Shelford Dev Squad - 71      St Neots 1^st - 0 

Pre Season training and matches over and finally we begin the season, albeit with a friendly match. A lot had been learnt from previous matches and training and a very good team effort meant that a resounding win started off our campaign. We started with a game plan and a structure and played for most of the first half with it but just bits of the second half. Some of the tries that were scored were superb with good interchanges between forwards and backs showed exactly why this pattern of play will work and also why we should have a good season ahead.  

In total we scored eleven tries (Richie Cottam, James Briggs, Jim Mcgivern, Clem, James Worthington, Will Green (2), Duncan Bolt (2), Chalky and Charlie Worthington) with James Worthington adding eight conversions. On the whole our fitness and focus was good, this can still be improved on but continued training and upcoming matches will make this happen.

The spirit within the team is there along with the understanding of what we are trying to do, how and when. We still have quite a few players to come back and competition for places will be strong making it essential that everyone is training and putting in solid performances on Saturday’s. St Neots, to their credit, never gave up but we kept playing, our defence keeping strong and constantly looking to attack and score.

We have two more friendly matches to come and then the league season starts. Our opposition in these fixtures will be a lot stronger so we need to keep improving in the following weeks ready for this start.