Sunday 7th October - Foxbury Festival U10 Match Report A very well organised festival for the U10's - no delays between matches and great opposition. Results: Played 4, Won 2, Drew 0, Lost 2. 1st Match vs Chingford RFC - won 2-0. Our first choice forwards - Harvey Bains, Michael Rochester and Max Braddock put on a great display and out-gunned the opposition in all set plays and rucks. A good all-round team performance. 2nd Match vs Tonbridge Juddians RFC - lost 0-2. I don't quite know what they feed their lads on in Tonbridge but this team fielded some of the biggest players, both in height and width, that we have ever faced in opposition. Still the team performed well in the first half which was very evenly matched ending 0-0. TJ's then brought on some new legs in the back line and we also took the opportunity to adjust the team a little. But TJ's were quicker at preparing their new squad and took advantage of our teams confusion by breaking the line and scoring a try direct from the free-pass. A sloppy try to let through. From that point onwards we showed great composure in defence and some good invention in attack but just couldn't get over the line. TJ's then cemented the win with a very well worked try scored by a very nimble back. We were very proud of our players in the loose and there was very little offside or coming in at the side of the ruck - this was in stark contrast to TJ's who seemed to flaunt every law until penalised (or not) including their hooker flailing at the incoming ball in a line out, both their props handling the ball in the scrums in order to secure ball for their scrum-half and repeated infringements at the ruck. We may have lost but we showed them how the game should be played. 3rd Match vs Old Dartfordians RFC - won 2-0. The team were fired up from the start having lost the previous match and came out all guns blazing. We were 2-0 up at half time and then put on a great display of defence as Old Darts tried to break our line and score. We held strong and ran out worthy winners. It would be churlish of me not to mention the "interesting" referee for this match who penalised and gave advantage to the wrong sides at the wrong times but I think it affected both teams to the same degree. 4th Match vs Old Elthamians RFC - lost 1-3. We were very aware that Old Elthamians always field a strong and technically proficient team so this was always going to be our hardest challenge of the pool. A very hard fought battle resulted in a 1-1 draw at half time. Our forwards were just about crackered by the second-half and just couldn't keep up their sterling efforts and we were driven over our own line twice for the deserved win for Old Elts. The scoring system meant that we came 3rd in the group and so did not progress any further. So no Silverware but again sooooo much to be proud of. We just have to work on teamwork, passing and a little bit of fitness so that we can make it through to the end of these gruelling festivals. Harvey Bains won a RWC 2007 Ball, Keyring & Wallet Gift Set for being Player of the Week. Other honourable mentions go to Max Braddock, Michael Rochester, Sean Constantou, Matt Tokarski & Cameron MacAskill (our fourth forward). Vic Tokarski ("Shabs" dad) took a load of pictures on the day and I have now published these online (with a commentary) here. These photos have been optimised for web viewing by Vic so if you want a copy, it's best to contact him and he will be able to give you the original larger picture (better for printing).