October 1st Festivals

Chobham - Squad - Barton Sam, Bentley-Fox James, Cecil David, Day Joshua, Deane Freddie, Donaldson Fergus, Dupree Archie, Griffiths Tom, Pasquali Frederico, Rac Stephen, Smith Thomas, Stahelin Angus

Results: Rosslyn Park L 5-15
T Wells L 0-5
L Irish D 0-0
Chobham L 0-10
Cobham L 0-10
This was our first B festival for contact rugby and showed that we have still a lot to learn about the new style, coaches as well as players. But we are blessed with incredibly hardworking and enthusiastic boys. The rain came down in buckets, keeping us permanently soaked but never bad enough to cancel, unlike others on that day.

There was significant improvement from all players throughout the day and by the end practically every boys had got the idea of tackling, which still needs improvement. Although the results were disappointing, they learned a lot from their first encounter into contact and this will stand them in good stead for later tournaments. We were unfortunate to lose Freddie Deane after the first game with a knock on the head. Thankfully it was a minor scrape but it did put him out for the rest of the festival. The highlight of the day, nay a “champagne moment” was produced by Angus Stahelin’s last gasp touch tackle in the game against L.Irish, which earned us a draw and epitomised the boy’s commitment throughout the afternoon. Nothing summed it up more than, despite the disappointing results, when it came to half-time in the last match, no one wanted to be subbed off. They performed well and never let their heads drop and that spirit will ensure better days to come.

Guildford - Squad - Archer Benjamin, Beasley Joe, Boxall Thomas, Bywater Thomas, Clark Henry, Davies James, Field Alexander, Hammond Jonathan
Hogg Greiogair, Orchard Toby, Petrie Cameron, Seddon Benjamin.

Played 2 & won 2 - the second a very good performance against Reeds 20-5 - stand out was the excellent rucking and ball retention - unfortunately the heavens opened and the festival was abandoned but a very encouraging start.

Cobham - Squad - Anderson Alexander, Deane Myles, Furrer Nicolas, Galan Emmanuel, Gawn James, Harrison Ben, Jones Emily, Nagle Joshua, Rubini Dylan, Sirker Callum, Stockham Jack, Viney James

Played 3 - Won 1, Lost 2 - Festival Abandoned
Report from David Viney as follows:
Thanks for braving the torrential rain. I thought some real positives coming from the festival. The tackling and spirit shown by our boys (and girl!) intruly atrocious conditions was wonderful. After the comfortable win over Camberley, there was not a big gap between ourselves and Sutton & Epsom /Cobham. Bear in mind the former were Ratt Cup winners and runners-up in the last two years respectively and that Cobham make an early start to their season (having also always been strong in our age group). What I particularly liked was that two of our tries were scored from tackling the opposing side back into their try zone - one from a resulting five yard scrum and one from a dive-on. We came very close to beating Cobham - which would have set up a tantalising final against S&E again (who I thought we matched for the last four minutes of our game against them) - had the festival not been stopped for the conditions.