Sunday's matches against Hitchin produced a mixed bag of results with Hertford and Stevenage beating Hitchin B in a competitive game that showed great teamwork. The A team were comprehensively beaten by a big and rugged Hitchin side who showed excellent skill levels in their backs to score 4 unanswered tries.

Great to see injured Max Oates (broken wrist) supporting his teammates this weekend - wishing him, Max Robinson (Pleurisy) and Oliver Stead (Concussion) a speedy recovery.

This week
Training takes place at Hertford, starting at 18:30 - Spencer Stratford leading

Sunday December 3rd, both sides have away matches this week at the extremities of the Herts/Middlesex boundaries with the A team facing Ampthill for a 10:30 KO (meet at 9:30) and the Stevenage and Hertford team facing Twickenham, meet and KO time TBC.

Selection will be made after Wednesday training.

The Hertford senior side have hit a rich vein of form and sit top of the league this week, facing league newcomers Sidcup at home on Saturday - do come up and support the side KO 15:00

Player Teamwork, Discipline and Respect
The premature end to the A team game this week due to lack of player discipline and in-fighting was a huge disappointment along with new reports of A Team players being disrespectful to B team players at last week's training session at Stevenage has motivated the coaching team to try to tackle this issue once and for all.....

Rugby’s principles of Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship are what defines our sport and differentiate us. Sadly, and in spite of our best efforts, a number of players in our age group continue to have a problem with:

Teamwork and respect for each other
• Players repeatedly criticising the play or mistakes of team mates during matches and/or training
Respect for officials
• Players arguing with referees and coaches
Self-discipline
• Players repeatedly getting into confrontational situations with opposing players including fighting during games and after the final whistle.
Respect for the coaches
• Whether it’s Torran, David from Stevenage or one of the Hertford coaches running a session the persistent messing about and talking over coaches needs to stop. Everyone who is coaching is an unpaid volunteer at the club and are working for the benefit of your boys and deserve to be listened to without having to compete with players’ endless chit-chat.

We sincerely hope that we don’t have to resort to sanctioning players however we have agreed that the following sanctions will be put in place with immediate effect.

First offence
When a player lets himself and the squad down by failing to meet the expected behaviours, they will be given one warning, in the form of a YELLOW CARD. A yellow card will be active for a period of 28 days from the date of issue.

Next offence
Any further breach of the expected behaviours within 28 days will result in the player being issued a RED CARD. A red card will result in the suspension of the player for one week or the next training session and then next match if the next Sunday is a training weekend. The point being that the penalty for not being a good team member is temporary removal from the team.

Once the suspension is served the player will return to Yellow card status and will need to behave for 28 days before the card expires with any repeat offence committed within 28 days escalating to another red card and suspension.

All disciplinary discussions will, where possible, take place immediately following a game or training session with a parent present and the Head Coach and/or Lead Coach for the match or training session.

The coaching team feels that a small number of players’ recent conduct already this season warrants a warning yellow card. We are considering this at present and will speak to the parents and players concerned over the course of the next week if we choose to take action.

Why are we taking this so seriously?

We know that they’re adolescent boys and that “boys will be boys” however…

We want players of all abilities to enjoy their rugby and develop their skills in a fun, positive and safe environment.
We want our age group to be an attractive proposition to attract potential new players
We want to retain our existing players through the youth age progression
We lost over 25% of our players last season: 11 out of 13 parents of the players who left last season cited issues with critical age group teammates as the reason for leaving.

What can you do to help?

Please talk you your boys and explain our expectations and what the risks of not
Support the coaching team
Encourage players to talk to the Head Coach or Lead Coaches if they have any questions.