Travels with Dinno update

After literally one request I have found the time to update the blog. When last I wrote we had just visited the place where my rugby journey really started, Huddersfield RUFC.

The following week we started our Yorkshire Cup campaign against Castleford. In previous years I have come up against them with Huddersfield and they have been competent but nothing special. This match was something of a rout. By half time we were 27-0 up. The curse of the kicker had struck again. Three tries from forwards and two by the backs gave us a solid position. The second half saw three more tries but we allowed Cas to get a try on the board. Again two tries from our backs and one form the pack. Final score 42-7.

For the next two Sundays the family and I were in Culdaff in Donegal. We missed a defeat to Wath.

Next up were Grimsby. Again we were at home and as usual the food was excellent. The rugby was also excellent. This was a team I had never come up against before. The game started well with Dinno going to tries up. Then Grimsby hit three tries in return. Dinno pulled it out of  the bag with two more tries. Final score 22-15.

The next week was Yorkshire cup. Yet again we were at home. Doncaster were at this stage one of only two teams to beat us this season. This is also something of a local derby. This was a tightly fought encounter. Tries from Alan, Jake, Angus(3) and Smirnoff helped us to a 32-24 victory. However, our lack of a kicker is becoming an issue. This could have been much more comfortable if we had a strong consistent kicker.

The following week Tom was out in the middle of Sherwood Forest on his DofE. The final score was 15-15.

Last week we went to another new ground for us, Paviors. It was a beautiful ground hidden in the forest. The food and hospitality was excellent. The match started badly for Dinno and by the end of the first period we were 22-0 down. Paviors found a weakness and ruthlessly exploited it. If their kicking game had been better they might have put the game out of sight. In the second period our increasingly multinational team kicked up a gear. Tries from Smirnoff, Dick (2), Ronan and Angus along with 5 conversions saw the situation change. Despite two tries from Paviors the final score was 35-34. The difference was the kicking. Four out of our five tries were under the posts. Silky hit four from four. Paviors scored more tries but we were more efficient. It was an excellent game of rugby. The after match was marred slightly by a parent from our opposition but the president of the club was a pleasure to speak to.

Today Dinno got a lesson in rugby. The lesson was support your runners, don't give away silly penalties and learn from your mistakes. Also don't miss tackles. Selby comprehensively punished mistakes and despite two tries from Dick and Angus we were well beaten. 34-10

Travels with Dinno: Huddersfield – A Sort of Homecoming

A glorious autumnal day greeted our journey north. We were travelling back to where our rugby experience began – Huddersfield RUFC at Lockwood Park. I took the decision to leave Huddersfield, the town, nearly two years ago and I don’t regret it for one instant. I do, however, miss the friendship and camaraderie of my fellow travellers at the club. We shared, joy and agony, ecstasy and heartbreak. It was the best of times it was the worst of times. Leaving HRUFC was emotional fo me as a coach and a parent. Tom missed his friends but moved on and is still working his way into the Dinno experience. He feels a lot more out of place than I do as Huddersfield is all he ever knew.

We arrived early so that we could catch up with some old friends and get the feel of the place into our bones again. It is a breathtakingly beautiful ground nestled in the hills of Huddersfield with the Penistone line crossing overhead on the viaduct. The weather added to the beauty of the place. The rushing waters of the River Colne were an assault on the senses which few grounds I have visited have been able to capture.

We watched the u9s for a bit and chatted with their coach who was Tom’s first coach. Thirty plus players have joined his ranks this season and he has the luxury of putting out three teams. We then went over to watch the u15s who Tom trained with occasionally. Their rugby was stunning and they destroyed Driffield. Their weakness, if they have one, is that they are a bit cocky and can tend to coast. Then we watched one of Tom’s school friends and playing pals from u7s referee an u11s game.

We went for some food and I am pleased to say that the bacon sandwiches have improved since we left and as I understand it plans are afoot to improve the facilities further in coming months. Slowly the players, coaches and parents of our old club started to appear. There were lots of handshakes, smiles and hugs. But, despite all this bonhomie, I felt a little unsure of where to be and so I sat alone, an island unto myself lost in my thoughts and memories.

The boy started the match at No 8 and for the first ten minutes Huddersfield held back Dinno. Dinno built on a platform laid by their pack and it was a matter of time before an opportunity would present itself. The match was played over three periods. By the end of the first period Dinnington were 17-0 up. Huddersfield didn’t know what hit them and even if they did they didn’t appear to be able to counteract it. Their star players in the backs couldn’t do anything to stop the flow of the Dinnington pack who were aggressive in the tackle, the ruck and at set pieces.

The second period continued in much the same vane and ended 4 tries to 1. Huddersfield have the players who given the space and the ball can do damage. Whenever they made a mistake the ball was handed to the Dinno pack. Some words about this group of players. There are two full packs available to Dinnington. They can select any 8 of these and put them in any formation in the pack and they will dominate. They are far from the finished article and can dominate opponents for years to come if they choose to.

The final period saw Huddersfield grab another try but Dinnington pile on further pressure. The final score was 58-12 to Dinnington. If we had had a better kicker the margin would have been greater. The Huddersfield coach remarked that we have an outstanding side and that he has not seen forward play like that for years. After it was all over we retired to the bar to swap stories and to catch up. They are due to visit us in February . They tend to start slowly and then find consistency later on. It was heartbreaking for me to watch my old team be demolished like that.  The Dinnington coaches and parents enjoyed the day and hopefully it will be the first of many visits.

Next up Castleford in the cup.

Travels with Dinno: Yorkshire Cup: Cleckheaton

The day started early  - like most days. I felt like crap but rugby is a harsh mistress and so after dragging the boy out of bed we set off for West Yorkshire. The night before I had stood on my glasses and so I was having to make do.

First stop was the boy's home town where we met up with the Williams family and spent an hour discussing rugby, school and life in general. We set off for Cleckheaton just after 11. When we arrived the chaos at the club was matched only by the chaos that is the M62. I think not having to deal with that on a daily basis is worth moving to Nottinghamshire for.

The hospitality at Cleckheaton was as good as ever. I have been coming to this club for many years and the welcome is always good and the refreshments are excellent. An added bonus was to see Huddersfield U11s and their coach Martin Leeming. Also good to see Gill and Tommy from the U13s.

We went down to the stand to prepare for the day's entertainment. The time came for kick off. Dinno set off out of the blocks very quickly and it looked like a rout might be on the cards. Luke drove across for a try and shortly after Brandon went under the posts for try number 2. Both of the conversions were missed but the second only because it hit the post.

At this point I joined the general hunt for the team's water bottles. This meant that I missed Brandon's second try and the subsequent conversion. Half time arrived and we led 17-0.

The second half did not go to plan. The team lost two players to injury. But the remaining players did not seem to have any idea how to kill the game off and Cleckheaton demonstrated that tenacity I have seen before and scored twice through breaks down the right and converted both. This brought the score to 17-14. The last few minutes were tense and nervous for everyone but the team got away with it.

The boy wasn't happy but this is a team game and you have to do what you think is right to try and win.  Weather permitting next week is Wetherby.

Travels with Dinno (18/11/12): Harrogate

Well on a bright frosty autumnal morning we set off for the frozen north in search of Harrogate. I went there once or twice before to the convention centre but always by train. Everything was going well until we followed the directions provided by Google maps. We left the A1 at J45 and drove into Wetherby (I think). At this point it said to go through two roundabouts which we duly did and then ended up back at the A1 at Wetherby services.  Having retraced our steps and found a sign directing us to Harrogate we quickly made up for lost time.

We were not actually playing at the club but rather at the High School down the road. The pitch was not so much a pitch as a swamp. There were no facilities on the site. Note to the general organisers of such things. If you are shipping people half a mile down the road it would make some sense to ensure that there are adequate toilets and some food and hot drinks might be nice. Particularly since these are the facilities that you get at virtually every other ground. Rant over.

The first XV were simply unable to cope with Harrogate's style of play. They kept the ball moving and there was always support. They were well drilled in everything they did. Even with the Harrogate ref apparently doing his best to penalise his own side our lads just kept doing the same things and didn't seem to be able to work out that they had to try something different. At times they kicked away too much possession. The final score of 26 - 0 (which included a penalty try) didn't flatter Harrogate. Harrogate were able to pass the ball out in the tackle all the time.

Next up were the development team. Boy was playing at centre as the regular stand off had returned from the first XV. This was, as ever, a much closer match. Dinno took the lead through a try by Josh. After a brief period of domination Harrogate went over for a try which they converted. The score was now 7-5. There was plenty of effort and commitment, even if the Boy didn't think he had contributed. In once encounter he lost possession but got up and tackled the guy who had taken it and then pursued and caught the guy he passed it to. Harrogate scored again 12-5. After some good work the ball went out to Kieran who went in at the corner to score a try. 12-10. The referee called it as 12-12 and that would have been a fair result but Harrogate won.

Everybody watching agreed that it had been a fantastic game of rugby and the only difference was a conversion. If the development team need to learn anything it is to take their chances. They could have been out of sight at half time. They tackled hard, passed well and had better decision making. They keep the ball in hand and make it do the work. They are becoming adept at getting the ball out in contact areas. If as a very biased observer I have one issue it is that I would have liked to see Boy carry on at stand off as he has performed well there.

The development team are developing very quickly. It is noticeable that even in training the gap between the teams is closing.

Next week we have a training session I think and then a home fixture against Goole. Well see you at pitchside soon.

Travels with Dinno: Aireborough

Greetings fellow travellers. This week's installment takes us up the road to Leeds. Dinno visited Aireborough RUFC. Despite them being relatively local to Huddersfield where I coached and where the boy played our only meeting with them had been at Keighley festival a couple of years ago. For the record Huddersfield won comfortably.

We set off slightly later than planned and the rushed back because I had forgotten to bring the directions. I tend to travel using the force. The dark side is strong within me and I can go somewhere once and more or less find the way there again even if I take a wrong turn.

Aireborough is based in Yeadon which is the next 'town' along from Rawdon where I used to work. For the record I don't much like Leeds as a place and went there very infrequently. As a driver the place is a nightmare as the road signs are terrible. But that is by the by.

We regularly passed the club on our way to Ilkley or Otley. When we arrived we had difficulty finding anywhere to park. We headed towards the clubhouse then up to some rugby pitches where we ran into Kev who said we were on another pitch. We headed over in the direction we had been sent and just about managed to avoid the people doing the orienteering. The pitch we were on was reached by going down a bank with some very dodgy steps carved into it, over a bridge which was slippy beyond belief and up another bank.

The track was saturated and the mud was deep. It felt like some kind of endurance course just to get to the pitch.

The match started and straight away Aireborough put us under pressure. They preferred the kicking game and it seemed to work for them. We had most of the territory, most of the possession and looked more likely to produce something. However, we didn't play with our brains and we lost a game we should have comfortably won. The score finished 5-0 to Aireborough. Our problem was that we kept running into contact when we didn't need to. As a team we need to learn that individuals cannot beat 15 players on their own and the support needs to be better. There is no faulting the effort and work rate of the team at all.

On a slightly irritable note the referee did appear to be a bit of a 'homer'. Three times in the first half he gave Aireborough (he was an Aireborough coach) the put in at scrums which should have gone to Dinno and when a similar thing happened in Aireborough's favour in the second half he made the correct call and gave them the scrum. I don't like criticising refs because they do a hard job and even the top refs make mistakes but such obvious oversights only fosters resentment amongst young players and supporters alike. That being said even if the ref had been from Dinnington it is by no means certain that he would have favoured them over Aireborough.

It is a bit difficult to judge the food on offer as it had taken so long to actually get to the club and with the state of the ground I didn't actually go and get anything to eat until after the match. By that time the bacon was cold but appeared to be well cooked. The players meal was pasta which seemed to go down well by and large.

This weekend we were due to operate a dual site policy with half the players going to Sheffield and the other half back up the M1 to Moortown in Leeds. However, last night Moortown cancelled the fixture and so everybody is now going to Sheffield this weekend.

Wherever you are enjoy your rugby and glory in this marvellous sport which we support week in and week out.

Travels with Jonathan Part 2 - The frozen north

The weekend after attending the reunion in Mansfield I had to travel up to Dalgety Bay in Fife to drop my kids off at my parents for a week's holiday. The A1 was the chosen route and that was the last time I will willingly take that route north. The conditions were terrible and the road is just not fit for purpose. It wasn't helped by the fact that just into Scotland the road was flooded in 2 places and there were still idiots determined to do 100mph in any event.

On the Sunday due to the Forth Road Bridge being closed I had to take the Kincardine Bridge and travel down the M6 route. I did the journey in about an hour less than normal. Partly because I only had to stop when I needed to stop and partly because the traffic was fine until you got down to Lancaster. I stopped at Tebay, the much vaunted service station on the M6. On the same journey I had to stop at Bothwell near Glasgow, and on the return leg Birch and Bolton. Tebay southbound is better than the northbound at the moment largely because northbound there is a building site. But the point is that Tebay may well scalp you on the prices just like all the others but you resent paying the prices less because the surroundings and service are so much better than those provided by the big multiples.

One question that did puzzle me is why in hot sunny weather when common sense would dictate that women would wear strapless undergarments they insist on showing little or no fashion sense and show off every little item they are wearing straps and all.

Edinburgh does have something in common with Mansfield. Yes I know it sounds odd but it is true. Edinburgh for all its wonderful buildings and beautiful surroundings is a grimy city. If the city fathers took more time to clean the place up it would be an even bigger draw to tourists but just a couple of streets away from the Royal Mile the bin bags were piled high by the road side on a Saturday when the number of tourists is huge. The numbers were swollen by the gathering of the clans which boiled down to essentially, a lot of people dressed up in tartan.

Edinburgh is my favourite capital city of those I have visited and I could happily live there and probably go bankrupt in the shops.

Travels with Jonathan

I have in the last few weeks been doing a bit of travelling up and down the country observing places and people as I went. My first trip was to a school reunion in Mansfield. The reunion was something of a washout. I was the head boy of the school at which a teacher attacked and injured three children.

Mansfield was always something of a hole largely because its council refused to recognise that since it had lost its two main injuries (coal and textiles) the town was nothing more than a dormitory town for Nottingham. Most of my fellow students left Mansfield and have rarely returned since leaving for Huddersfield back in 1992 I have only been back about a dozen times. What shocked me about the place is that around my school it feels like somebody just let off a limited nuclear device. Most of the houses and shops around the school are empty or rather the old terraces are. The better houses seem to have remained largely unaffected.

Whilst in Mansfield I drove round some of my old houses and haunts to see what has happened. I didn't visit the Ladybrook estate. Our bungalow in Pleasley has remained largely unchanged from what I could see but the village in general has suffered the same problem located by my school. The police house where I grew up is now an industrial estate which is a terrible shame. The last house in Mansfield where I lived again hasn't changed much. The Nottingham Road end of town has remained fairly constant. The only bizarre change was the sudden appearance of a palm tree in my old front garden.

I had a round of golf at King George V on Berry Hill and rediscovered my enjoyment of the game. The peace and tranquility even though I hadn't hit a ball for about 5 years was great. The hotel where I stayed was functional and had a cat called Marmalade and the service was good as on Saturday they opened up the restaurant for me.

The town centre is stuck in a time warp though. The broken glass makes a scene reminiscent of Kristalnacht but without the poignancy. That is just the way Mansfield is. Those who care can't do anythign because those who don't care about anything shout loudest and everybody has to listen. The chavs queuing outside Greggs for their sausage rolls make the ones elsewhere in the country seem positively cosmopolitan. The interior of the Four Seasons Shopping Centre hasn't changed at all since I left all those years ago.

Another delight of the trip was the chance to go to St Phillips church again. Having attended some relatively humble establishments in recent years it was an oasis of calm in the storm that is life in Mansfield. The clergy may have changed but many of the congregation were there when I was a boy.It was great to speak to people I hadn't seen for years. The particular delights were to speak to my what would be now Y4/5 teacher and one of my headmasters.

Once Mansfield accepts what it is then change may come but if it doesn't then I foresee Mansfield breaking up into lots of small villages with a kind of separation between the areas people want to live and where those who have ambition live and those where the neanderthal indifferent residents currently reside.

More musings from my recent travels later