DENSTONE RUGBY 7'S TOURNAMENT 1/3/09
A stalwart side of 8 players were chosen to represent the school in this Herculean tournament. We found ourselves with a depleted squad starved by injuries and weight allowances!
The tournament was played in a pleasant atmosphere of competition, with 8 quality teams competing from far and wide. Glorious weather assisted to add to the general enjoyment of the day
S Anselm's drawn in the second pool, quickly jelled in the face of the stoic opposition from Prestfelde. A huge display of power quickly led to a try for Edward, with support from Charlie and Tom. The general plan of attack throughout this game lacked elegance and was very forward orientated, with big drives and solid rucks penetrating deep through Prestfelde's defences. These tactics led successfully to another try for Edward who should be commended for excellent body positioning in contact. This was a great opening game with a 10-5 victory.
The next opposition to fall prey to our 8 heroes were St Bedes, who attacked with surprising ferocity and acquitted themselves well with 2 early tries in the first half of the game. Anselm's rallied well in the face of adversity and responded with several tries to Oliver(1), Charlie(1) and Tom(2). With two of these converted by George.
In the final group match Anselm's were pitted against the home side with Denstone fielding a muscular team with great adeptness. This was definitely our greatest game with the whole team focussed on producing a winning result. Anselm's game went from strength to strength with the team displaying some real southern hemisphere flamboyance. The handling was fantastic with some great pick ups from Ben. Wills behind the back pass as he was tackled to the ground was the highlight of the day and will undoubtedly make him a legend. Sadly only a single try was scored compared to Denstone's 3. (Edward and was converted by will). The game was really well contested and could easily have clinched with just more luck and practice.
On reaching the cup competition the team had to dig really deep when faced by Bedford (the competition winners). A single try was all that could be managed from Anselm's (Tom). There were some immense defensive tackles required and many of these were supplied by Rory, who was hitting well above his weight. The Bedford side were just too good, but the game was enjoyed by all.
The final match of the day was against QEGS Wakefield who were a determined and well drilled team. Tom and Charley were both able to skilfully put tries past them, but in total we were just not a match for their blazing attack, capitulating to an onslaught of tries.
All the players played their hearts out and should be proud of their achievements. Well done lads.
Posted on
Sun, March 1, 2009
by Anselms