If one of the big benefits of extending the season has been the opportunity for local mini rugby enthusiasts to have their fill of games against a variety of opponents, one of the big drawbacks has been the punishingly hot conditions under which those games have had to be played.

This past Sunday saw the Sandy Bay U9/U10 girls host Valley Fort girls from the same age categories on a bright and sunny morning at Stanley Ho Sports Centre, in Pok Fu Lam. The morning began promptly at 8 am with the visitors arriving nice and early, bounding with eagerness and enthusiasm.

After some casual passing and catching among all the girls present, the formalities of the morning began with joint rucking and passing-down-the-line drills. The mixing of groups was done well by both sets of coaches. who deserve a lot of credit for the positive and collegial tone they set for the morning's play.

As the shade was beginning to disappear on the side closest to the sea on Pitch 1, the coaches made the wise decision to begin the 7-a-side games. Sandy Bay were divided in largely the same groups as they have been over the past few weeks among "Whites" led by Coach Tom, and "Blues" led by coach Simon. The first set of games were tough duels with both the "Whites" and the "Blues" exchanging the lead with their respective Valley opponents, to ultimately end both games with combative draws.

With their opponents swapped for their second games, both the "Whites" and "Blues" went to battle once again. This time around, each of the two Sandy Bay teams came out losers despite putting in good performances. What was most notable was the improvement in quality of rugby played, with some good passing, ball presentation, and rucking. There was a considerable step-up in the quality of tackling, just as it needed to be given the size and speed of the Valley girls!

All in all, it was an end-of-May morning of high learning and good quality rugby.