Back To Back Festival Wins For Our Mightly Under 9s

Our A & B squads took part in the 2009 Tring Festival where two other of last season's A team County semi finalists were also in attendance. It would therefore be good guide to see how well we had all taken to from the transition of TAG Rugby to the contact game. The B squad were drawn in Group A to meet our host’s top side plus the A teams of Harpenden, Bicester, Milton Keynes and Chinnor. The A squad were drawn in Group B to meet the hosts B squad plus the A sides of Cheshunt, Hemel Camelot, Fullerians and Old Albanians.

In group A the B team were first up against a strong Tring side so they needed to be at their very best to compete. Despite going a try behind the B team rallied and a good piece of scrum half trickery led to Calum equalising in the corner. At half time we were 5 all and with everything to play for. An assured performance in the second half kept our opponents in check but their speedy centre used his pace to good effect to score twice in the corner to give Tring the win. Whilst we lost the opener the team could take great heart from the fact that they had run a very good A side to the wire.

Next up for the B team were a powerful Harpenden side. Unfortunately our earlier performance was not replicated and they were brushed aside by 35 points to nil. The early scores by the opposition breaking our resolve all too easily and it was a game we would rather forget! Thankfully we were soon back onto the field of play as we had an ideal opportunity to erase the memories of the previous encounter with a game against a Milton Keynes side who were struggling for any kind of form in their own games. 6 tries later from Daisy, Adam, Calum (2) and Saul (2) with just one in reply and the victory was ours by 30 points to 5.

We now knew that we needed to win both of our final 2 games to make the Plate final. Our hopes however were immediately dashed by Chinnor as despite a better defensive display we went down by 5 tries to 2 to lose 25 – 10 with Saul grabbing two great solo efforts for us. The final rubber therefore meant that we could not qualify but we wanted to put up a good display to end our festival on a high. Unfortunately we were up against a strong Bicester side that required a win to qualify for the Plate final. A gutsy effort followed but our lone try by Calum could not stop us losing the game by 25 points to 5.

All in all it was a tough day for our B squad but one we hope will also put them in good shape when they meet their B counterparts at County in 5 weeks time. Whilst they may meet some good sides on that day, they will not be as strong as the likes of Tring, Harpenden, Bicester and Chinnor’s A sides. Well done to Calum, Adam (Capt), Morgan, Bradley R, Daisy, Saul, Hugo, Jack Byrne, James Cory, Harry M and Dominic.

Meanwhile in Group B the A team were playing on a pitch with a steep hill and were also starting against a Tring side but this time it was the hosts B team. Despite a poor first half playing down hill the A team began with a comfortable victory by scoring six unanswered tries. Our tries were scored by Alfie, Luca, Kyle and the first of three hat tricks from Kier. Tring B 0 Welwyn 30

In game 2 we played a Cheshunt side still buoyant from their recent success over our B side just two weeks ago. Our A side however are a different proposition and a fantastic first half display put the game out of our opponents reach and we eventually ran out worthy winners. A second hat trick of the morning from Kier and tries from Alfie and Luca completed our win. Cheshunt 5 Welwyn 25

In game three we again put in a strong first half performance against a very resilient Camelot side. Four more unanswered tries shared between Alfie and Kier were enough to give us another win. However as with the Cheshunt game it was the strong forward play of Luca, Cameron, Harry A and Gus that gave us the platform to build on. Camelot 0 Welwyn 20

So we went into our 4th game knowing that victory against Fullers would guarantee a place in at least the Plate Final and that it would also keep us on course for the bigger prize. The result was never in doubt as at last our backs could play a bigger part as our opponents were not as reliant upon their forward play as the teams in the previous matches. Johann, Alfie and Isaac profiting with a try apiece but the smart play of Jack, Kyle, Andrew and Louis supplied the tools for the impressive Kier to complete his third hat trick of the morning. Fullers 0 Welwyn 30

The final game of the group was effectively a group decider or Semi Final as our opponents, Old Albanians had also won all their games. However with us having scored eight tries more than our opponents it meant that a draw would be enough to send us through to the final.

Our boys set about their task looking to win the match rather than rely upon the mathematics and our early dominance finally paid dividends when Cameron completed a good driving maul move and crashed over the line to give us the lead. This was doubled on the stroke of half time when our scrum half, Alfie, once again out foxed his opposite number to drive over the line from the base of the scrum. It was therefore 10 nil to us at the break. At the start of the second half the boys entered the field with the words of “get the next try and the game is won”. Guess what? Alfie scored the next try and whilst the game was won we literally stopped playing for the final 4 minutes and let in 2 soft tries! The Final Score was Welwyn 15 Old Albanians 10 but it did not turn out to be quite as comfortable a win as it had looked 5 minutes before the end!

The win meant that we played Harpenden in the Cup Final and the match started with both sides using their forwards to gain ground. An over zealous opponent (who was later asked to leave the field of play) left birthday boy Harry A prostrate on the ground and the resulting penalty gave us the ascendancy. The resilient Harpenden defence had managed to keep us at bay until some more magic from Alfie at our scrum saw him slip under their clutches to give us the lead. No more scores in the half meant we went into the break 1 try up. At the start of the second half we played slightly up hill and Harpenden threw everything at us in a bid to get back into the game. However our defence stood firm and began to push our opponents back towards their own line. Our own pressure finally told when Luca crashed over to score and effectively put one hand on the cup. The final few minutes were played out in the centre of the pitch and as the referee signalled for full time, the cup was ours and our jubilant team and supporters celebrated another festival win.

Well done to Alfie (Capt), Luca, Cameron, Gus, Harry A, Louis, Kier, Kyle, Jack Briars, Andrew, Johann and Isaac you certainly made your club very proud.

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