Teddington u7s triumph at Cobham

The Cobham Mini Rugby A Festival - Sunday September 30th 2012

The U7 A squad played their first festival of the season at Cobham this Sunday, on what was a fine and dry day.

The Squad included; Alex Carter, Alex Rustomji, Dylan de Ferry, Eddie O'Leary, Edward Wheeler, George Dear, Harrison Caie, Josh Tredwell, Kai Smith, Max Smith, Ned Davies, Woody Lee.

The programme started with 2 pool matches against Farnham and then Battersea Ironsides to test the boys initial foray into festival tag rugby!

Match one against Farnham and no-one knew what to expect on what must have seemed a massive pitch for the newly formed Stags. The boys were all calm under pressure (not so the parents/supporters!) and were well up by half time. Defence was nervy at times, although finding their feet there was evidence of some excellent tagging and ball possession resulting in a comprehensive 5-0 win. 1 from 1 with a clean sheet too boot!

Match two saw The Stags pitched against Battersea Ironsides, again an unknown entity but on the back on the previous win the boys stepped up. A very close first half with very little in it between the two teams, then saw Teddington romp home to an 8-4 win...and a place in the semi's on the cards.

After a lengthy wait the semi final loomed. The boys went head to head against Effingham & Leatherhead, and now being 2 from 2, the kids rose to the occasion and fought back from being down at half time to a 5-5 draw at full time. Extra time saw some excellent team spirit and determination, and a late try resulted in a Teddington win 6-5, with a place in the Final secured!

So the very first festival for The Stags and they're in the Final. Sutton & Epsom were the boys' opponents and proved equally up for the occasion. The match started off at a frantic pace with tries at both ends, followed by more end to end scoring, and despite a spirited first half performance Teddington were 5-3 down at half time. Phil & Anthony's squad rotation system came in to play at this point and worked a treat as with little over 2 mins to go until full time, the boys pushed on and ended the final with a well deserved draw, 5 a piece.

An excellent effort from The Stags who had clearly bonded exceptionally well as a team and who looked to have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This coupled with great sideline support and cunning strategic coaching from Phil, Anthony and Neil resulted in the first silverware for the U7 A team! Now on to repeat it all again next Sunday at Windsor...