U7s at the Worthing Festival

Sunday 18th March 2007

The weather forecasts were poor, but that didn't deter the U7 Blue team meeting at 6.45am to depart on the Worthing coach (although those of us celebrating St Patrick's Day the evening before were not in the best of condition).

Drawn in a pool consisting of Richmond, Brighton Bears and Gosport, our first match was scheduled for 11.10am leaving us plenty of time for some warm up and drills. In fact, we ended up with more time that we thought as Richmond failed to turn up and we were awarded the match.

Next up were Brighton Bears in a game which was dominated by referee errors. Pretty soon we were 1 try up with Rhys Harper going over the line, although the Brighton coach disputed the try (is he allowed to do that?). Brighton soon came back under dubious circumstances but we pulled into the lead again with a great run from Jack Isacke following some excellent passing and support play from the whole team. Unfortunately Brighton again equalised but from the restart a searing run down the right wing from Rhys saw him plant the ball. Unfortunately, the referee deemed that the ball was not over the line and waived play on whilst we were celebrating, leaving Brighton to pick up the ball and run the length of the pitch unchallenged to score the winner. I am assured by parents who were closer to the try line that our score was fair.

Despite the refereeing decisions going against us, the team put in a strong performance with some excellent running with the ball and excellent tagging. Against Gosport, therefore, we were determined to improve. From the kick-off, it was clear that Gosport were the team of the pool, well drilled and experienced. Despite this, we really raised our game with every player contributing in the key areas of passing, support play and, especially, tagging. Despite 2 tries, one each from Ollie Hills and the little dynamo that is Drew Prince, we lost the game 3-2. In contrast to the first game's refereeing issues, this was a very close game between 2 teams exhibiting skill and flair which the referee said was by far the best game he had been involved with that day, played in the true spirit of the game. This was high praise indeed, especially as some of the players had only been registered for a few weeks.

Because Richmond failed to show up, we had secured a place in the semi final, but it was a long wait until we discovered who our opponents were, Petersfield. By the time we took the field the weather, which had held all day, had started to turn and the boys were starting to flag, especially because of the early start and the "free time" between matches. However, once again, the boys played hard and were fully committed, but the cold and tiredness resulted in a 2-0 loss and the end of the competition.

As coach, I was very impressed with the standard of play the boys displayed in this tournament. We had an early start and a long way to travel, but every one of the boys put in maximum effort which really pleased me and the parents who attended immensely. For those who will remain with the U7's next season, it looks like we have another crop of good players for Griff to work with and for those progressing to U8, the red team had better watch their backs!! Kieron