Playing & Coaching
Pre-Season Matches
First of the pre-season games - Thursday 21 August.
Apart from the colourful language from the touchline this was a successful evening throughout. Preparations for an evening game are always fraught
due mostly to people working during the day and travelling from all over the country to get back and play.
So, with a minimal warm-up we were straight in and spent the first 20 minutes camped on our own line. After a couple of break-away runs though Rods turned
round and got the only score of the match when full-back Aiden Bedford offloaded to scrum-half Pete Freeman to get over.
It was good to get the first match out of the way. The result was always going to be secondary to the performance and Thursday gave us lots to think about
coming into the new season.
- Thursday evening, 21 August at Hemsworth
- Saturday afternoon, 30 August at Manley Park against Castleford
Castleford at Manley Park
On Saturday 30th August we are liaising with Castleford to have an 'early' 1:30pm kick-off in order to allow the afternoon to be free to watch the
Rugby League Challenge Cup Final (Hull vs St Helens) on the big screen.
CONFIRMED! After talking to Castleford, they are happy to go for an early KO - thanks to Stuart Knight and Castleford for sorting this out.
Rodillians Support SOS Kit Aid
Richard Vasey's clearout hits the kit room
After the recent club re-decoration and the bit I enjoy (...throwing out unwanted crap) it was noted the amount of kit not only laying around the changing rooms but also complete sets, which would have been a shame to just bin.
Richard Matthews mentioned a kit charity and with a little investigating we contacted SOS IRB Kit Aid - a charity dedicated to providing kit for under-privileged children all over the world.
Andy Thompson, the northern co-ordinator for SOS duly collected 6-8 bags of kit, his enthusiasm and appreciation obvious to see.
Andy has left several collection bags for items of unwanted kit please visit their website www.sosirbkitaid.org to see what is required and donate your unwanted crap.... sorry kit.
Rich Vasey, King of Re-Cyclers.
ELVs - Experimental Law Variations
There are some new ELVs that anyone who has been watching the southern hemisphere games recently will be aware of. Many of the laws have been changed to
make the game faster and/or to encourage try-scoring opportunities at the 'expense' of kicking penalties. The ELVs are as follows, and coaching has been
geared towards an awareness of these for the coming season.
ELVs in Short
- Kicking from 22
- A defending team do not get the gain in ground from kicking from their own 22 if the ball is brought into the 22 by their own team
- There are some exceptions mostly relating to the ball been touched by a player from the attacking team or a 'breakdown' (tackle, ruck, maul) taking place. Read full ELVs for details.
- Pulling Down the Maul
- The defending team may pull down a maul by grasping a player from the opposition team between the shoulder and hips and pulling downwards (note this is technically known as "pulling the maul down").
- Any other method of collapsing the maul remains illegal.
- 5 Metre Law
- During a scrum, both sets of back lines must retire 5 metres behind the hindmost foot. The only exception is the scrum-half - but there are some ELVs relating to the scrum-half too.
- Referee's Assistants
- Touch judges are now known as Referee's Assistants and can assist the referee in any aspect of play.
- Line-Out Pre-Gripping
- Pre-gripping of team-mates in the line is now allowed, positions (legal and illegal) remain the same.
- Line Out Numbers
- Both teams can nominate any number of players to take part in the line-out. The attacking team does not govern the maximum (or minimum) numbers.
- Line-Out Receiver and Non-Throwing "Hooker"
- The line-out receiver (usually the scrum-half) must stand at least 2m behind their teams line.
- The non-throwing player (usually the hooker) must stand between the touchline and 5m line, but no closer than 2m to the 5m line.
- Fast Line-Out
- A quick line out can be made and does not have to be straight, however if it is not straight it must go towards the try-line the throwing-in team are defending.
These are my short notes made from reading the full IRB changes. Please only use them for guidance and if you are a coach or otherwise involved in the game you are
encouraged to read the original laws from the IRB
here. If you use the shortened version and get 'pinged' for doing
something illegal don't blame me.
Polo Shirts...
Polo Shirts
There are still some people who have bought shirts but but not collected them yet. They are been safely held up at the club so you can come down on Tuesday 1 July, do some training and pick up your shirt at the same time.
Those are:
We will be ordering new shirts in time for the new season. If you want a shirt ordering, hand me a tenner with your name/initials/slogan (and shirt size)
and I will get you a shirt in a few weeks time...