Who and What are Melbourne Under 14's

Players

Robbie Awbery

Will Bailey

Aaron Beardsley

Scott Bennett (Captain)

Jaque Berridge

Max Chetwyn

Pip Day

Tom Dring

Lewis Hancock

Tom Kirkham

Ashley Kirkland

Zack Lysaczenko

Steve Mitchell

Dario Quacquarelli

Arun Purewal

Zach Shannon

Ashley Sparkes

Elliott Tew

Tom Waite-Walker

Eddie Webb

Jacob Wright

Coaching Staff

Nick Woodland Head Coach and Tour Organizer

Richard Kirkham Backs Coach

Malcolm Bailey Forwards Coach

A bit about us

We are a rugby team just outside Derby called Melbourne Rugby RFC and play our Junior and Mini games at Chellaston School. As a team we have had a good couple of years since I have been involved with this age group. The lads had a fantastic season 06/07 winning over 90% of their games, reaching the NLD Plate (Nottingham, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire) semi-final only to lose in a VERY close game with Deepings RFC and completing their Wales tour unbeaten. This saw us being promoted to the NLD Cup, the plate being the European Challenge Cup and the Cup being the Heineken Cup, however we lost a larger group of lads than hoped and a coach. With a lot of work from the lads (Tom Kirkham in particular) and coaches we managed to get our numbers back up to 21 with over 6 new faces only to find that we had drawn probably the hardest group in the NLD cup, Derby A's, Stamford and Paviors. As coaches we looked with an open jaw and a sinking feeling in our stomachs but the lads threw themselves into the season as if it was any other and even though we lost our NLD games we didn't lose any of the respect we had gained the previous season. The lads have had a tough time trying to bond the new players into the squad quickly and with a fresh new coaching set up came a fresh new coaching style but the lads have done fantastically well beating Scunthorpe RFC and Chesterfield RFC in two VERY close and thrilling games and Ashby RFC to name a few. We have also been lucky enough to have been given several donations from local companies to fund this years tour allowing us to make the tour that little bit more memorable, as I believe that children need to be in these types of environments where they learn more than just how to be a rough and ready rugby player. They learn respect for the other players, refs, coaches and everyone involved, they learn presentation skills when they put on the club tie and smart dress and they learn to be a person who can be dependable and be able to think on their own and in a team. As the season almost draws to an end we as coaches would like to thank everyone involved in the rugby club and also to every parent who supports their child as you are also the ones getting up early making sure they don't forget kit and boots and driving them (with some poor directions from the coach) to every game.

Nick Woodland

Melbourne Under 14's