Updates from Steve Tarrant - Director of Rugby
Well it was a wet and cold day last Sunday for our last games before Christmas. Our U16 opposition warned us that they were a bit short but agreed to turn up for a friendly, mixing up the teams. Ten of them appeared took one look at a very wet pitch and said it was too dangerous to play and promptly left. At times I really don’t understand the youth of today. Our lads had a great work out and Gunny was able to put them through a lot of unit skills with everyone being there for a change, so the time was not wasted. The wet pitch led to a lot of fun for our lads, who weren’t worried by the wet pitch I’m glad to say.
Next up we had the U19s against Flying Kukris and they came out flying. They were a well drilled team with some fast useful backs and a strong pack, which meant we got little possession. They also handled the conditions much better than we did and by half time they had run up a 24 - 0 lead, which could have been much more except from some sterling tackling from the Breakthrough boys, who really defended well and got stuck in. In the second half the weather got the better of both sides. A few times when the line was begging we dropped our passes, but we continued to tackle well and Kukris only scored once more, a break out from their own 22. The final score was 31 – 0, which was disappointing, but without a lot of hard determined tackling right up to the final whistle, it would have been much more.
It was then into the clubhouse for the Christmas party and we had a great turnout, with over 60 people in attendance. I obviously need to lay a party on each weekend. There was lots to eat, a lucky draw and everyone was a winner. Ivan our ex-player and now one of our coaches is selling picture frames in the Temple Street Night Market and two of his frames were very popular prizes. He tells me that anyone connected to Breakthrough can have a good discount at his stall, so in an unashamed plug for Ivan’s business, if you are taking visitors to Temple Street or are down there yourself, look out for his picture stall, which is at Yaumatei Carpark, Shanghai Street and Gansu Street, please see the attached photo.
Anyway everyone had a great time and unfortunately we also used the occasion to bid farewell to Kuen. Kuen has helped rugby, sailing and boxing over the last 14 months in recruiting, organising the sports and liaising with the social workers after they stopped much of their direct support. He has helped a lot but the social worker group, ELCHK, who deal with police discretion cases in Shatin, Yuen Long and Tin Sui Wai have not given him the support we had hoped for and he has decided to go back to his old work in accounts. He will still continue to support the boxing, which is the sport he was connected to as a young boy, but I will need to find someone else for the rugby. We have some potential solutions, which we are working on, so fingers crossed.
The next two Wednesdays are Christmas Day and New Years day, so we have a two week break, but are straight back to it on 5 January 2014 with a U16 game at the police club at 1pm versus East Kowloon. On New Years Day there is the big colts festival at Football Club with lots of age group games. Unfortunately none of our lads were selected, but nevertheless there will be some great rugby and plenty of the old hair of the dog available for those who want to watch some great games. It is always a good advertisement for the quality of colts rugby in HK.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. I hope that Santa brings you all some nice presents!