U11's Home Festival Report

This years ‘Ensians festival proved to be a day where several newer players demonstrated how far they have come since joining the team while a number of our “veteran” players showed great skills in a number of areas. The team as a whole gave 100%.

Pitted against Camberley, Farnham, Bracknell, Abbey and Chobham, it was always going to be a tough day with competitive Rugby guaranteed and the U11’s did not disappoint.

In the first game v Camberley, we were all over them for the majority of the game based on strong running from both forwards and backs, but we couldn’t quite make it across the line to score. Both teams tackled well in what was the most balanced game of the day. After a penalty against ‘Ensians at the scrume, Camberley were able to squeeze over in the corner for the only try of the game.

Next up were Bracknell in what was (as the saying goes) “a game of two halves”. Bracknell came out fast; attacking very strongly and a less than stellar tackling performance resulted in ‘Ensians going into the break 3 scores down. It was a different game in the second half; great scrummaging and rucking resulted in ‘Ensians seeing much more of the ball, tackling re-emerged and Bracknell hardly left their own half. We finally got on the score board which resulted in us winning the second half 1-0. The second half really was a great performance to build upon and was proof of how far we have come in the last 12 months.

The report on the Farnham game will be kept short, like the match! It wasn’t our best performance. Although Farnham were good, they weren't *that* much better.

Next up were Abbey. The team always look at this as a local derby and for many this was the one that mattered! We were clearly the stronger team right from the off with our scrum pushing Abbey all over the place. However, the ball was still caught up under the second row’s feet rather than in the backs hands! When the ball did get out into the back, both teams showed a lot of flair and ambition with a number of excellent tackles going in. 3 Tries from ‘Ensians and one from Abbey left us 3-1 up at the end of the game and able to retain bragging rights at home for another year!

The third of our back to back games arrived as we took the field to face Chobham, who were to be the eventual winners of the U11’s competition. By this point everyone was very tired but still up for one last effort! The call went out for everyone to “leave everything on the field” and give it their best shot..... We were not disappointed! Against a very well drilled side we competed extremely well, and showed that we have a huge amount of heart and talent. The final score of 2-0 did not reflect how close the two teams were. The forwards competed well in the scrum and the loose and the backs tackled well and were threatening on the run... we were just one pass away from scoring a couple of times. In a chat with the Chobham coaches after the game briefly they comment how strong a team we had and how surprised they were that we hadn’t won more games! They felt we were the most committed team they had played all day and complimented everyone for a very competitive game.

Everyone who played should be very proud of the effort and enthusiasm and commitment you showed on the day; well done.

Report from Mawgan Wilkins, additional editing Tony Phillips