Welwyn get their season off to a flyer

19 of our talented squad braved the heavy rain to turn in some monumental performances at the London Festival of TAG Rugby which was held next to the Twickenham Stoop last Saturday. 10 of them even managed to upstage the professionals with a virtuoso performance on the hallowed turf at the home of English Rugby Twickenham!

It was an early start for all involved as a coach and army of supporter’s cars set of at 8.00 am. Some parents were more with it than others as packed lunches and football boots were left behind in their eagerness to get to the tournament on time!

Whilst it was to be a friendly TAG tournament with no 7th Tag turnover rule each team was trying to score enough tries to win their pool and gain the ultimate prize of playing on the main Twickenham pitch during the half time interval of the Saracens v Harlequins game later that day. As if our teams need firing up this was indeed a juicy incentive carrot!

We split the squad into 2 teams and knew that we would have a tough challenge ahead as the competition was well attended by sides from all over the South of England (30 teams). In pool 1 our Welwyn Blues were to be up against Redingsenians, High Wycombe, Chipping Norton and Hertford, whilst in Pool 3 our Welwyn Whites were drawn against Wasps, Aldershot and Fleet (yes we know that playing two sides at once is a little unfair!), Maidenhead and finally Saffron Walden.

The Blues got off to a good start with an opening win in unfortunately a low scoring (2-1) affair with Redingsenians. In their second game they lost their shape a little and narrowly missed out when losing to High Wycombe in another low scoring match (0-2). Therefore caution was thrown to one side in games 3 and 4 and lots of tries soon followed. Unfortunately Chipping Norton used the space a little better than we did but a hugely entertaining last game against a good Hertford A side resulted in the tries shared at 5 a piece. Well done to Andrew, Callum, Harry M, Morgan, James W, Angus, Hugo, Charlie and Daisy. Whilst you did not win the ultimate prize on offer you certainly played the games in the right spirit and with smiles on your faces. Everyone at Welwyn was proud of your efforts.

Meanwhile on pitch 2 the Whites also got off to a flyer and stung the Wasps with 4 tries. The defence worked incredibly hard and shut out their opponents to keep a clean sheet. They continued this good work in game 2 when easing past the Aldershot & Fleet side scoring 3 tries again without reply. In games 3 and 4 they played some breathtaking open Rugby to win 4-2 and 6-1 against the shell shocked sides from Maidenhead and Saffron Walden to clinch their place on the hallowed turf. Mind you the organisers from Wasps RFC were determined to keep Welwyn away from upstaging the professionals (that was easy as Wasps were blown away by London Irish) as they tried to record the last game as a six one defeat! (AS IF!!!). Thankfully once the error of their ways was pointed out they soon confirmed our place.

The wait to the golden moment was a long one but all those involved will, we are sure, confirm that it was well worth it! A record 52,000 was the official attendance and our boys certainly looked the part as an impressive display saw us to a friendly win (7-4) over a sporting Beaconsfield team. Congratulations go to Alfie, Harry A, Cameron, Jack Briars, Kier, Louis, Kyle, James C, Joey and Guy. We are sure you were as proud of your achievements as Welwyn RFC is of you.

U9's at Twickenham