Bracknell A's runners up at Hornets

We entered 2 teams in a festival hosted by the Hornets club based in Weston-super-Mare. The A team consisted of Spencer H, Jack R, Josh R, Max E, Ed L, Jed C, Aden S, Tom LD, Archie M, Elliot D, Paddy C and Sam R (who was captain for the day).

On arriving at the venue, it was immediately clear the boys would be up against it. The pitches were much smaller (and particularly, narrower) than they're used to playing on. And in some places, there were already signs of water-logging.

The 1st phase of the competition was played in a league format with the boys drawn against Biggleswade, Hornets and Abertillery. To be honest, the standard wasn't really what we'd expected and the boys breezed through these matches without conceding a try. The scores were 6-0, 7-0 and 3-0 respectively. The first 2 games were notable only because in each game there were 6 different try scorers. Sam, Spencer, Ed, Paddy, Aden and Jed all scored in the 1st game against Biggleswade. And Max, Jack, Jed, Spencer (x2), Ed and Aden all scored in the 2nd game against Hornets. The 3rd game against Abertillery was supposed to be the easiest because this was apparently the Welsh team's first full contact festival. But it proved to be the hardest - those Welsh boys certainly like a tackle! Jed, Ed and Max were the try scorers. And Aden would also have been a try scorer in this game if the ref had applied some common sense - Aden grounded the ball beyond the dead ball line because the try line was no longer visable after a heavy shower. Unlucky Aden. The boys topped the group and looked forward to a semi-final against Kings Norton who finished 2nd in the other group.

Instead of cracking on with the 2nd phase matches (all 8 of them), the organisers decided there should be a break, presumably to allow people to take advantage of the sunshine and have some lunch. But just as play was supposed to get under way again, a heavy shower made one of the 2 pitches unplayable. This meant all 2nd and 3rd phase matches would have to be played on the same pitch. And with the boys through to the cup semi-finals, it also meant a long wait before they'd be playing again. In fact, nearly 2 hours passed!

The boys started their semi-final slowly, missed a couple of tackles, and conceded their 1st try of the festival. But they responded brilliantly with trys from Spencer and Sam (x2) either side of half-time. Back came Kings Norton with a 2nd try of their own. Again, a couple of missed tackles proving costly. And as the final whistle approached, the game was on a knife edge - 1 more try for Kings Norton and they'd go through having scored the 1st try. At least that's what we all thought. Kings Norton scored a 3rd try with virtually the last play of the game. But in truth, the try should never have been allowed because the boy clearly "bounced" the ball over the try line. We all groaned at the final whistle thinking the boys had missed out. But with the match tied at 3-3, the ref surprisingly called for an unspecified period of extra time in which a golden try would see the scoring team progress to the final. Maybe the ref realised he was wrong to allow the 3rd Kings Norton try?

Kings Norton won the toss and started with the ball. There then followed a period of intense Kings Norton pressure. For a full 5 minutes or so, they camped on our try line. But did the boys surrender? No, they didn't. They repelled attack after attack. Eventually, the boys turned over the ball and Max made good ground up the right wing. Kings Norton committed too many boys to the resulting ruck and there was a huge overlap on the left. Spencer came away with the ball and we all screamed at him to give the pass. But in true Spencer style, he stuffed the ball up his shirt, buried his head in the mud and drove on. 1, 2, 3, possibly 4 boys tried to stop him. But as the try line approached, it was clear there was no stopping him and he piled over for the match winning golden try. The scenes of jubilation at the end of the game showed just what winning meant to the boys after such a monumental defensive effort in such atrocious conditions. The photos on the official photographer's website tell you all you need to know really - have a look (if you haven't already).

The downside of such an epic semi-final was that the boys were now running on reserves. It would take another monumental effort to overcome Keynsham in the final, not least because they had the biggest boy I've ever seen at this level. And not only was he big, he could run a bit too - there's a story on Keynsham's website about how this boy (nicknamed the BFG) has already scored over 100 trys this season.

The BFG (playing at fly-half) was given the ball at every opportunity. It's a shame really that nobody else in their team got a look in. But when you've got a weapon as potent as the BFG in your team, then I guess it makes sense to use it all the time. Keynsham opened up a 2-0 lead early on courtesy of 2 trys from the BFG - the boys simply couldn't cope with his speed and power. But then the boys realised Keynsham had no plan B - if they could stop the BFG getting the ball, then opportunities would arise. The tactic worked and Sam took one such opportunity just before half-time. Ed put in a strong tackle and Sam seized the ball to score an easy try. So 1-2 at half-time and game on. The tactic continued to work in the 2nd half. But despite creating opportunities, the boys couldn't make one of them count. And with time running out, the game opened up. The BFG capitalised on a loose pass to score with what was the last play of the game. So a 1-3 loss to finish the day and a runners-up trophy to bring back to Berkshire.

Congratulations to all the boys (and of course the coaches) for a wonderful effort in conditions that we know don't suit the free-flowing rugby the boys like to play.

Author - Andy Reynolds