Close, but not close enough!

The rescheduled Land Rover Cup took place at Abbey RFC and saw us drawn against the Abbey second team, Tadley and Wimborne.

Abbey put up a plucky fight but the score line of 4-0 reflected our teams strength against the Abbey second team; one try each for Callum, Ben S and Brad and a special mention to Dylan for his try after winning the ball and running it in from about 10 metres out!

After playing Tadley in a friendly fixture earlier in the season, this match turned out to be as close as we expected. Although the conditions were far better than last time we met, we lacked the determination to turn opportunities into tries leaving us with a 0-0 draw.

The final pool match was against Wimborne. We'd been able to watch them against both Abbey and Tadley and this became the tough match we were predicting. We went down by 1 try early in the first half. A determined run saw Ben S run in a great equaliser just before the half time whistle. After the break, things stayed pretty even until Brad got in a great run and popped the ball down in the corner - along with a high tackle which left him winded and unable to carry on. We were up! Wimborne sensed defeat and piled on the pressure; the final couple of minutes were a bit panicky and we lost possession giving Wimborne the break they needed to even the tally; final score 2-2.

Overall a good day of rugby but 1 win and two draws wasn't quite enough for to progress to the final. The team played well, but lacked the passion for winning that we've seen at the past couple of festivals.

The final saw a determined fight by the Abbey first team who beat Wimborne 2-1.