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!
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