Cobham C Festival - 4/11/2007

Festival WINNERS !

All boys played out of their skins yesterday and can all be justifiably proud, I don’t like singling out specific individuals generally but the try-saving tackle by Dennis Houston in the final against Cobham must surely stand out as the definitive moment of the day. Well done Dennis and keep up the good work…….just work on those high tackles!

Match stats as follows:

Match 1 WIN Teddington: 2 Sutton & Epsom: 1 Tries from Boxall and Houston

Match 2 WIN Teddington: 1 Cobham: 0 Try from Orchard

Semi Final WIN Teddington: 2 Chobham: 1 Tries, a Wilson-Pierce brace

Final WIN Teddington: 2 Cobham: 1 Boxall and Griffiths


Nick Timms

Grasshoppers 'B' Festival - 4/11/07

WINNERS

A wonderful performance by all the boys with great passing and solid tackling. Overall we scored 24 tries with only 4 scored against.

The backs (David Cecil, James Davies, Alex Anderson, Jonathan Hammond and Greiogair Hogg) displayed a fluid passing game giving our speedy wingers (Josh Day and Aaron Patel) the ability to show their pace, often to devastating effect.

The forwards (Stephen Rac, James Bentley-Fox, Thomas Bywater and Myles Dean) were impressively physical, especially in the semi final game against Finchley which was probably our toughest.

The final was the usual tense affair with Grasshopper’s fast runners having to be constantly repelled. At the prize giving, Teddington’s “boys and girls” were congratulated on their victory! Josh Day, with his long flowing locks, went forward to receive the trophy and the announcer corrected his earlier mistake.

Pool game. Grasshoppers Barbarians. Won 6-0 (try count stopped at this point)
Pool game. Ealing. Won 5-1
Pool game. Farnham Won 4-0
Semi final. Finchley. Won 2-1
Final. Grasshoppers Won 5-2

Report by Stephen Jones

Etihad Cup - 3/11/07

Squad: Benjamin Archer, Henry Clark, Archie Jones, Callum Sirker, Archie Dupree, Frederico Pasquali, Sam Barton, James Gawn, Emmanual Galan, James Viney, Thomas Holland, Nicolas Furrer, Jack Stockham

Playing on the Craneford Way pitches the boys played 2 games each against Upminster & Dorking - the first game against Dorking was a tight game but Teddington ran out good 2 nil winners. Next after only 5 minutes rest came Upminster - we competed well against their big forwards and after a good start they came back and the game ended 1-1. Our second meeting with Dorking was the boys best performance of the day with very good expansive rugby resulting in a comprehensive 4 nil win. To come out top we needed only a draw against Upminster - our head coach told the boys to spread the ball wide to the wingers and out run their large forwards - after a good start and going 1 try up we unfortunately forgot the game plan and kept running into their defence - aided by a couple of even larger subs, Upminster went on to equalise and score the winner just before the final whistle - a good effort from all the boys and we have to wait to see if we qualify for the next round.

Season 2007/8

Chobham A Festival - 14/10/2007

Congratulations on the First Silverware this Season

The squad who played were as follows:-

Alex Anderson
Ben Archer
Myles Deane
Manny Galan
James Gawn
Ben Harrison
Archie Jones
Josh Nagle
Frederico Pasquali
Stephen Rac
Ben Seddon
Callum Sirker

Results were 5 wins out of 5: -

v Chobham 2-0 (Anderson & Pasquali)

v Guildford 2-1 (Pasquali & Seddon)

v Wimbledon 4-2 (Anderson, 2 x Pasquali & Archer)

v Reeds 2-1 (Anderson x 2)- Hardest match being 1 nil down at half time!

v Tunbridge Wells 5-0 (Anderson, 2 x Pasquali, Gawn & Nagle).

Fab day with glorious weather & thus enjoyed by all including the parents!
All kids played their parts not just the try scorers.
Steve Anderson

Ealing B Festival 14/10/2007

This was our first visit to this large festival – Ealing host an A and B festival in parallel.

We were in the B festival, sharing a small pool with Richmond and Harpenden.
Our first game was against Richmond, and it seemed that too many of our squad had stayed up late the night before to watch England beat France in the World Cup semi-final. We were slow and sluggish; Richmond drove us off the ball in 4 scrums in the first half, and stole the ball from the rucks that we set up. Things improved a little in the second half, and we started asserting ourselves in the scrums (though not winning the ball) and driving over in the rucks. On the positive side, our tackling was good, and Richmond beat us by only 2 – 0 (they went on to win the final, beating Ealing 6 – 1).
There was a long gap before the next game, and we used the time profitably in practising scrums, rucks and (against all received wisdom) mauls. It paid off. In the first half of the game against Harpenden we won our first scrum of the day, and followed it up by turning over the ball in a ruck. Tries by Aaron (a lightning-fast strike down the wing) and Jack (a Chabal-like charge through the middle of the Harpenden pack) saw us take the lead. In the second half we managed to hold on to our lead in a strong defensive effort that included pushing Harpenden 25 metres up the pitch in a maul that they had set up. Final result 2 – 1 to Teddington.
Our last game was against Bank of England, who were second-placed in the other pool (they had beaten Ruislip and Grasshoppers by sizeable margins). We started strongly, with improving scrummaging, rucking and mauling, but BoE got the first try. Jack managed to get one back before half time and another in the second half. BoE made a determined attempt to level up, and although Teddington were hot and tired they managed to hold the defensive line and the game finished with the score at 2 – 1, putting Teddington in 3rd place overall. Medals were awarded to the top three places, so the boys came away with a memento for their efforts.
In summary, a good day – not only a satisfactory result in a festival, but also a day in which the team learnt some important lessons about support and working together in rucks and scrums.
And finally, it was Jordan’s first festival, and he didn’t disgrace himself at all – hopefully the start of a successful rugby career.
The team:
Sam Barton
Nick Furrer
Tom Griffiths
Aaron Patel
Thomas Bywater
Jordan Wilson-Pearce
Greiogair Hogg
Jack Stockham
Toby Orchard
Jonty Carpenter
Ollie Skyrme
James Doyle

Report by Heini Furrer

Cobham B Festival - 07/10/07

It was a great morning after the night before and all the boys were excited following England’s victory.

We came up against a good Guildford side with some big forwards and we soon found out how Australia felt as we struggled in the pack and had very little ball. Archie Jones played out of his skin and put in some great tackles. Regular problem of not much passing and trying to maul with the big boys and sadly ran out losers 2-1.

Second match was Effingham and we made hard work of a 2-1 victory – our forwards performing a little better….which set up a semi final against Reeds.

The Semi was a step too far for us and again we struggled to win our own ball – Archie Dupree stepped up to the front row and acquitted himself well. We lost 3 -0 and went home in time to watch Sa vs Fiji.

Barton Sam
Bentley-Fox James
Cecil David
Clark Henry
Deane Freddie
Dupree Archie
Gawn James
Hammond Jonathan
Holland Thomas
Jones Archie
Proudhon-Smith Elliot
Rac Stephen

Chobham B Festival - 30/09/07

Players

Henry Clarke, Stephen Rac, James Bentley-Fox, Thomas Bywater, James Davies, Thomas Holland, Jonnathon Hammond, David Cecil, Oliver Skyrme, Josh Day, Thomas Boxall.

Unusually started very well with a 2-1 win over Chobham, all set for a good day. (Captain Holland - Scorers Clarke, Davies)

Talked ourselves out of the game versus the Upminster Giants 1-4 loss. (but I don't think many sides scored against Upminster) (Captain Davies - Scorer Cecil)

Back on track against London Irish but silly mistakes meant we drew 1-1. (Captain Rac- Scorer Boxall)

Silly mistakes and not waking up for a few minutes meant we lost to Rosslyn Park 0-1 (Captain Skyrme)

After a long day and a bit of a chat everything we've ever taught came together and we beat Sutton and Epsom 4-1 (Captain Bentley-Fox - Scorers Rac, Day, Cecil, Hammond) (you see we use the height advantage)

I think we came joint third in a pool of six, not bad for a first attempt and the frustrating thing is we could have beaten all the other sides if we had been awake earlier in some of the games and not talked ourselves out of Upminster)

Andy Brooks

Cobham A Festival - 30/9/07

Just a brief festival report and congratulations to all the boys who played yesterday in the A squad at Cobham and where they became runners up to the host team Cobham.

In the pool matches we beat Sutton & Epsom by 3 tries to nil followed by a win against Camberley 4 nil and then in the semi final won against Reeds 3 nil.
Not to concede a try in the matches was magnificent and both Reeds and Sutton provided fierce competition. Then onto the final we lost 3 nil but to a very strong Cobham team and that was no disgrace particularly as their first two tries were in the first half & were break away tries when we close to their try line. The boys kept going throughout the final almost scoring a try, therefore a real team performance. Due to the fantastic participation of the squad of 12 players, I would not want to pick out any individuals but instead I shall name them all (not in any order):

Manny Galan,
Josh Nagle,
Fred Pasquali,
Myles Deane,
Nick Furrer,
Ben Seddon,
Ben Harrison,
James Viney,
Alex Anderson,
Arun Patel,
Callum Sirker and
Ben Archer

WELL DONE YOU ARE NOW SCRMMAGING WELL, PASSING AND PLAYING AS A TEAM.
Report by Steve Anderson

Teddington C Festival - Imber Court 01/04/07

Report by Philippa Stahelin

The team set off at a roaring pace, winning their first match against Ealing 2 by 8 tries to 0. They clearly enjoyed the summer weather and played as a team with great passing and strong defence when needed. This set us up nicely for our second pool game against Richmond and the standards were just as high, with the team winning 3-0. Then for London Irish where the result was 4-0 in Teddington’s favour. It was tremendously pleasing for the coaches to not concede a try throughout the pool stages.

Topping the group we played Ealing 2 in the semi-finals and, starting slowly the team eventually won the game 4-1. A brief respite and on to the final where we were faced by a hugely competitive Teddington 2 side. This was unsurprisingly our toughest game and we really needed to be strong in defence and continue our effective running and passing game. They did not disappoint but were made to fight all the way and ended, exhaustingly, as 3-1 winners.

Features of the day were the commitment and enthusiasm of the boys and their willingness to play as a team. With only 9 players there was no opportunity to rest and the boys battled through knocks and scrapes to stay on the pitch. There were several instances of unselfish play where the ball was moved through all the hands for an easy score. Overall we scored 22 tries for and only 2 against. Try scorers were: Aaron Patel 6, Dylan Rubini 5, Joe Beasley 5, Greghoir Hogg 3, Angus Stahelin 2, James Bentley-Fox 1.

We have also discovered a new Ruairidh pre-match ritual to prepare for the big games. Get the boys to lie on their backs, acting dead and just before they go on wake them up. It worked a treat!

Marlow Festival Pics

Middlesex C Festival - Grasshoppers 25/03/2007

Squad: Joe Beasley, Jonathan Carpenter, Freddie Deane, Fergus Donaldson, Tom Griffiths, Jonathan Hammond, Toby Orchard, Elliott Proudham-Smith, Dylan Rubini, Thomas Smith, Angus Stahelin, Matthew Timms

Report by Philippa Stahelin

The U9 C team went to Grasshoppers to attempt a clean sweep of Middlesex festivals. They played 3 pool matches;

Vs Grasshoppers – W 6-0 try scorers D.Rubini, 2, A Stahelin, J. Beasley, J. Hammond, J. Carpenter. Against the weakest opposition in the pool they played their best rugby, with some strong tackling and very good handling and passing.

Vs Ealing – W1-0. Try scorer. T.Orchard. This was a physical game but Teddington made it hard for themselves with a lack of passing when tries would have been scored. The passage of play which saw the most passing resulted in the only try.

Vs Rosslyn Park – D 0-0. Again, the passing play which had shone out so well in the first match was lacking and although we dominated the game we didn’t get our wingers involved and drew a game we should have won.

The festival was one pool with the winners and runners up playing each other so we faced Ealing in the final. The game plan was to play quick, passing rugby and use our runners. Unfortunately things didn’t run to plan and with everyone tiring in a very physical game we lost a bit of discipline and reverted to individual play rather than a team effort. We let in 2 fairly soft tries to put us on the back foot and although we got one back shortly before half-time and had the better of the second half we lost 2-1.

There was obvious disappointment at the end from the boys but they had battled well after the bad start and were the stronger overall. But at the end of the day it’s the team playing together who will have more success and I think the squad realised that. As I said, no lack of effort and some fine tries throughout the day, just not enough in the end

Middlesex B Festival - Imber Court 18/03/2007

Squad: Benjamin Archer, Thomas Bywater, David Cecil, James Davies, Joshua Day, Myles Deane, Emmanual Galan, Aaron Patel, Cameron Petrie, Stephen Rac, Benjamin Seddon, Oliver Skyrme, Jack Stockham

Report by Richard Davies

Well done the boys who took part in the Middlesex festival. We are now joint Middlesex B champions - the boys should be very proud of themselves. Everyone in the team played well, but it was our defence that was our great strength with only one try being scored against us in the whole tournament. This was not down to one player, but to a team performance with everyone tackling their hearts out.

Ian tells me that Grasshoppers are classified as an 'emerging club' and do not play in the As, but put their best team in the Bs. They certainly provided us with the toughest opposition we faced in the tournament.

Thank-you to the Mayor and Mayoress of Imber Court for presenting the metals - we'll see if we can get some gold replacement medals before the end of the season. No prizes for taking the tent down however!

For the record, the scores for each game were as follows, with two games stopped early once 7 scores were achieved:

Pool Game 1 v Twickenham - won 7-0
Scorers: Ben Archer x2, Stephen Rac, David Cecil, James Davies, Emmanuel Gallan, Thomas Bywater.

Pool Game 2 v Saracens won 3-0
Scorers: David Cecil, Aaron Patel, Myles Dean

Pool Game 3 v Staines - won 7-0
Scorers: Jack Stockham, Emmanuel Gallan x2, James Davies, Oliver Skyme, Ben Sedden, Cameron Petrie.

Semi Final v Rosslyn Park - won 2-0
Scorers: David Cecil, Myles Dean.

Final v Grasshoppers - Drew 1-1
Scorer: Myles Dean

Middlesex A Festival - Ealing 11/03/2007

Squad: Alexander Anderson, Sam Barton, Henry Clark, Archie Dupree, Nicolas Furrer, James Gawn, Ben Harrison, Archie Jones, Joshua Nagle, Frederico Pasquali, Callum Sirker, James Viney

Report by David Viney

What a glorious spring day – and a triumphant one for the U9 A Team at the fabulous Ealing Trailfinders ground.

First up in our pool was Saracens. Always a proud and a physical team, Saracens nonetheless went down by no less than six unanswered tries, with Teddington besieging their line for most of the match.

Our next opponents were Staines, who we had done well to draw with only the week before. However, this time, ferocious tackling pegged our opposition back to their own line and, in time, the tries came. The final score was 2-0 but could well have been larger, had the boys spread the ball wider at crucial times.

This set up a semi-final against Ruislip, so often our nemesis in this tournament. But not this year! Teddington (again tackling like demons) countered Ruislip’s excellent loose play and physicality to power over for two tries. This game underlined yet again our progress this year – and our move up through the rankings of the best U9 teams.

The final – against hosts Ealing – was always going to be a tense affair. The last time the teams had met (at the RATT cup) was no proper guide (as Ealing had then been missing several key players). Sure enough, we went into the final two minutes of the game with the scores even and parents’ finger nails well-and-truly shredded. We had experienced sudden-death knock-outs before at Middlesex A and those memories were starting to re-surface!

Archie Jones seems to have a habit of saving his tries for key moments and this was no exception; a classic winger’s try in the corner finished off a great team effort that had seen play switch from one side of the pitch to the other, sucking in defenders and drawing the overlap.

Make no mistake, we have suffered some real disappointments at times over the last few years – coming so near to the big trophies but failing to secure them. This year feels very different; we have, indeed, a rugby team! Powerful in defence, varied in attack and above all a group of players who play for each other. The boys were even making up their own moves by the end of the festival! The final tally was 14 tries for and none against.

The first of the big three trophies are in our possession. Roll on the RATT Cup Grand Final and the Nationals at Nottingham!

Staines Festival - 4/03/2007

Squad - Alexander Anderson, David Cecil, James Davies, Joshua Day, Myles Deane, Emmanuel Galan, Ben Harrison, Joshua Nagle, Benjamin Seddon, Oliver Skyrme, James Viney

In our pool matches we first played Hammersmith & Fulham winning 6 nil. Many thanks again to both Manny Galan & Oliver Syrme for being great sports in representing the opposition otherwise the match would have been forfeited since they only had 6 players. Birthday boy & skipper Ben Sneddon also got his name on the score sheet & there was also a hatrick from Josh Nagle & try a piece from Alex & James Viney.

We then played Winchester, winning a tight match by single try from Ben Harrison. Final group match was against the hosts Staines when on muddy pitch against strong opposition we drew 1-1 following a try from James Viney.

Winning our pool group resulted in us playing against Sutton & Epsom who although one of the best team in the festival lost to the rampant Teddington 2 nil with tries from Alex & Ben Harrison. Then onto the final at which time the heavens opened up further & the pitches now muddy swamps set us up against the best team & our arch rivals Richmond. After a fantastic first half when we conceded only 1 try, both fatigue & the brilliance of Richmond's speed of handling caused us to leak 3 more tries.

To all the players including those I have not mentioned above, being James Davies, Myles Deane, David Cecil & Joshua Day you were all magnificent & should be proud of your achievement yesterday in being runners up. Just imagine what you could all achieve in both dry weather & pitch conditions?

Regards

STEPHEN ANDERSON

RATT Cup - 24/02/2007

Squad - Alexander Anderson, Benjamin Archer, Joe Beasley, Henry Clark, James Davies, Nicolas Furrer, James Gawn, Ben Harrison, Archie Jones, Frederico Pasquali, Callum Sirker, Jack Stockham.

The 2nd round of the RATT Cup at Harlequins saw us in an extremely hard group with Sutton & Epsom & Ealing - our first game against Sutton & Epsom was an extremely hard fought affair - we went a try down but came back with a driven over effort from Ben Harrison. The second half saw us under a lot of pressure but excellent defence kept the final score 1 try each (5-5).
Sutton & Epsom then defeated Ealing 4 trys to 2 which meant that to win our group and qualify for the next round, we had to beat Ealing by a better score. The boys came out fired up and played a great game of attacking rugby to win 5 trys to nil (25-0),
with 2 trys from Benjamin Archer and one each from Alexander Anderson, Ben Harrison & James Gawn - an excellent pressure performance! We finished the day with a game against the other group winners/qualifers, Upminster which was another tough, hard fought draw at 1 try each, Archie Jones scoring. Well done to all the boys for great effort and the coaches for motivation and looking forward to the next round!

1st January 2007
Teddington Team at NEC Harlequins




Alexander Anderson, Benjamin Archer, Thomas Bywater, David Cecil, James Davies, James Doyle, Fergus Donaldson, Jonathan Hammond, Cameron Petrie, Stephen Rac,
Benjamin Seddon,

Playing on the Twickenham Stoop pitch our opponents were Upminster who brought 2 teams along – a great effort considering the distance they have to travel and that no other club sent a team to the U-9’s !

Against their first team we started a little slowly and they ‘bulldozed’ over for the first try. I don’t know what they feed children in Upminster but they had some very large boys playing (Paul Cecil was born & bred in this part of the world and he agreed their boys were big compared to ours – no comment was made on the fact that Paul is a good example of a mature ‘Upminsterian’!!) We came back strongly and equalised with a try from Jonathan Hammond. The second half was a tight affair with both teams putting in great effort – we did miss a few overlaps when a pass wide would have opened the game up. It all looked certain to be a hard fought draw when Benjamin Archer received the ball, dummy passed and broke through the middle, winning the race to the line – he touched down upon which the referee blew the final whistle! The timing could not have been better - Final Score 10-5

In the second game, against another large Upminster team, we were quick out of the blocks – 2 opportunist tries by Benjamin Archer put us in control to half time. In the second half the confidence showed with some excellent passing and movement and we ran in 3 more tries – two from David Cecil and one from Alexander Anderson put us out of sight. Upminster to their credit did not give up and scored a consolation try late on – Final Score 25-5

All the boys put in great effort and it took some good tackling to bring down the larger boys - they all enjoyed lining up to greet the players onto the pitch of the Quins v Newcastle match and running a lap of honour at half time - well done to all including coaches & parents who all looked just about okay after New Years Eve!