Sundays festival saw us entering the local festival at Mitcham. The day started with clear skies and a sharp wind which stayed with us all day. With the tent swiftly arranged for shelter, the squad was soon settled into base camp and ready for action. Sam C, Milton, Billy, Luke, Alex, Louis R, Sachin, Ralph, Cameron, William S and Sam V were soon warming up together and searching for the source of the fried bacon aroma. With Richard, Adam, parents and myself running some training drills, no time was wasted.

With matches underway it wasn’t long before the try tally was racking up for Wimbledon against Farnham in their first match. Sam V, Cameron, Billy and Milton working well together on the wings whilst Ralf and Alex pushed forward to gain the early tries. Finally, Farnham were soon dispatched with an 8 – 3 win to Wimbledon.

With only minutes between the next match the squad quickly refueled before they were up against Old Ruts in the second game. It was soon apparent that William was on a mission as he knew he had to leave early and so focused his mind on the task ahead with clinical precision. Like a coiled spring the team played using all the pitch and their speed to full advantage. Alex, Sam C and Louis where able to perfect their tagging and team support to eventually push 3 tries ahead when the final whistle blew. Another victory was in the bag, Wimbledon 6 – 3 Old Ruts.

We then had a longer break to prepare for the next game against Streatham & Croydon. They were a tough team but this didn’t stop our squad from giving their all and a nail biting second half ensued. Luke and Sachin showed some great ball handling and passing skills, preventing the team structure from breaking down. It was a high scoring match. The final whistle blew soon after we conceded to a try from Streatham & Croydon which left us with our first narrow loss of the day. Final score 9 – 8 to Streatham & Croydon.

We were they through to the Cup Semis and up against Old Whitgiftians. Richard had refereed for one of their earlier matches in the day so we knew they would be no walkover. Every player had an opportunity to run with the ball, together with committed defending throughout the team and their positive attitude their reward came finally when Billy set up the winning try which allowed us to walk away with an 8 – 7 win.

The points scores were announced and we were deservedly through to the finals.

Unfortunately in his earlier efforts, Billy had twisted his ankle and reluctantly had to sit out of the finals match against our earlier rivals, Streatham & Croydon. The match was a close run affair. Milton, Louis and Sam C catching the opposition napping during the first quarter and lining up a couple of great tries for Cameron, quickly followed by Sam V. Sachin and Ralf’s tagging skills were pushed to the limit. The opposition finally proved too quick for us and started to chip away at our early lead. They finally clawed ahead by a single try and took victory with a final score of 8 – 7 to Streatham & Croydon.

We closed the day’s festival as true sportsman with three mighty cheers and shaking hands with the winning team before receiving the Cup Runners-up Trophy, award certificate, medal and most importantly the squad giving themselves a big pat on the back for the best result of the season. What a great all round team effort – Well Done Boys!

Many thanks to all the squad, Richard and Adam for coaching and refereeing and everyone else on the day that helped out and cheered the U7s on.

Many thanks,
Steve