A good day of rugby for our Turvens

Such a good day of rugby! Nine Turvens Warriors made their way up to Castricum to take part in a sunny March Union day (Bondsdag), an official measurement of age group depth and game popularity in the Netherlands. Union days, organised by Rugby Nederland (Dutch RFU), happen all over NL with the purpose to help broaden and develop rugby on a national level. And, of course, a fun-filled day of rugby for our youngest players!

Quick off the mark at the first whistle, against a team from de Bilt, the team stretched their legs and showed off their pace. Skippered to a comfortable win by captain Zhanhe, the team was focused and disciplined, with full awareness of where to be on the pitch, getting to their set pieces like old pro’s.

Game two, under the captaincy of Nico, who bossed and manoeuvred his players with certainty to where he needed them, was against our blue and yellow neighbours from The Hague. A good fun game, where passing and stepping up pressure in defence meant that the Warriors were able to keep a decisive control on the gameplay. Running lines were chosen well, along with some nifty connecting passes helped them to victory 2 of the day.

Then there was game three…, led by Marcel, the jaws of mums and dads along the side line just dropped, a beautiful culmination of the days build up: passes, support lines and discipline. A pleasure to watch as all players played as a team and were hungry for the win. Against Haarlem (not host Castricum) this was a nice, evenly matched game. A lot of wide play, moving the ball through hands to get it to where the space was to play. With a slight drop off in energy levels in the second half, our Warriors had done enough already to keep a handle on the game and cruise to the win. Our wall held strong, double tags nearly outweighed the single and fitness prevailed. Today, four words were important, which our Warriors built on throughout the games: team, support, enthousiasm and fun, … and that’s exactly how they played! Massive well done to all of our Warriors!

Turvens coach & match reporter Phil