U10 v Tournament

On a pleasant October afternoon last Saturday the Under 10 rugby team played their first competitive matches of term taking part in our own tournament against Bilton Grange, Bramcote Lorne and Derby Grammar School. Their first match was against Bramcote Lorne and after conceding an early try the team picked themselves up and soon levelled the scores , all of the team put in some very good tackles against physically larger Bramcote boys , in an exciting end to end match S.Anselm's took the lead only for Bramcote to level the scores , S.Anselm's then took a deserved lead and looked as though they would hang on for a deserved win but Bramcote scored right at the end of the match and the final result was a 15-15 draw.Next up were Derby Grammar School and S.Anselm's played some good attacking rugby and scored two quick tries to take a 10-0 lead , the team then relaxed and this remained the score at half time. Derby then came out all guns blazing after the break and scored a good try making the score 10-5 , S.Anselm's then woke up to restore the two try margin but once again relaxed allowing Derby to score a second try. In the end the team defended well to hang onto a 15-10 win. The final group match was against an undefeated Bilton Grange team who were big and skilful , we were outplayed in all areas of the game and this resulted in a 20-0 defeat. However, the results of the other group matches meant we qualified for the Final , another match against Bilton Grange. The boys raised their game and put in a very courageous and determined performance and this time we lost 15-0 but the match was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests so finishing runners up. Each and every player in the squad should be proud of their performances with some magnificent tackles against much bigger boys and they showed there was plenty of promise for their future rugby careers at S.Anselm's.
The team was well led by Ed S and his crunching tackles will long be remembered as will Ollie R's tackles Which defy his size , Paul L's pace excited the crowd , Elliott T's courage playing through the pain of an ankle injury ,but all of the other boys deserve mention as it is a team game and they all contributed positively Charlie S , Theo H, Alex W, Bertie W, Nick T & Matthew N.