Worthing Tournament
23rd April 2006by Mark Berry
The listing was posted by
WINDSOR U9 As COME HOME WITH SMILES FROM WORTHING
On St George’s Day Sunday 23rd April, Windsor U9 As made the long trip to Worthing and slayed all the dragons to bring home the top prize.
In their first match against Brighton, the boys took a little time to get the journey out of their legs. But once warmed up they played some sparkling rugby, giving an early indication that something very special was about to happen on this rather drizzly Sunday. They never really looked threatened at all, keeping the ball alive, avoiding contact and passing down the line in addition to providing robust defensive work on the few occasions when this was required. It was therefore no surprise to see them running in three confident tries with Brighton producing no adequate response, conceding a 15-0 defeat.
There was better yet to come with the second game against Lutterworth seeing Windsor deliver a virtuoso display of flowing rugby resulting in a flurry of tries. So complete was their dominance that the game was stopped early at a score of Windsor 30 points, Lutterworth 0 with the result that Windsor were through to the Cup Semi-Final.
In this they faced Hove – a side which appeared to offer a more substantial challenge. Although Windsor spent most of the first half in Hove’s territory, they found themselves faced with a dogged defence that just kept inching them back from the goal line. The pattern looked set to continue into the second half as Windsor maintained the pressure but still could not convert it into points. Then, a controversial disallowed try seemed to galvanise the boys into stepping up one more gear and the match ended with justice being done and Windsor scoring 10 points, Hove 0.
Through to the Final, Windsor faced Crowborough. The team now brought their physical strength to bear in a big way, producing crunching tackles which denied Crowborough the opportunity to move ball as they wished and smothered the pacey and capable half backs which they undoubtedly possessed. Windsor’s own backs then compounded the opposition’s frustration with a series of probing runs that saw the ball bring grounded three times in total. To Crowborough’s credit, they never gave up and eventually claimed back one try of the own: the only points which Windsor conceded throughout the whole of this exhilarating Tournament.
The afternoon ended with a victory rendition of the infamous U9s Haka, before the Worthing Cup was held aloft for the first time by Windsor RFC U9s.
TEAM: J. Leach (Captain), L.Brogan, C. Thorley, G. Morgan, T. Berry, S.Trowbridge, H.MacKenzie, H. Bates, W. Bartlett,J. Brooke, H. Kemball
COACHES: A. Leach, K. Trowbridge (Manager)
Match 1: Windsor 15 Points, Brighton 0 Points
Tries Scored: Bartlett 1, Thorley 1, Kemball 1
Match 2 : Windsor 30 Points, Lutterworth 0
Tries Scored: Thorley 2, Bates 1, Leach 1, Bartlett 1, Brooke 1
Semi Final: Windsor 10 Points, Hove 0
Tries Scored: Leach 1, Trowbridge 1
Final: Windsor 15 points, Crowborough 5 points
Tries Scored: Kemball 1, Leach 1, Trowbridge 1