U8's win at Abbey

First opponents were the hosts, Abbey. The game was a very close affair especially as the rain that threatened to dampen the day made tags slippery. With strong running and excellent defensive tagging, Bracknell won a close fought game six tries to five with Sam and Toby both running in two tries and Aden and Jed also adding to the tally.

Following this start, Bracknell were up against Aylesbury who were noted for fielding a team with the largest difference in height between their shortest and tallest player! The first half was a little scrappy with both teams being penalised for travelling and for loosing tags to the floor. Bracknell settled down and started to play some strong rugby with ball being passed out to the wings on lots of occasions leading to numerous tries. In addition to good passing, strong defensive tagging led to turnover ball which helped the 9-4 win for Bracknell. Tries were scored by Ted and Jed (both touching down twice), Alistair, Sam, Aden, JK and Tom.

As always, Wallingford RFC had come with a very good team which led to a very tight game for the U8 squad. The strength of both teams gave rise to an exciting but nerve racking game; there were dropped balls and missed tags being matched with fast interceptions and speedy pick-ups. JK made some great jinking runs, with some long looping passes from Elliott to Tom. At the end of the contest, the honours were even at 4-4, Elliott scoring two tries and JK and Tom one a-piece.

Following the draw with Wallingford and with no time between games, the Blacks teams had to face Redinensians knowing that only a win would ensure they were in the running to win the tournament. As the weather had warmed up, the speed of the rugby being played also increased with tag after tag being snatched by both teams. An initial period of missed tags by Bracknell sent Ensian's into an early lead, but strong running and tagging clawed back the deficit. In a very close game, Bracknell's U8 Blacks finished the game seven tries to Ensians’ six tries. Alastiar and Jed scoring twice with Spencer, JK and Aden adding to the tally.

After the final games had been completed in the pool, the Bracknell U8 Black squad were confirmed as the overall winners of their age group. It was a long day, with some dubious weather and frantic parking but the trophy was well deserved and a great achievement.

The highpoint of the day was the great teamwork shown by the boys with tries coming from lots of the squad; the low point was when Aden was hacked down in the corner just prior to scoring; the funniest incident was trying to substitute Jed or Ted during a game (we're still not sure who was suppose to come off!)