U10's

Across the Chichester pitches swept a strong, burning breeze but despite plentiful pluck there wasn't much much luck blown in the direction of determined Warriors’ Under 10 A and B teams at the International Mini Rugby Series festival.
Given the supply of spirit, skill, dedication and pride shown by both sides, they were surely entitled to feel they should have finished higher than third and fifth in their respective tournaments.
Warriors conceded an early try and playing the second half uphill bombarded the Chippenham line, relentlessly forcing the opposition to concede a string of late penalties. Matthew Mason came within a metre of grabbing an equalising score, but the black and white defence managed to stand firm – all be it only just.
That defeat meant the Wimbledonian A team were left to contest the third place play-off against Westcombe Park. Neither side was able to produce a score in a torrid, exciting match that went to extra time. Westcombe began the game stronger, but as the contest wore on Warriors became ever more dominant and by the end seemed the only side likely to break the deadlock.
“We struggled with the starts of too many of our matches,” admitted head coach Roger Brosch, who was nevertheless delighted by the passion his team displayed throughout. Scrum half Jacob Whelan came desperately close to scoring the “golden” winning try in extra time after unrelenting Warriors pressure.
Jacob was over the line but last-ditch defending was enough to dislodge the ball as he sought the winning touch down. Both teams were exhausted at the final whistle, and while it would have been fitting for Warriors to finish the tour with a victory there was some consolation because they were awarded third place because of their superior performances in the group stages.
The A team made a flying start to the weekend with a magical display against Old Colfeians in their first fixture. Warriors were totally dominant in a well deserved 20 pts to 0 victory.
James Stott opened the scoring with a well taken first try and Matthew added a second by wriggling over just before half-time. Warriors’ forwards were always on top, winning at will opposition ball at scrums.
It wasn’t long before Ed Foxley, whose grandfather was a pupil at the Chichester High School where the festival was staged, raced over for Warriors’ third try. Jacob then completed a powerful individual score to secure a convincing victory.
By contrast the Under 10 B team suffered an awful start to the weekend as injuries to scrum half Rory Mortimer and the influential Max Thomas Mayes undermined their effort to beat Chippenham.
Max had given Warriors the perfect opening with an early try, but once the effects of the injuries began to take their toll Chippenham took full advantage. The Old Wimbledonian side made a series of brave try saving tackles before their line was breached and the opposition ran in a succession of tries to inflict a potentially demoralising 25-5 defeat.
Chippenham somehow managed to damage Warriors’ hopes in the A tournament as well. Despite having all the early territory in what proved a high quality contest the A team couldn’t find a way through.
The match finished in a frustrating nil-nil draw, James coming closest to scoring when he nearly went over in the corner for Warriors with the last move of the match. “On reflection our inability to win that match cost us dear because it was one we should have won and would have made it much easier for us to make the final,” said Head Coach Roger.
There was no arguing with the way Warriors finished their next match, a dramatic and vital 5-0 win over Fullerians that was settled by Jacob’s try with the last move of a thrilling match. The score was set up by Oliver Gestrin’s powerful drive after tour player's player award winner Dylan Maas and James made crucial try saving tackles.
The Under 10 B’s, meanwhile, responded magnificently to their opening defeat with a spirited 10-5 victory over Westcombe Park. It should have been a more convincing win because Maxime Berge crossed the poorly marked try line and strayed over the equally poorly marked deadball line before touching down for a well worked but frustratingly disallowed score.
Mark Cronin soon made amends and Ciaran Smith added a second try after half time to secure a richly deserved and morale boosting win for a B team that had Ollie Carter deputising at scrum half in the absence of the injured Rory.
Westcombe’s score came with the last move of the match; too little too late.
Rory, who was the B team's Player's Player award winner, returned for the try-less draw with Old Albanians which was a tough, high quality match in which Ciaran’s inspired running provided the most exciting moments. The B team played back to back matches with Fullerians providing the next opposition.
Understandably Warriors began to run out of steam and eventually fell to a 10-0 defeat against a strong powerful line up. How different it may have proved, though, had the curse of the weakly marked try line not struck again.
Leo Phoenix rounded off a wonderful Warriors move but failed to notice the try line and just as Maxime had done earlier accidentally ran the ball dead after all the hard work for a deserved try had been done.
In the A tournament Warriors fell to their only defeat against a very strong Old Albanian line up that was forced to work exceptionally hard for its 10-0 win. Freddie Goodyear was the hero in defeat having been drafted into the side at the last moment having just played the two successive matches for the B team.
Not only that he gave a strong performance at prop and nearly barged over for a try that would have been a thoroughly well deserved way to end the first day’s action.
Both teams had much to play for heading into the second day. The A’s knew they had to win their final group match against Westcombe by two scores to have any chance of securing a place in the final while third place was still a possibility for the B’s.
Warriors duly delivered a hard earned win in the A tournament despite being starved of first half possession. A decent pep talk did the trick at the interval and they thoroughly dominated the second period.
Oliver capped a fine passing move with the opening try and Matthew came within inches of doubling the lead moments later. In the end James ran over in the corner for the all important second score that kept Warriors’ hopes of a place in the final alive and it came with the last move of the match.
It was that score that gave Warriors their play-off chance against Chippenham after the coaches argued that a place in the final should not be decided by a flip of a coin.
Alas the B’s fell to a 15-0 loss to Old Albanian’s powerful C team. Felix Bound made a try saving tackle to keep Warriors in the game as did George Brosch who superbly denied the opposition a score by holding up the attacker over the line.
But it wasn’t enough and the B team were left to fight for fifth place against Westcombe Park and this final provided their best performance of the Tour. It was a resounding 15-5 win with George and Rory grabbing first half tries and Max, who won the coaches' Player of the Tour award, adding a third with the first move after the break.
“The commitment was absolutely brilliant” said Coach Pete Stokes. “We got better and better after every game and the standard of our tackling was the best of the season. The last game was probably our best performance too.
“Everybody should be proud of what they did,” he added.
Roger was equally proud of his A team that came so close to a place in the final. “Obviously it is frustrating because we could have done better given the passion and effort of the boys,” he said.
“The quality of our passing needs work and we struggled in the scrummages but because of injuries we only had three forwards for most of the time.
“Our rucking was outstanding and though I hate to pick out individuals Thomas Walsh (the A team coaches' award winner) made a couple of great hits.
“Overall our players have come on leaps and bounds. I can’t wait for next season. In the under 11s with bigger pitches, more forwards and an introduction to kicking, I think we will do very well and I’m very excited.”
Author: Iain Carter