Reading Festival Report

Reading Tournament 16th October 2012.

It was another glorious day as we all assembled at Reading RFC for the unusual experience of an afternoon tournament. Many of us had enjoyed the novelty of a Sunday morning lie-in. It was also slightly strange to be playing at an away venue which is so close to home.

Wallingford were our first opponents, but for a change we were quickly out of the blocks and it wasn't long before Mitch scored our first try of the day. We were holding our own in the scrum and the backs were defending well, putting the opposing back line under constant pressure whenever they had the ball. Wallingford however were strong opponents and soon equalised to bring the score to 1-1. We did briefly lose a bit of momentum in the pack when Callum and Kieran both went off injured. Fortunately we had Owen and Stuart Boyd to come on, both of whom played stormers. Brad also had to go off having taken an elbow in the mouth. The game finished 1-1, which was probably a fair score, given the disruptions that we had suffered through injury. Callum was taken to A&E and discovered that he has fractured his wrist and will be out for up to three months. All the coaches wish him a speedy recovery.

Next up were our old friends from Bracknell. "We meet again, Mr Bond" was the opening gambit from their chief coach. Well, we weren't shaken but we were certainly stirred as we took the game to Bracknell as never before. Most of the game was played firmly in their half and twice we had men over on the wing only for the final pass never quite to materialise. What a sickener it then was to concede a try in the final seconds of game. Just one lapse of concentration at the end and all our good work had been undone. But fair play to Bracknell; they always play good competitive rugby and are invariably sporting opponents. "Until the next time, Dr No."

If we'd thought Bracknell had been a tight game, the contest against Reading was even tighter. We held them in the scrum, but they had an undoubted advantage in the rucks. It was nip-and-tuck all the way in a very physical game of rugby. Once again, a draw was the very least we deserved. But once again, we were to concede a try in the dying seconds of the game. After having played so well, a second defeat was difficult to bear. Had fortune smiled on us a little sweeter, we could well have had two wins and a draw. Such are the tight margins of competitive rugby.

The final game was against Farnborough and this time we were not to denied. We simply outplayed them all over the pitch. Our forwards were especially rampant, with Jamie and Owen both deserving of special mention. Matthew was directing the back line with his normal mixture of dash and precision. Our first try came from Ben Green as he ran in a try from 5 metres out following a penalty. The second came from Brad as he smuggled the ball out of a maul and seemingly ran it before their defence had noticed. Farnborough did manage to score a consolation try as we again tired in the final moments, but victory was ours and richly deserved.

In summary, this was a fantastic afternoon's rugby from Redingensians. Teams such as these were running six tries past us at the beginning of last season, but not now. This season we are standing toe-to-toe with the very strongest teams around. We seem to be getting stronger at each successive tournament and very soon we are going to be beating teams such as Bracknell and Reading. But winning and losing will always be part of the game. All we ask is that the boys play competitive rugby, and today they did us proud.