Rugby Festival Touches Down
After missing a year, due to COVID, the Eversfield U11 Michaelmas Rugby Festival was back on the calendar. As has often been the case in the past, the sun was shining, with play being conducted under blue skies. Wonderful for spectators, a bit warm for players.
Four teams took part, one each from Eversfield, King Henry VIII Prep School, Bablake and The Croft. As per the current rulings from the RFU, teams played U10 rules this year, with matches being only 20 minutes long, so that the total time played by each team did not exceed 60 minutes.
Eversfield began their campaign against The Croft, current holders of the cup. Early attrition with good defending by both sides, gave way as The Croft began to find the space down Eversfield's wings, running in 3 tries in the first half. The second half was a similar story, with Eversfield resolute in their defence, but getting a bit too narrow. The Croft kept their shape a little better and were able to exploit the space, scoring three more tries in the second half.
Game two was against Bablake. Eversfield worked hard to keep their shape, learning from the first match, but as the half wore on and legs got tired, this became harder to do. Bablake running in three tries. Defending their own line towards the end of the half, Eversfield won the ball back, with David running the length of the pitch to score the inaugural try of the season for Eversfield. 3-1 at half time. Buoyed by this, Eversfield started the second half brightly, but Bablake closed down space quickly and turned the pressure on, running in 5 more tries in the second half. A tough game.
Going into the final game against King Henry VIII Prep spirits were a little low, but the team kept battling. The match was evenly balanced between the two teams, but King Henry VIII Prep broke away for two tries. However, the defensive line from Eversfield was improving, tackling was very good and we were making King Henry work for their tries. Eversfield also started to find a little space and were able to get the ball to David, who again ran the length of the field to score. 2-1 at the half and spirits were rising!
The start of the second half saw Eversfield start with the ball from the centre. One pass to Harry, who breaks the defensive line; try, 2-2. King Henry pile on the pressure and Eversfield are defending valiantly, again a break of the ball to Prema, who ghosts through the defensive line to score from the Eversfield half; 3-2. A momentary lapse in concentration from Eversfield, meant that King Henry again broke through to score; all tied at 3-3. As legs started to tire, there was more space to be found and once again David found it. Taking the ball in his own half, he ran around the outside of the defence to run the ball in for try number four. King Henry kept coming forward, Eversfield were defending hard, then the breakthrough came for King Henry as they scored their fourth try. All tied at 4 -4, which is how the game finished; a fair result on balance.
Bablake took the overall title, as they were victorious over The Croft in their final game. Harry took the award for MVP for Eversfield on the day, although there were a number of very good performances. Stanley was superb in the tackle and ran with great purpose, making good yards every time. David was quite devastating with his speed at times, as were Prema and Weng Wo. Rajan and Yahya did a lot of hard work around the tackle and break down. Plenty to be proud of!