The newly-formed West Cumbria Colts squad continues to grow in numbers and experience.
Although beaten 31-0 by Darlington Colts yesterday at Aspatria’s Bower Park the progress is steady and noticeable.
A worthy project, one of the coaching team behind it Andrew Branthwaite is convinced it will eventually bear rich fruit.
After the Darlington game he said: “The side is showing signs of improvement. There is still plenty of work to do, but with the numbers increasing at training the team is on the right track.”
The thinking behind the formation of the team was clear. There are 12 clubs in West Cumbria but in a good year only two clubs will have enough numbers to field an Under-18s side.
This is despite a number of clubs having youth set ups throughout the younger age groups. Retaining sufficient numbers at Under-18’s level is difficult.
This results in a number of keen players leaving the game due to not enough rugby or having to travel to other parts of the county to get enough rugby. This has resulted in a player drain on the West Cumbrian clubs at the senior level.
The impact has been heightened due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in lads not playing games in 18 months and the RFU’s safety precaution preventing Under-18 players from moving into senior rugby until at least January 2022.
This was to allow them time to ease back into contact with players their own age before being thrown in against adults. Whilst logical, this does not help the players in West Cumbria that don’t have an Under-18’s team at their club due to lack of numbers and so would have to wait two years to play the game they enjoyed.
It was the two Workington coaches Andrew Branthwaite and Lee Harden who came up with the West Cumbria Colts (U18s) proposal and it has received a positive reaction from the clubs.
Any club that cannot field a Colts team themselves in a season will pool together their resources so that players in the area get regular competitive rugby.
Whilst Branthwaite and Harden are heading-up the coaching this season, coaches from Wigton, St Benedict’s, Aspatria and Cockermouth have all confirmed that they would be happy to support some sessions.
This season the team are playing in the North East and Cumbria league, with the clubs involved paying for an away bus and getting a home game in return.
Training is currently rotating between the four clubs supplying a decent amount of the players (St Benedict’s, Workington, Wigton and Aspatria).
This means that any club in West Cumbria should be looking to recruit Under-18’s. They can now guarantee them rugby via the West Cumbria Colts team, without the pressure of having to find another 14 players.
Branthwaite said: “I have fond memories of my own Under-18 rugby union playing days. They were some of the most impactful and enjoyable experiences of my life. Hopefully this West Cumbria Colts initiative will have a similar impact for the lads in our local area.
“My initial measure for the success of the team was simple – if the lads attending continued to come back. It’s a decent commitment to ask them and their families to give up their time to come to train and play.
“The fact they are doing so means we are on the right track. The long-term measure of success for the team will be how many of these lads integrate into senior set ups at their local rugby clubs. They will be the back bone of many of the local teams in years to come and ensuring they stay invested in the game is key in allowing this to happen.”
The lads will be made to feel more like one team thanks to Smurfit Kappa who have agreed to sponsor this West Cumbria team with some new playing shirts. Smurfit Kappa believe in this initiative and were only to happy to support it.
Now that word of mouth has got round the clubs, there is a decent number of Under 18’s interested and more are keen to join. So much so that it won’t be too long before there will be enough for two teams.
West Cumbria Colts came up against an impressive Darlington team on Sunday but despite the 31-0 score-linethere were signs of improvement from the first two matches for this newly formed side.
Darlington had both possession and field position early in the match. Despite this, West Cumbria were resilient in defence and it took a good 10-15 minutes before Darlington scored their first try.
In previous weeks the West Cumbria side were finding the set pieces tough. This time the team won their own line-out ball. They were also dominant in the scrum for the majority of the game. The next step is for the team will be to do more with the possession they have.
There was some strong running in the game from James Stanaway, Harvey Smith and Charlie Bell, which gave the team opportunities.
Supporting the ball started off slowly but after ten minutes the players switched onto this and there was a good contest for possession from both sides at the breakdown.
Darlington were impressive on the break and finishing off their opportunities. Their other try in the first half came from identifying space in the backfield and a kick and chase into the space. This led to a penalty try due to an obstruction of the oncoming chasing Darlington player.
The second half saw a few more opportunities for the West Cumbria side, but unfortunately the final pass just didn’t come to hand.
Darlington played really well on the counter and their three tries in this half came from good counter attacking play that either resulted in the try or enabled enough pressure to eventually go over the line.
