Sunday 5th March 2007 - Mitcham Bulls Festival U9 Match Report "What horrible weather!" I think that is how most of us will remember Sunday, along with "How well did our team play eh?" Results: Played 5, Won 2, Drew 2, Lost 1. Players : Harvey Bains, Michael “Digger” Rochester, Max Braddock, Aidan Stocker, Jacob Ferguson, Matthew “Shabs” Tokarski, Elliot Peters, Cameron MacAskill, Harrison “Snake-Hips” Lear, Alex Donovan, Will Pigg & Laurie Plumb. 1st Match vs Wimbledon RFC - won 7-0. Wimbledon were below strength and had to borrow players from Mitcham Bulls in order to field a full team. But our team was not in the mood for half-measures. Our defence was strong and was quick to advance which forced many knock-ons and dropped balls from which we benefited greatly. Great performances from all with special mention for Will Pigg and Laurie Plumb, both of whom were playing in their first festival game and did themselves and the team proud. 2nd Match vs Guildfordians RFC - won 1-0 (official score for competition purposes was a draw 0-0). A very evenly matched game with great play from both sides. A complaint of pinching was heard from a tearful Guildfordian player in the second half, but our team categorically denied any wrong doing. With seconds to go, Cameron MacAskill broke away and was a golden mile from any defender when he crossed the goal line, then ran out of play behind goal before putting the ball down. The grass was very long and the pitch markings were very faint. The referee gave the try as he argued that had Cameron been able to see the lines, he would have had time to score the try easily as there were no defenders in the area. The awarding of this try was later rescinded after complaint from our opposition. 3rd Match vs Mitcham Bulls RFC - drew 2-2. Without Cameron MacAskill (suspended), our back line did not have as much dynamism as usual and we drew a game that we should have easily won. The only two times Mitcham were in our half were when they scored, other than that the game was played in their half. Never mind. Having discounted the try against Guildfordians, we came second in the pool (when by rights we should have come first), that meant we played Chipstead RFC (the winners from the other pool). 4th Match (Cup Semi-Final) vs Chipstead RFC - match stopped at 6-0. Chipstead were a very tight outfit and ran in three very swift trys at the beginning of the first half. Our cold and wet kids found this difficult to deal with and you could physically see their heads drop. Another two trys were run in during the first half as our defence had just stopped advancing to meet the ball-carrier. This meant the Chipstead lads could get some speed up and break our tackles easily. A stern chat with the lads at half-time saw them run on with new vigour. The half progressed with no score and was much more evenly fought. Now, out of the Cup competition, it was found that the Plate was going to be won by Guildfordians without playing a Semi-Final or Final as all their opponents had gone home. We then offered to play them. 5th Match (Plate Final) vs Guildfordians RFC - drew 2-2. Again a very evenly matched game played in far better spirit than the first. At the end of the match, Guildfordians were awarded the Plate as "officially" they had won it due to the absence of the official opposition. So no Silverware but sooooo much to be proud of. We just have to remember to never surrender and never give up - we can always come back and score more trys. Vic Tokarski ("Shabs" dad) took a load of pictures on the day and I have now published these online (with a commentary) here - http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/5104909. 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). Del, Nick & Gig - U9's Coaches