Wigan U10 v Ormskirk U10 & LSH U10

Players: Daniel, both Patricks, George, Nathan, Brandan, Harry, Ross, Chris, James, Alex

Weather: Tempestuous

Pitch: A short bus ride from the venue

This week the Oxford English Dictionary have had to change some of their definitions. If you look up the words Heart, Courage or Determination you will now see a picture of the Wigan U10 team. Every one of them. Lion hearts.

When some would have looked at the weather of the previous week, the nineteen solid hours of torrential rain and thought "no thanks", the U10s proved to made of sterner stuff. Delighted to be travelling into the eye of the storm the boys used the weather as a backdrop to a titan performance.

It was one for the purist. Whilst the wind blew like the start of the Wizard of Oz and dogs flew away, they stuck to their task like heroes. They didn't win. They only scored two tries but by God they played well.

The first game was against hosts Ormskirk. The encounter was played on almost neutral territory (it was that far away from the club) with an adjoining pitch being used by some locals re-enacting a historical battle. This was worked perfectly as metaphor for what took place on the rugby pitch. Whilst the there were some historical inaccuracies in the re-enactment - it would have been rare for a Jacobite soldier to wear a hoody with his nickname on the back - the action on the pitch was real and visceral. Although the game finished with a 4-1 defeat, every one of the boys performed brilliantly. Tackling was hard and brave, running was committed and straight. The only try came from James, who was excellent all morning. Ormskirk had threatened to run away with the tie but some resolute defending in the second half kept the score in proportion.

The second game was against LSH. The boys had previously played LSH on a foggy and fractious morning three weeks ago. On that occasion the boys found it difficult to control their emotions but this time showed an impressive maturity in refusing to be drawn into anything and letting the referee deal with things. It was a bruising encounter which was narrowly lost 2-1. Nathan scored an excellent try that was created by new boy Alex.

A word about Coach Butler. There can be few coaches in world rugby who are able to perform to that level having only got to bed at four o'clock because he was planning tactics and thinking a lot. Never before has the weather mirrored the performance of a coach. Magnificent. And stormy. Like Alex Murphy in a bit of a bad mood.

Men of the Match: James for being Mr.Perpetual Motion and Harry for getting stuck in.

Post match meal: Hotdog eaten in the fullest (albeit nicely refurbished) room in the world. Guinness Book of Records were on standby.