Ampleforth College kindly invited us over for a competitive and structured training afternoon. With more than 17 Colts players unavailable for a variety of reasons 3 of which were in the Ampleforth Squad, we were still able to muster a squad of 12, alongside eight talented and eager lads from our Under-16s.

We ventured to the Valley not quite sure what to expect, but David and his team welcomed us warmly and were grateful that we had made the trip over to compete.

What was originally planned as a structured team training session followed by an hour-plus match evolved into a really positive afternoon of rugby. We started with 20 minutes of unit drills, touch and pass to cater for the Under-16s, who both ourselves and Ampleforth were able to rotate into the session.

The forwards worked on lineouts and 5 v 5 scrums, while the backs focused on cutting lines, identifying space and looking for overloads, playing until a fault or turnover occurred.

After a quick breather, we returned to the pitch for a 10-minute overload attack session. With every touch or grab resulting in the defending team losing that player, the emphasis was on adaptive play and identifying and exploiting overloads.

We had 10 minutes, followed by Ampleforth having 10 minutes. We were particularly proud of our lads during this exercise. On a number of occasions, despite being under significant pressure from the overload, we managed to force Ampleforth towards the edge of the pitch, with their final pass ultimately letting them down.

Another quick breather and reset, and we borrowed three of Ampleforth's players so we could go full tilt into a 30-minute contact game.

You could certainly tell that Ampleforth were coming off the back of their pre-season camp. At times, we struggled to get a foothold in the game and eventually lost 5–1. However, the scores were largely conceded around the edges, with two tries coming from intercepts. When used our kick chase was hugely impressive considering we haven't had it high on development list. That showed their is a desire to be part of a winning team.

However the lack of team preparation on our part was clear with player availability affecting training numbers, we've simply not had enough opportunities to run our units and full team combinations. That is something we'll continue to work on as more players become available.

We then rotated the Under-16s back onto the pitch, with Ampleforth doing the same for the final action of the day. All of the Under-16s wore bibs and played touch-only, while the remaining 17/18-year-olds continued at full tilt.

A huge thank you to all the parents who made the trip to the Valley and got the players there. We've had nothing but positive feedback from everyone involved, and we'd certainly jump at the chance to make this an annual fixture for our Colts of the future to look forward to.

We're also looking at arranging a proper game at the club against Ampleforth in October, potentially on a Friday evening.

On Tuesday, 6 October, we're inviting Ampleforth over to play in a 7s round-robin tournament alongside ourselves, an Argentinian touring team and another club, which is still to be confirmed. We'd like to make it a big social evening for the whole club, and our volunteers are already working hard behind the scenes to make it happen.

Finally, a massive thank you to David and all the sports staff at Ampleforth for making us feel so welcome and providing such a positive environment for our players.

But, most importantly, thank you to our players.

You have taken ownership of your own development by adding your availability to the new Pitchero app. It might not seem like much, but it shows us that you're engaged with us, with the club and with rugby as a whole.

That's exactly the attitude we want to see.

Cheers, and catch you at the next one!