On Wednesday 22nd January, the U10A team travelled to Tonbridge School for the annual Rugby Festival. Despite the poor weather conditions, the pitches at Tonbridge held up well and it was great that the tournament was able to go ahead.
In our first game we faced Littlegarth School. The boys started incredibly well, showing fantastic determination, organisation and discipline and scoring five tries to nil.
The second match was against Bickley Park School and once again the boys dominated. There was excellent play from everyone and we finished as four-tries-to-nil winners.
After a short break, which was not ideal in the cold conditions, we came up against a strong team from The Hawthorn School. The boys played very well and took the lead through a fantastic try created by Jacob F and finished by Adil F. After a strong spell of pressure, Hawthorns scored on the final play of the game. However, thanks to our earlier performances, we still topped the group and progressed to the Final.
In the Final we played New Beacon Schools, winners of the other group. By this point the boys were soaked and cold and we started the game poorly, allowing New Beacon to go two tries ahead through some soft defending. The boys then galvanised and regrouped, scoring the next try through some fantastic phase play and strong running. We grabbed the equaliser after half-time and momentum was with us. In the closing minutes, after a really strong run from Harry B, we scored our third try and managed to keep New Beacon out for the remainder of the game.
The boys showed incredible courage, grit and determination to come back from the jaws of defeat and should be extremely proud of how they battled in tough conditions to become overall winners. During the presentation, the team were also awarded Best Team which was thoroughly deserved.