunday morning. Sadly not the best display in defeat. There were glimpses of good with a couple of late try’s scored but the damage was already done early in the match with commitment, focus and teamwork issues.
We now move into the second half of the season with expectation and desire to continue to improve. We will only do this if the boys get together as a team and work hard for each other and have the right attitude to Training, Playing, Coaches, Referees and Parents.
Our thanks go to all of you that have supported the team this year and helped out in any way, shape or fashion. We wish you Merry Christmas & a very happy new year.
Yours in rugby
Phil, Nick & the Coaching Team.