U14 Newbury 10's 6am on a Sunday morning is not the ideal way to end the season and it was a bleary eyed Beccehamian squad that arrived at the impressive grounds of Newbury RFC. This was a chance for the boys to see how far they have developed in a competition that attracted sides from as far afield as Derby, Dorchester, Bristol, Bicester, Devonport and Devizes (There were teams that did not begin with B or D but not many). First up were Basingstoke (another B) and our first game of 10s. The boys aquitted themselves well, scoring four tries and running out winners 22-0, but relying more on our pace than on a solid structure. Next up were Richmond who clearly had played 10s before and quickly raced into a 10-0 lead, thanks largely to sloppy play by us that gifted their speed merchants two tries. Fair play to the boys, they worked their way back into the game and pulled a try back but could not do enough to save the game, losing 5-10. Not bad though, given that Richmond had scored four or five tries against the other teams in the pool. The last pool game was against the Essex club, Nailsea and Blackwell (Essex, according to Jim Chatten, Somerset according to my atlas!!)- a win would put us in the quarter finals of the cup, defeat into the plate. Despite resting some of our key players with injury and fatigue, the boys proved too strong and scored another four tries, galloping to a 22-5 win. Now the dilemma. By ignoring my strategy of of finishing third in the pool and playing the 4th placed side from Pool 2 in the plate, we now found ourselves in the quarter finals of the cup against the winners of pool 2, South Woodham Ferrers (an Essex side according to my atlas but I daren't ask Jim where he thinks it is). Suddenly, the boys realised what 10s was all about and played their most effective rugby yet. Retaining the ball, slowing it down, recyling and off-loading and striking when gaps appeared, another four tries were scored to run out winners 24-0! Great stuff. And so to the semi-finals and what a line up. Bristol st Marys - Gloucester champions; Richmond - Surrey league 1 Champions; Derby - winners of the national Lexus trophy; Beccehamians - Kent champions. We drew Bristol who had impressed in all their games so far. The first half was tight but Bristol showed us how the game should be played, always seeming to be able to off load to a player running at pace. We defended well but made too many errors to keep them under sustained pressure. Just before half time came the killer blow. A kick ahead bounced kindly for their speed merchant to outstrip the cover and score in the corner. 0-5 down at half time, the boys rallied and took the game to Bristol but they held us out and punished us on the break. The boys were tiring by now and Bristol sensed victory. A final break was stopped near our line, but the clearing kick was well taken and they took advantage of the lack of cover to score in the far corner. 0-10 and the chance of another cup went begging. Bristol went on to win the final 12-10 against Derby - the plate final was won by Nailsea who beat Basingstoke, the two teams we had beaten in our pool!!! A top four finish in a competition of this standard was a good way to end a great season. We learnt a lot about the things we need to do to step up a level and will work on a few things in the summer. Perhaps more importantly, we found that we were not out of our depth. we saw some great sides playing good rugby - but nothing that we could not live with. Bring on next season!! (Should have stuck to my plan) Well done to all the boys in the squad. It was a very long day with some very long gaps in between games. I have not named any individuals because every one was a star, this was a true team effort. I will mention Eddie and Foggy who came along to support and provided counselling and H2O. Thanks boys. Robbie